Rocket City Sees Surplus of Jobs with Pentagon Relocations

BOSTON — The Pentagon’s 2005 decision to move thousands of jobs from the Washington area to Huntsville, Ala., has given the so-called Rocket City a rare commodity in the current economic recession – a surplus of jobs.

While military officials say they are on track to fill today’s vacancies as well as those that will open over the course of the next several years, they note that they are facing challenges in doing so.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is moving 2,248 positions to Redstone Arsenal in response to recommendations from the most recent Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC).

But many employees of the Arlington, Va.-based agency are reluctant to move to
Huntsville
, according to an MDA official.

The reasons MDA employees cite for wanting to remain in the
Washington
area include other career opportunities in the nation’s capital, family ties and concerns about selling their homes in a down market.

While MDA is trying to convince as many of its
Washington
area employees as possible to move with their jobs to
Huntsville
, so far only an estimated 15 percent appear committed to relocating. Another 28 percent say they are undecided, according to the MDA official.

MDA currently has 150 openings at Redstone that it is trying to fill. The agency is actively recruiting engineers, contract managers, program managers, scientists, accounting and finance specialists, business managers and logistics managers, the agency official said.

MDA’s
efforts to encourage
Washington
area employees to move to
Huntsville
include hosting the Tennessee Valley Chamber of Commerce for presentations on living and working in
Huntsville
. The agency is also offsetting some of the moving expenses for those who will relocate, the agency official said.

Like MDA, Army Materiel Command is moving its headquarters from the
Washington
area to
Huntsville
as well. Both agencies have September 2011 deadlines for completing their moves.

Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for Army Materiel Command, said the acquisition and logistics organization is moving 829 positions from the
Washington
area to
Huntsville
and has made “great progress” so far in filling them.

However, the command is facing hiring challenges that include the specialized nature of the work it handles, the sheer number of employees needed, and competition with Redstone’s other tenants for the same talent pool, she said in a March 25 e-mail.

One of those tenants is the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, which moved its headquarters to
Huntsville
from
Washington
following BRAC recommendations. That move was completed in 2007.

Marco Morales, a spokesman for the command, said that the organization moved 180 positions – 135 uniformed military and government civilians and 45 contractors – from
Washington
.

Morales said in a March 19 e-mail that the command has staffed those positions, though he noted that scheduled rotations and retirements had created some vacancies.

MDA and Army Materiel Command are getting help in their recruitment efforts from local officials, including Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, who has been touting the advantages of living in
Huntsville
to those in the
Washington
area, including less traffic and a lower cost of living.

Battle
said he and other
Huntsville
officials also are reaching beyond
Washington
to recruit new residents.

In a March 30 interview,
Battle
noted that they have had the most luck attracting younger people, which he said could make the local work force younger and benefit the military in the area by bringing in more fresh ideas.

Battle
said the total number of government and related support jobs that will come to
Huntsville
over the next several years could be around 10,000, with the average salary around $80,000.

Gloria Laster, executive vice president at o2ideas, a Birmingham, Ala.-based corporate communications and brand relations firm, said her company is hoping to earn a contract from MDA and Army Materiel Command to help them entice people to move to
Huntsville
through a branding effort promoting the area’s strengths and quality of life.

Laster
said in a March 19 interview that her firm has worked on similar campaigns in the past on behalf of companies like Honda that have relocated jobs to Alabama. She said
Huntsville
has an identity and character on par with high-tech cultural centers such as
Palo Alto
,
Calif.
, and the Research Triangle in
North Carolina
.

The primary challenge is convincing potential job applicants to visit the area, Laster said.

“A great branding campaign would help win the hearts and minds of people being recruited to come here,” she said. “Once people get here, and see the area, meet the friendly people of Huntsville and see the cost of living difference, they like it.”