We keep hearing about Erie's need to attract manufacturing businesses to help rebuild its economy.

But how about high tech?

Everyone assumes that high-tech employers want to stick to the West Coast or big cities.

But there's a story today about Google bringing a new operation to Ann Arbor, Mich., that will create as many as 1,000 new jobs.

Those, my friends, are the kind of jobs that should be high on Erie's economic development priority list.

Sure, it's nice to see manufacturing grow and prosper. But Google is the kind of company that is most likely to grow and prosper -- given the current global economic climate.

And Google is exactly the kind of employer that appeals to the demographic of college graduates who have left Erie and would love to return home.