Not a bad problem to have

If you were to read nothing more than the headline and first paragraph of this Montgomery Advertiser report, you might reasonably conclude that Alabama's economy is falling on hard times. And you'd be wrong. Read on:

In a surprisingly frank admission Tuesday, Ed Castille, the director of Alabama Industrial Development Training, told a group of local industrialists the state is facing problems filling its work force needs. ...

"We are having more trouble finding good, qualified workers because most of everybody who wants to work in our state is working," Castille said.

Alabama's jobless rate fell to all-time lows this year, and many counties are now below 3-percent unemployment. The latest numbers show Alabama's rate is 3.6 percent, more than a full point below the national average.

That's not a bad thing, Castille said, but in that kind of market, replacing workers becomes problematic.

Ummm...OK, but I can think of plenty of things more problematic than full employment - like the fact that no matter whether times are good or bad, you can always count on someone from the government to be there to "help."