Good-Paying Jobs In Our Backyard Should be Commended: Opinion
By Thomas A. White, Executive Director, Three Rivers Construction Alliance, 233 Springfield Avenue, Suite 2 in Joliet.
JOLIET — Family-wage jobs are so important to both our local community and the broader state economy. However, Illinois’ labor market is lagging, with state unemployment hitting the unfortunate distinction of being the third highest in the nation. But fortunately, there are some signs of our state being poised to grow our way into creating more jobs here at home.
Specifically, our construction sector has grown at a pace faster than the national average – an optimistic sign. There have also been a number of proposed projects in the area that could help contribute to future job growth in the state. For example, one prospective project which holds great potential is the logistics hub in our area planned by Canadian National (CN) and Wisconsin Central LTD, who have proposed construction of a facility in the Will and Grundy area that is expected to bring in hundreds of good-paying jobs with it.
The proposed “Chicago Logistics Hub” seemingly came to the drawing board to address the growing demand for consumer goods throughout the Chicagoland area. The hub will be an important addition, generating tax revenue, streamlining access to other markets, and, most importantly, creating local jobs. The bulk of the job creation will be jobs related to the building of the facility but will span beyond that into other sectors such as warehousing, storage, transportation, e-commerce, logistics, and more.
The privately funded terminal project will not only create thousands of family-wage jobs in the construction phase of the project, but also once it’s fully built. For those of us in the construction sector, these are important, locally based, construction jobs in the onset, with the average compensation projected to be approximately $107,800. These are good-paying, family wages for community members coming our way – well-above the median household income in Will and Grundy County.
Then, even after the facility is fully built, the project is expected to create over 6,000 permanent jobs for logistic park operations and generate $350 million in wages annually. And, on top of that, they expect that all the construction jobs are to be unionized – which is great news for the local labor community here.
These good-paying jobs and broader benefits from the logistics hub cannot be overshadowed by other, amendable concerns. I acknowledge that there are some in the community who have pointed to their concerns that the hub may potentially result in a slight increase in traffic, as a reason to prevent this new business from moving into the community. I disagree with that perspective. From the conversations I had with CN representatives at the community open house meeting, and the information I have seen, this project has been developed and planned out to ensure minimal traffic impact on local roads. For example, the facility site is already located close to I-80 in an industrial area, immediately adjacent to existing logistics and warehousing facilities, with two access points planned to decrease traffic impacts on the local roadway system.
Another positive of a rail project like this is that it actually has the potential to remove 400,000 long-haul trucks per year, alleviating congestion on I-80 and I-55. Plus, with CN bringing in all of these jobs and subsequent property tax revenue for the community once the project is built, it feels like this is the start of a long-term partnership more than anything else.
I have, and always will, support projects and companies that bring good jobs for the hard- working folks of The Prairie State. As the saying goes, “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” This proposed facility will be good for Will and Grundy counties, the state of Illinois, and the region more broadly. We need to support businesses of all sorts that choose our communities to come into and create new jobs and other economic opportunities.
As a domino effect, companies coming to us with this type of logistics hub could spur new development from other great companies in the area. We must support these ventures so that Illinois’ labor market can live up to its full potential.