“This is not like bringing Amazon to town, or even traditional manufacturing or health care, because those jobs all have a much higher predominance of middle-wage and high-wage positions.” “What I worry about is the large number of people who will be in low-wage jobs that really won’t go anywhere,” Juravich said. That makes for a less reliable form of economic development. The company stresses its commitment to moving people up the career ladder, but service workers such as waiters and housekeepers typically don’t have much room to advance, said Tom Juravich, interim director of the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The MGM Springfield resort and casino, under construction on Main Street, is due to open in late summer - in a city with a 6.6 percent jobless rate.
