GREENBAY, WISCONSIN The numbers projected by the video cannon rattle on the wall: $56 an hour, overtime $76 an hour.
With these salaries, you can easily earn more than 9,000 dollars or 8,400 euros per month.
Evan Vandersteeg listens with interest when the teacher John Hippensteel tells about e-mails received from different companies. Renewable energy companies inquire how they can hire students.
A lesson in a program focusing on solar energy is underway at a Wisconsin university of applied sciences. The program has expanded in a couple of years, because the demand for professionals is strong.
Vandersteeg has always been interested in energy. I chose renewable energy as my field precisely because of the job opportunities.
– I read an article in which it was said that almost half of the solar energy companies have difficulty finding skilled labor. When I graduate, I will most likely get a job easily, he says.
According to Vandersteeg, the good job prospects are largely thanks to the presidential administration’s gigantic financial package.
Up to 500 billion dollars of the funding package aimed at repairing and building US infrastructure is intended specifically for innovations and projects related to renewable energy. That is more than five times the amount of the Finnish state’s annual budget.
There has been a financial package Joe Biden the most important goal of the presidency, for many different reasons. Biden wanted to fight climate change and at the same time guarantee the competitiveness of the United States in the future by financing the leap towards a renewable energy economy.
At the same time, he stressed that the infrastructure package would bring good-paying jobs to the United States for those working-class Americans whose working situation has worsened over the years after factories fled abroad and the trade union weakened.
In addition, of course, Biden hoped that the voters of the Midwestern states like Evan Vandersteeg would consider all of this so significant that a second term as president would be secured for Biden.
Among the Midwestern states, Wisconsin and Michigan in particular play an important role in this presidential election because either presidential candidate can win. That’s why there is a tough fight for the voters of these states.
The US economic lead is breaking
Evan Vandersteeg calculates that he can soon make over a hundred thousand dollars a year. The estimate is quite believable, because according to Salary.com, a website that collects salary data, the average salary of engineers specializing in solar energy is well over one hundred thousand dollars, or more than 92,000 euros per year.
In Finland, the merits would easily guarantee entry into the ranks of the highest paid. However, a direct comparison is absurd, because taxes and expenses are very different in the United States and Finland, from education and health care to food and rent.
There are many reasons for the strong US economy. Economists often point to flexible labor markets and energy self-sufficiency as important factors.
The state’s wild support packages, such as the stimulus packages rolled out during the corona pandemic and Biden’s infrastructure package, still get the most attention.
In the grip of “emotional depression”.
The United States poured thousands of billions of dollars into its national economy, while Europe revived more modestly. Now US National Debt is 120 percent in relation to the total annual production.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is concerned about the situation. At the beginning of April, the IMF wrote in its report that the US’s strong economic growth is partly due to a consumption policy that is not on a sustainable basis.
A certain anxiety about the economic situation can also be seen in opinion polls. Although the economy is growing, there are jobs and wages are rising, only a third of Americans like it financial situation as good or excellent. Fewer than one in four expect the economy to develop in a better direction during the year.
In the United States, the term vibeseccion has been used for the situation. Although the country is not in recession, it feels like it is, and the outlook for the future is bleak.
Evan Vandersteeg believes that the upcoming presidential election will have a significant impact on the economy.
– If Biden continues as president, the economy will remain like this, but prices will probably continue to rise. If [Donald] Trump win, things might turn around and maybe go back to the way they were in the longer term, he says.
In the video below, Vandersteeg reflects on his career choice:
The economy is important in an election year
Vandersteeg is voting in the elections for the first time. He doesn’t know who to vote for yet. According to him, the voting decision will be decided by energy policy.
– I know that Democratic candidate Biden cares about clean energy more than any previous presidential candidate has ever cared, he says.
Traditionally, the country’s economic situation has been thought to be the most decisive factor in elections. If the economy is doing well, the party or president in power has a good chance of winning another election.
However, for the past few years, opinion polls have found that Americans are very biased in their economic thinking. Democratic voters think the economy is doing well when a Democrat is in power. Republicans think the same when a Republican is in power.
In the fall elections, Biden and Trump, both of whom have served as president, will face each other. It is still difficult to assess their performance in economic policy due to the exceptional circumstances created by the corona pandemic.
– It’s difficult to say [kumpi olisi parempi taloudelle]. It’s different now than it was when Trump was president. Biden has done a terrible job, but I don’t know if Trump would be any better, says Vandersteeg’s classmate Justin Gottshall and adds that he hates Trump.
When economic policy is difficult to compare, other factors become more prominent.
Evan Vandersteeg seems to like Biden’s energy policy, but his age worries him.
– I believe that Trump will win. Biden is so old. It’s so obvious. The whole world is laughing at us, he says.