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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Do jobs follow broadband in rural areas? Interesting article:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203637.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203637.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Rural Riddle: Do Jobs Follow
Broadband Access?</span></font></b><br>
Two Hamlets That Got High-Speed Lines Show Wildly Different Results<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>By
Cecilia Kang<br>
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>
Post Staff Writer<br>
Thursday, April 23, 2009 </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In the
southwest corner of Virginia, where tobacco farms meet the Appalachian
Mountains, two towns desperately in need of an economic boost were given what
many had hoped would be a kick-start: access to high-speed Internet. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But there
the paths of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and Rose Hill diverged. One attracted two large companies that created 700
good-paying jobs for residents. In the other, only a few home-based businesses
got off the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>President
Obama has touted broadband as a means toward transforming rural and low-income
areas, setting aside $7.2 billion in the stimulus plan to help create jobs and
close the "digital divide." He has been joined in his support by a
chorus of countries, including <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
which recently said it would spend $31 billion laying fiber and other networks
to get ahead in an emerging high-tech global economy. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><img
border=0 width=227 height=278 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:image004.jpg@01C9C8B5.C0EA5BF0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Despite
the support for publicly funded broadband networks -- and the push by private
companies to jump into the fray -- some have questioned whether bringing
high-speed Internet has a direct effect on jobs and the economy. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Many
high-tech companies have heralded a January report by the Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation, a research organization, that stated that
an investment of $10 billion in broadband networks across the country would
create nearly 500,000 jobs, including the hard-hat jobs digging trenches and
laying fiber lines. Other positions would come from businesses that rise from
high-tech innovation and better productivity, the report said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But some
economists have questioned such predictions, saying that bringing high-speed
Internet to rural areas is much more complicated. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"For
the idea that some sort of magical economic development will occur, there is no
evidence that that can happen," said Robert W. Crandall, a senior fellow
at the Brookings Institution who has studied the issue. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Some
potential subscribers may not see the benefit of getting online, while others
may not be able to afford the monthly service fees. Residents with limited
exposure to technology and low education levels may struggle to meet the job
qualifications of tech-sector positions. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"You
can't just drop an Internet line and expect jobs growth. Getting broadband
access is only the first part," said Larry Irving, former head of the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Supporters
of broadband as a way to jump-start an economy cite <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> as an example of how
technology can change a town. High-speed Internet came three years ago after
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), and Mark R. Warner, then governor, helped get $2.3
million in grants to bring fiber-optic pipes to homes and business parks. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
defense contractor Northrop Grumman and the software maker CGI set up
facilities and created jobs for about 700 people, with salaries averaging
$50,000 a year, Boucher said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><img
border=0 width=350 height=219 id="_x0000_i1026"
src="cid:image005.jpg@01C9C8B5.C0EA5BF0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-right:397.5pt'><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>Sarah Jones, 12, helps Hailey Sailor, 8, at Rose Hill
Community Library. Rose Hill got public money for high-speed lines.
<span class=credit>(Wade Payne - Www.thepurplelens.com/wade Payne)</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It helped
that district planners at the same time converted an old strip mall to a
training center that allowed residents to get their high school equivalency
diplomas and prepare for jobs as technicians and information technology
workers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"They
took a holistic view of its workforce with support programs, and they see it as
a long process," said Karen Jackson, director of Virginia's Office of Telework
Promotion and Broadband Assistance. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>CGI said
it was attracted by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
willingness to train workers and by higher levels of education than in other
parts of the region. About 71 percent of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s residents have a high
school diploma, compared with Rose Hill, where only 29 percent do, according to
the census. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><img
border=0 width=350 height=193 id="_x0000_i1033"
src="cid:image006.jpg@01C9C8B5.C0EA5BF0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-right:397.5pt'><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>In Rose Hill, at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">Virginia</st1:State></st1:place>'s southwest corner, no companies
have moved in and just a few people have started home businesses since
high-speed Internet lines were installed. <span class=credit>(Photos By Wade
Payne For The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>
Post)</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The story
of Rose Hill is more nuanced. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Telecommunications
and cable service providers had been unwilling to bring in broadband networks.
The costs of laying fiber lines and building cell towers among miles of fallow
tobacco farms and through mountainous terrain would never be recovered by
subscriber fees, they said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But two
years ago, with the help of Boucher, fiber lines were brought to Rose Hill's
700 residents. The town was able to tap money from a state tobacco settlement
fund for broadband projects and a rural telecommunications program run through
the U.S. Department of Agriculture. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At a cost
of $700,000 for 140 homes, fat fiber-optic pipes came. A local telecom carrier
offered in-home service for $49 a month. Free broadband came to the town's
library. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One in
three homes signed up for the service. Only a handful of jobs were created. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Joan
Minor was able to work from her home in Rose Hill, where she writes grants and
is paid by the Agriculture Department to run the community's Web site. Mike
Bacon kept his franchise with NAPA Auto Parts through a few swift keystrokes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
changed my business, and I'm getting better deals than before," said
Bacon, who is now an online bargain-hunter. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Derek
Turner, research director for public advocacy group Free Press, said the social
benefits of providing broadband to all Americans are enormous, as it would
allow people in remote areas like Rose Hill to be engaged in cultural and
social trends. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But
getting people to subscribe to online services and translating the availability
of broadband to economic growth is a harder to achieve. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>And the
education gap cannot be dismissed, said John Horrigan, director of the Pew
Internet & American Life Project. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
Economic Development 101 to try to improve the supply of infrastructure to make
a locality more attractive for businesses, but you do need a skilled workforce
to fully exploit that," Horrigan said. "In rural <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, for
broadband adoption, skills and relevance still remain a barrier." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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