Kansas legislators hope to lay the groundwork this session for more aviation jobs to land and take root in the Sunflower State.

Representative J.R. Claeys, 69th District tells KSAL News that jobs in the aviation sector have been relocating out of state for over a decade, taking with them graduates with Kansas college degrees.

According to Claeys, since 2005, Kansas has lost 18-percent of aviation based jobs – not to Mexico or China, but to states like Oklahoma and North Carolina. Claeys added, during that time period, “Oklahoma has increased their aviation jobs by 94-percent. North Carolina is up 110-percent,” he said.

 

Representative Claeys added a plan to incentivize employers would help turn the tide.

The various proposals would give aviation related shops a tax break on paying back the loans on the graduates they hire from Kansas universities. “The employer is getting the benefit of the workforce,” he said. “And the workers have an incentive to stay in Kansas.”

Claeys and three other area legislators will be back in Salina for their second update on Saturday, March 16th at the Salina Area Chamber’s Annex on Ash Street.

The meeting begins at 8:30am and is free and open to the public.