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Subscribe to PrintBy Barbara Anderson / The Fresno Bee
The price tag for cleaning the air runs into the billions.But there's another expense that's harder to calculate -- the cost of not cleaning the air. Experts say Valley residents pay for dirty air in the loss of "human capital" -- skilled workers the region needs to prosper.Some of the Valley's most valuable employees, fed up with waiting for better air, are leaving. Among them are doctors, dentists, nurses and other educated workers who are already in short supply.Smog also hurts the Valley's reputation and discourages skilled workers from taking jobs here.A lack of educated workers, in turn, hurts Valley businesses and causes others to look elsewhere for office and plant locations."What you're losing are people who have resources and talent that we need to help grow the economy," said John Quiring, owner of CMQ Associates, a Fresno company that specializes in economic development planning.Among those who have left is Dr. Brian Shaw. And smog was a big factor in his decision to close his Fresno pediatric orthopedic practice after 13 years and move to Colorado in 2004.Shaw said he had developed asthma in Fresno and "it just got progressively worse." His four children also had breathing problems.The family now lives in Colorado Springs, where the air is clean year-round, Shaw said: "You can see 80 to 100 miles most days. We live at 6,800 feet. The air is a little thin -- but it's clear."No one tracks how many people flee the Valley for cleaner air. But from 1995 to 2000, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, the region from Madera to Bakersfield had a net loss of 3,000 college graduates while gaining 13,000 adults without high school diplomas. The Valley can ill afford to lose educated workers. Only 12% of adults here have bachelor's degrees, compared to 24% statewide.The most prosperous cities boast large skilled-labor pools, said Perry Wong of the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica think tank. Nationwide, professionals are 13% to 14% of the labor force. In the Valley, they are 9% to 10%, he said.Higher-paid professionals contribute to the economy not only with their skills, but through their spending. They buy large homes and expensive goods and services. Their sales and property taxes support schools and public safety.Economists say the Valley should be appealing: It's an affordable place to live. And a population of nearly 4 million is big enough to sustain a skilled work force.But it takes more to draw and keep educated workers. The Valley has to be an attractive place to live -- and smog is not a selling point."Air quality is part of a package of what communities have to offer to attract professional and other highly skilled workers," said Stephen Levy, director of the independent Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto."Things like adequate housing and good schools and air quality become important, because people -- not just businesses -- have a choice of where they live and work," Levy said.Many business leaders in the Valley know that bad air is a problem."There is no doubt among the business community that air quality is an issue" in luring and keeping knowledge workers, said Pete Weber, co-chairman of the Regional Jobs Initiative, a public-private partnership aimed at expanding and diversifying the Valley's jobs base.Nowhere is the skilled-worker shortage more apparent than in the Valley's medical community, which has struggled for years to recruit professionals. The Valley has the lowest doctor-to-patient ratio of any area in the state.Continued on the next page >