Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi’s decision to produce the company’s popular Corolla compact sedan at the Blue Springs plant by fall, 2011 is a decision that will benefit Ripley and Tippah County in many ways.

When the plant ramps up to full production, about 2,000 people are expected to be employed, company officials have said. At least some of those people will likely come from Tippah County, bringing paychecks back here, and helping cut the county’s unemployment rate.

The Toyota jobs are good ones in terms of stability. Toyota doesn’t over-hire in good times and lay off in bad ones. Recently published reports indicated that since 2006, American automobile industry jobs have fallen off some 36 percent. The number of Toyota jobs, however, has remained unchanged during that same time period.

Those jobs will be more technical than the furniture jobs they’re replacing, however. It will be a challenge for area schools to insure that they’re turning out graduates who are capable of getting and keeping thee jobs.

That will be a tough assignment in light of these difficult economic times for education, but the reward is well worth the effort and expense needed to achieve it.