Looks like October will be a banner month for lots of new minimum wage jobs in Carbondale with Chili's, Party City, Walgreen's and T. J. Maxx all opening up new stores. Thee are also a couple of competing Halloween stores in the empty Office Depot and Rex Appliances buildings.
The recently closed Godfather's Pizza is also undergoing interior renovation with a new lease signed for the building as well.
While it's good to see new businesses coming to the city, the sad fact remains that none of these will offer much more than minimum wage jobs. Even at 40 hours a week, take home pay before taxes will run just over $17,000, enough to keep one or two people above the federal poverty level but well below it for a family of four with 1 breadwinner. A single parent family can make it on a minimum wage job, but only by living from paycheck to paycheck. In order for families to live in Carbondale comfortably, the city needs more than the university as a economic base, especially when that economic base is having problems of its own.
Scott, thanks for publishing the above information. The sad reality about Carbondale, that I have never heard specifically mentioned, is the fact that 41% of Carbondale residents live below the poverty line, and 25% actual live below 50% of the poverty line. Of course, a lot of this has to do with an immense student population, however, such economic inequity makes this an issue that merits much more than occasional conversation... and necessitates an honest look that what has been the City of Carbondale's economic development philosophy (the increasing preponderance of non-locally owned big-box stores on the margins/outskirts of the city is an obvious manifestation of the City's approach), and how it has been an abject failure. Cheers - Brent Ritzel
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