Aquariums Bring Real Jobs

I can't begin to tell you how many jobs a downtown Greensboro Aquarium might bring to Greensboro but I can tell you what some of those jobs might be and what they might pay.

Marine biologists earn from $36,000 to over $100,000 per year.

"The average yearly wages of chemists were $71,070 in May 2008. Materials scientists had average yearly wages of $81,600. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, beginning salary offers in July 2009 for graduates with a bachelor's degree in chemistry averaged $39,897 a year." --BLS.gov

Pharmaceutical engineer earn an average of $84,000 per year

According to Payscale.com, college professors like those who might be teaching at the Greensboro Aquarium earn from $57,350 to $104,260 a year plus bonuses. There would also be skilled trades involved in maintaining the aquarium that would require specialists in HVAC, welders, pipefitters, electricians, computer technicians and more. None of these skills come cheap.

Of course, these would all be full time jobs. There would also be other lesser paying full time jobs as well as part time jobs with wages I can't begin to discern. And how does this compare to some of the best paying jobs a downtown performing arts center might bring us? From Salary of a Theatrical Technician

"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, set designers in the theater company industry earned an average 2010 salary of $39,620 per year. Audio, video and sound engineering technicians typically earn higher salaries than set designers. Federal statistics report that audio and video equipment technicians in the theater industry earned an average salary of $45,020 per year as of May 2010. Sound engineering technicians, who record the tracks needed to be used during a theatrical production, earned an average salary of $47,110 per year in 2010.

Construction technicians are employed by theater companies in order to create the sets, lighting plots and sound design constructed by the design technician staff. Carpenters and electricians involved in theatrical construction both earn better average salaries than technical design staff. Federal statistics reported that the average 2010 salary for carpenters employed by theater companies was $51,800 per year, while electricians earned $55,730 per year. Painters employed by theater companies earned much lower salaries among construction staff members, averaging $30,930 per year as of 2010."

In other words, there is no comparison. And that's without making mention of the businesses that will grow around the aquarium, restaurants, shops, hotels, truck and bus dealers, shuttles, food trucks owned by Greensboro restaurants, garages, body shops, distribution warehouses, feed suppliers, agricultural industries and hundreds of other locally owned small businesses that a performing arts center could never bring to Greensboro.