I can still remember him saying, “I am tired of filling out all of the employment applications day in and day out. I mean, why should I keep this up because all the good jobs are taken?”

I overheard this comment as I was having breakfast in Overtown at Jackson’s Soul Food restaurant on one sunny Wednesday morning a few weeks ago. I had to pause and think for a second about what was happening.

Here stood this young man, a product of our community aptly dressed in a blue suit, speaking about a reality we all know too much about. I was saddened by his comments because I could tell that he was someone who has been desperately seeking a job to take care of his family.

What in the heck are we doing as a community?

I mean, we are arguing about what industries we should be bringing to Miami and which ones we should not. We are having seminars about casinos, gambling and affordable housing (that is not really affordable) while our young people are leaving and our middle class is shrinking faster than the ship that is off the coast of Italy.

Perplexed reaction

I am perplexed by it all.

I remember when I graduated from college in the mid 1980s. There were jobs to be had, and I had my pick of what I wanted to do. Some paid good wages and others not so good.

But in the end, with entry-level skills I had a shot at both of them, and the company reps I spoke to were eager to speak to me.

I am concerned about the city called Miami that I love so much. Statistics have shown that our recent wage structures are reasonably lower than the national average and our cost of living is above that. Not a good formula for success.

As my son plans to move to Jacksonville so that he can live in an affordable city I have become concerned that he might not ever return.

I also am concerned that we are losing more than just the young professionals who are leaving here in droves. I’m concerned that many of us think that it is OK.

We believe that it is OK because we are attracting more foreign-born young professionals and that somehow our new top professions will make Miami this new 22nd-century golden city on the coast and that our newfound reputation will outshine the Miami of old.

Ultimate responsibility

I am concerned because somehow we have forgotten that we really do have an ultimate responsibility to our children and long-time Miami residents.

Everywhere I go in Miami I meet people who are from other places. Not forgetting that I am a transplant, I still ask people (and often) where they are from.

Almost 80 percent of the folks I meet are from somewhere else. You have to be over 40 years old for the percentage to move down to 60 percent. Under that age you will most likely be from somewhere else.

At an FIU leadership Conference on Tuesday someone asked me, “Bill, what is the best way to fix this trend? How do we take care of our homegrown talent?”

I answered, “Give them a way to communicate with our leadership.”

Stop talking about how millionaires and affluent companies are spending their money.

Call instead for a local countywide discussion on the retention of our young professionals.

The solution is not an easy one because what we are asking for is for our leadership (whether elected or civic-minded people or “perceived” leaders) not to take the easy way out.

Novel idea

What a novel idea it would be to create a dialogue between those who want to stay in the city that they love and those who claim to love it.

Imagine if we decided as a city that we would create a retention strategy for our young professionals.

I know what I want our first goal to be, and that is for us to find that young man who I overheard at Jackson’s on that sunny Wednesday morning and help him land the good job he deserves.

Bill Diggs is president and CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce.