Eight Southern states, organized by a MI research group, try to relocate R&D in South

[Wesley Mouch]

When Toyota built a plant in Alabama, lured by the low taxes and millions in breaks and subsidies, they quickly found that the cost of training employees was extremely high. The local workforce in Alabama was low-skill and had little education. So many of them were functionally-illiterate that Toyota had to train them how to use complex machinery using pictorials.

When it came time to decide where to build their new RAV-4 plant, Alabama enticed them with tens of millions in tax breaks and credits. Toyota turned them down, and instead decided to build their new plant in Woodstock, Ontario. They found the Canadian workers to be highly-educated and highly-skilled, 70% of them had at least some college education. They required very little training when compared to their Alabama counterparts.

The old adage of "you get what you pay for" rings true. Taxes and labor costs were almost certainly far higher in Canada than in Alabama, but in exchange Toyota got workers that were far far far superior and cost way less to train.

So then why did VW locate in TN? Examples are easy to come by. Just find one that fits your narrative, and your all set.

Bottom line here is that we do live in a competitive world, and there will be those gunning for our jobs every year. All we can do is be the best, most adaptable, progressive city we can be!