Vermont enduring shortage of youth

Vermont enduring shortage of youth

Fewer babies born; students leave state

By Pam Belluck
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

March 4, 2006

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Poultney, a town of 3,600 bordering New York, is just one example of an increasingly alarming situation in Vermont. This state of beautiful mountains and popular ski resorts, once a magnet for back-to-the-landers from New York and elsewhere, is losing young people at a fast clip. Vermont now has the lowest birthrate in the country. Three-quarters of its public schools have lost students since 2000.

The state also has the highest rate of residents attending college elsewhere – 57 percent, up from 36 percent 20 years ago. Many do not move back. Vermont has lost 19 percent of its 20-to 34-year-olds since 1990.

Vermont Gov. James Douglas is treating the situation like a crisis. He proposes making Vermont the “Silicon Valley” of environmental technology companies to lure businesses and workers; giving college scholarships requiring students to stay in Vermont for three years after graduating; relaxing once-sacrosanct environmentally driven building restrictions in some areas to encourage more housing; and campaigning at high schools and elementary schools to encourage students “to focus now on making a plan to stay in Vermont,” said Jason Gibbs, a spokesman for Douglas.

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While Vermont's young population shrinks, senior citizens are multiplying because Vermont increasingly attracts retirees from other states. It's now the second-oldest state, behind Maine. Without more working people, “we won't have tax revenue for anything other than public education and Medicaid,” Douglas said. “There'll be no money for anything else.”

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Fewer babies are being born in part because Vermont has few immigrants, who tend to have larger families. Vermont also has lost many good-paying jobs, driving away young people, especially well-educated ones, and further discouraging businesses. In Poultney, a working-class and college town, it seems like many young people have heeded the call of a former Poultney resident, Horace Greeley, to “Go West” – or south or east, for that matter.

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Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060304/news_1n4vermont.html

It's blue and beautiful. Great place to raise a family, good schools, great communities.

But the wife is a Florida gal, likes the cold but not the snow.

However, I have made it clear that if I were to suddenly become uber-rich, my compound would be built in Vermont!

We have one of the highest minimum wages in the country, not that that helps much. Maybe not enough well paying jobs. The climate is challenging. Aside from Burlington, it's a rural state. I moved here when I was in my twenties. Loved it to distraction then, love it even more now.