Midwestern workers moving away from flooded areas - Entrepreneur Generations

Last month's heavy flooding caused more than $3 billion in damage in the Midwest, but lost crops, infrastructure and buildings aren't the only likely consequence of the disaster.

Fed-up workers are moving away from the Midwest according to LinkedIn, the nation's largest professional social network. "The website, on which millions of U.S. workers maintain profiles, said data showed a spike in members changing their work location from areas flooded last month to cities in the Southwest and on the West Coast," Sebasian Malo reports for Reuters. Meanwhile, "hiring rates tracked through the platform dropped across the Midwest."

Though it's not clear whether the workers will come back eventually, repeated disasters could trigger a "sustained bleed of talent," said Guy Berger, chief economist at LinkedIn.

Those who stay, especially farmers, have tough decisions to make. "Flooded farmland isn’t expected to recede in time for many affected farmers to plant a crop this season, so they may lose a year of income," April Simpson reports for Stateline. Several Midwestern states are working on state-level disaster aid for affected citizens, but federal aid may be a while coming since Congress left for a two-week break without approving disaster aid.

Compounding the problem for farmers: the recent floods have damaged or destroyed fertile topsoil, which could make future farming difficult, Jim Ippolito and Madi Al-Kaisi report for The Conversation. Ippolito is an associate professor of environmental soil quality/health at Colorado State University. Al-Kaisi is a professor of soil management and environment at Iowa State University.

It's difficult to leave though. "I got my life in this ground," Nebraska farmer Jeff Keithley told Simpson. "I spent my life here. It’s almost an extension of me. I raised all my children here."

from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2Gs2rHY Midwestern workers moving away from flooded areas - Entrepreneur Generations

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