Are Garment Industry Jobs a step back for EP?

possibly moving to el paso. but why here? “we have a lot of options, chin or bangladesh or mexico or guatemala, but we try to open our factory here … because we want to focus on made in usa, that’s why we come to here.” daejae kim owns tres bien, a korean american apparel manufacturing company based in l-a. several economic issues, including a local minimum wage jumping to 15 dollars by 2020 — has kim and others considering a move to el paso. that very reason though has some in el paso concerned about jobs like these coming to our area. abc-seven’s complete coverage continues with abc- 7’s darren hunt … darren. rick/estela, with a- b-c news’s focus on products “made i america … ” i found i interesting on a day when g-e sent 500 jobs offshore … these korean- american manufacturers were trying to keep two to four thousand jobs in the country. but are these the kind of jobs we want here in el paso? “we are trying to make a made i usa product in the el paso area … ” “its very important for you t be made in usa?” “yeah right.” daejae kim is member of a korean-american apparel group out of l-a … he’s looking for buildings in el paso this week to move his company. “they are very proud of sayin these garments are made in usa.” brett preston manages a commercial real estate company showing properties to the korean- american companies. “when i went and met with the in la and went through some of the plants and went through their showrooms, these are very passionate american manufacturers … if el paso doesn’t work, it’s probably going to go offshore.” however, preston admitted city leaders are not exactly excited about a possible return to apparel manufacturing. “i think its muted and that’s disappointing from my end again because i see it as this builds a base.” “el paso used to be an appare manufacturing center with more than 20-thousand jobs … in fact the fountains at farah shopping center used to be the farah manufacturing plant, but many of those jobs went to other countries in the mid-90’s due to cheaper labor.” “there is an experienced appare manufacturing workforce history here in el paso.” i reached ou to the city and borderplex alliance about the korean- american businesses possibly relocating here, but i didn’t hear back from them … so i spoke with utep economics professor dr. tom fullerton. “this is a good opportunity and it will create several thousand new jobs if the volume of jobs materializes.” but fullerto added: “there’s no need to give away property tax abatements, they are going to save money by moving here.” fullerton said the city should welcome all new job opportunities … but added a lower cost of doing business here should be incentive enough for these companies to move. rick? darren, thank you. some say they’re the forgotten