Tourism jobs compared to mining or industrial jobs

Much has been said about a tourism based local economy being superior to an industrial or mining based economy because tourism is renewable and consumes fewer natural resources. During the 1980's, I lived in a small village in the mountains of western Montana and had the opportunity to compare the lifestyles of families employed in tourism to that of families employed in mining.

This valley was blessed with a variety of tourism options; fly fishing in the famous Madison River and big game hunting for elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer. Hiking, camping, dude ranches and photography were also popular. It was located along one of the main travel routes to Yellowstone Park.

In a typical tourism employed family both the husband and wife worked irregular hours at several different minimum wage jobs during the tourist season. The husband worked as a fishing guide for the months of May through September and as a hunting guide during October and November. The wife worked in the restaurants or hotels during from May through October. When winter arrived, the family hoped that they had accumulated sufficient weeks of earnings so they could receive unemployment compensation. If not, they would have to leave the valley to find work until spring. The typical tourism-employed family was unable to buy a home in the village and had no healthcare coverage.

The owners of the tourism businesses had varied success. Some of the people who had built their business from scratch over the years appeared to make a good income. Several families who moved into the valley and bought an established tourism business were unable to make the loan payments and lost the business and their considerable down payment. In some ways the local economy was fueled by the broken dreams and life savings of the Eastern families that visited and fell in love with this valley and sold everything to buy a business here.

Tourism is based on people from other areas, with extra disposable income, choosing to spend it by touring in a different area. Economic slow downs or unforeseen events can severely impact a tourism-based economy. In this case, the 1988 Yellowstone Park fires filled this valley with thick smoke for three months, greatly reducing the tourist traffic during the prime summer months.

The typical mining employed family's husband or wife (the mine crew was about 35% female) worked 40 hour weeks year round, except for paid vacation time. The miners earned wages three to five times the minimum wage, received paid medical, dental, and life insurance, a company matched 401k savings plan and a retirement program. The typical mining family was able to purchase a home and could save money for their future needs. In this valley, a job at the mine was by far the best available way to support one's family.

The mine in this valley was started in the 1940's and is still operating today. Its main product is a finely ground talc mineral that is used in the paper industry as a pollution control agent. The talc absorbs the sticky pitch from softwood pulp and keeps it in the product stream, rather than washing it out and wasting it. This product was sold in North America, Europe and Japan.

A Citizen for Responsible Mining
Guy Jeske