Opinion

Hansen: Chase for a competitive wage forces family to move

By MARC HANSEN Register Opinion Columnist 08/23/2001

This shouldn't be happening. Curt and Rhonda Stumberg and their four kids should not be moving to Arizona.

They love it here. They love the school system and their neighborhood.

But there they go. Curt leaves for Phoenix on Friday. He starts his new job Monday.

Rhonda will stay in Clive with the kids while she tries to sell the house.

They don't want to move. The twins, Taylor and Irvin, have just started first grade. Sammy is off to all-day kindergarten on the same bus.

The neighbors don't want them to move. Curt's buddy Jim, two doors down, threatens to sabotage the home sale.

He says he'll strip down to nothing but a thong and sun himself in the yard when potential buyers stop for a tour. That should scare them off.

On Friday the family returned from vacation. On Monday, Curt got the call from his company, which manufactures computer accessories in San Diego.

How was the trip? Did the twins have a cool birthday?

And one more thing. We're laying you off. As a parting gift, please accept this two-week severance package.

One minute Curt is the central regional sales manager. The next he's unemployed.

You can't blame Iowa for a California company's business problems. If the severance package were more generous, the Stumbergs would feel better about sticking it out here.

But when the paychecks stop and the mortgage payment comes due anyway, the options dwindle.

While you can't blame Iowa for what's happening on the West Coast or for the high-tech slowdown everywhere, you can curse the fact that Iowa has trouble paying a competitive wage.

Stumberg learned the hard way. If we do find you something similar, the headhunters tell him, you'll have to take a nasty cut.

"Does Iowa pay less?" says Ken Dickerson, a recruiter for the Vermillion Group in West Des Moines. "Yes, but it's probably relative to the size of the state."

Colleen Huffman, co-owner of eBizRecruiter, says that Des Moines could use a few more high-tech companies and that Stumberg would stand a better chance in Omaha.

When it comes to the tech jobs that do exist, she says, the pay can be two and three times more in the bigger cities.

There's nothing big about Grundy Center. That's where Stumberg grew up. He was that rare young person who left the state and actually came back.

When he called his old employer in Arizona for a reference, the old employer said forget the reference. How about taking your job back?

Curt's lips said yes, but his heart said no. Phoenix is a happening place, but the memories aren't all good.

"We lived in our last house there for almost three years," he says. "And we knew what, four people? In our first 48 hours here we knew almost everybody on the block."

Here's something else that makes this more difficult. After 26 years in Arizona, Rhonda's parents were on the verge of retiring to Des Moines. Which is like a skier moving from Aspen to Dubuque to sample the slopes of Iowa.

So while Rhonda packs, her parents will be unpacking.

Arizona is where Curt met Rhonda, who grew up in Tempe.

When the two got engaged 10 years ago, they visited Curt's folks in Grundy Center.

"Small-town Iowa," Rhonda says. "It was cozy and friendly. Like our neighborhood now. Everyone comes outside. They talk to you. They greet you. Tempe was great for single people and young married couples. But this is where I wanted to raise my kids."

On a pleasant night earlier this week, Rhonda stood on her deck and watched the usual swirl of commotion.

"All the kids playing capture the flag in the backyard, the people riding by on their bikes with their kids. I stood there trying not to cry."

This isn't a tragedy. Not everyone finds a new job 10 minutes after being laid off.

Families move all the time, most gaining from the experience.

Thousands of Iowans can see themselves moving to Phoenix, but how many Arizonans can picture themselves moving to Des Moines?

It isn't a tragedy. It's a shame. The experts say immigration is the key to growth in this state, and that's fine.

But how about holding onto the folks who want to be here in the first place?

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Answers

YES! ! !

Try to get this through the stupid governor's head - let's keep the people that WANT to be here and keep the over 50 group that wants to keep working. He thinks we need to import immigrants to make up for the labor shortage here. BS! !

We moved back from Phoenix because we wanted to live here in Iowa, but if I lose my clients, I will seriously think about going back to Phoenix. DH will not want to go and might not, but I have to work to pay for this farm. My oldest son (30 y/o) won't come back to Iowa, he makes a lot more in Phoenix.

Iowa says their cost of living is cheaper - maybe than CA or NY, but when what we found was that in IA to rent a 1500 sq ft house w/ 3 bedrooms and a postage stamp yard in a decent neighborhood was about $1,000/mo. We moved to Phoenix and rented a 2500 sq ft condo with all the amenities for $700/mo and later rented a 4 BR house w/ a pool in the backyard for $800/mo. Food is cheaper in AZ, utilities are about the same. The wages are at least 50% higher or more. Sorry- no contest - Phoenix wins the economics.

Yes small town IA has it's plus's, but if you can't make a living......

-- Anonymous, August 24, 2001