Governor Patrick and Senate President Murray appear poised to offer a plan they say would help grow jobs here, according to a story in today’s Boston Globe.
Growing jobs in Massachusetts should be our state’s top priority. But you have to wonder… isn’t this plan a day late and a dollar short?
The plan under discussion would create a $50 million small business tax credit, it would make $25 million of small business loans available, it would freeze unemployment insurance rates, and it would merge together several state agencies that deal with small business issues.
I give this plan some credit because these ideas all seem worthwhile to consider. There’s no question that our state needs to do something to help job growth, particularly when it comes to the small businesses that serve as the lifeblood of our economy. And I am always happy to hear of proposals to merge responsibilities in state agencies as a reform that would save us money and increase efficiency.
But it’s also worth considering that these modest proposals come on the heels of other recent decisions that have put a stranglehold on businesses here. For example, we have levied hundreds of millions of dollars of additional corporate taxes from businesses here in recent years, increases that Governor Patrick proposed and the Legislature approved. The same goes for recent hikes in the sales tax, which makes it difficult for businesses to compete in the same way that it increases costs for individual consumers.
There is no question in my mind that these tax increases, along with other business-unfriendly policies, have forced businesses and their jobs out of Massachusetts. The latest plan from Governor Patrick, however good it might be, probably won’t be enough to get those jobs back here.
So, while I applaud these most recent efforts, I have to stop and wonder if these are really heartfelt efforts to grow jobs in Massachusetts, or if they’re just window dressing on an otherwise crucial problem our state is facing. I guess only time will tell.
What do you think? Would passing these proposals make Massachusetts friendly enough for businesses to grow jobs here, or is this plan just a glimmer of hope? Please post a comment below and let’s get a discussion going.
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thought of the Day - 01/25/2010
The opening line of this story in today’s Boston Globe says it all:
“Massachusetts marked a sobering milestone last month: For the first time since World War II, the state ended a decade with fewer jobs than it had at the beginning.”
According to the article, Massachusetts has failed to replace many of the high-tech jobs that were lost when the dot-com bubble burst several years ago. At the same time, we’ve also lost a full one-third of our manufacturing jobs. The net job loss since 1999 is about 55,000 jobs.
The sad reality is that many Massachusetts families don’t need a newspaper story to tell them what’s wrong with our economy. Thousands of families are dealing with job loss as part of their daily lives, and as unemployment checks, bank accounts and retirement savings begin to run out, people are struggling to find ways to pay the bills.
When you hold up today’s Globe story against another recent article in the MetroWest Daily News, you begin to understand the real effects of this problem. According to numbers cited in the MetroWest Daily News, about 277,000 people have moved out of Massachusetts since 2000.
As far as I’m concerned, the inescapable conclusion is that, for every job Massachusetts lost, a family was forced to move out of this state to search for better opportunities elsewhere. And they took with them the job skills they sought to apply here, and the kids they sought to educate here, and the talents they sought to enrich our state with.
This trend is more than just unsustainable. It’s a recipe for economic disaster. And it’s time for our state to do something to grow jobs here.
Governor Patrick promised to do something about creating jobs in his State of the Commonwealth Address last week. But he needs to realize that Massachusetts residents need more than just another year of promises and false hope. They need jobs. Now.
How has the recession been affecting you? Do you know someone who was forced to move out of Massachusetts due to job loss? What do you think we should do about these problems? Please post a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thought of the Day - 01/15/2010
There is news in the Boston Globe today that the state’s Health Connector is taking over administering health insurance plans for about 17,000 small businesses. These businesses typically employ fewer than 5 people, and they formerly looked to a private agency, the Small Business Service Bureau, to help them administer health care costs.
It’s reported that the move could save these private employers about $300 a year in health care costs for each employee. And in this economy, those are welcome savings.
But the fact is that there are many costs that are straining small businesses these days, and our state simply isn’t doing enough to make life easier for them. And that’s unfortunate, because small businesses form the backbone of our economy.
Massachusetts needs a pro-business mentality if we hope to keep people from leaving this state, much less if we hope to attract economic activity. The number one problem facing Massachusetts residents these days is a lack of quality jobs, and our state needs to be taking the lead in creating opportunities for job growth here. And that’s true whether you’re talking about a Fortune 500 company or a budding entrepreneur starting their own business.
What do you think? What do you think our state should be doing to grow jobs? Please post a comment below and join the discussion.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Thought of the Day - 01/12/2010
Yesterday, local employer Charles River Labs announced that it plans to cease operations in Shrewsbury due to a slowdown in the biopharmaceutical industry, laying off approximately 300 employees in the process. This is the latest of a series of job reductions announced by Massachusetts employers in recent months. For my district, it’s especially bad news because it hits home.
Our state can’t afford to keep seeing bad headlines like this in the papers. Massachusetts residents need jobs. The strength of our economy depends on jobs, as does the strength of every household across the commonwealth. Whenever we hear of an employer like Charles River Labs cutting back its operations, it’s evidence that we still have a lot to do to fix our economy and to put Massachusetts back to work again.
On the surface, this decision and others like it are business judgments being made by companies across Massachusetts. It’s perfectly understandable that private sector employers would make difficult decisions to trim their budgets at a time like this, much like I’ve been urging the public sector to do. But it’s also safe to assume that the unfriendly business climate we have created for ourselves in Massachusetts is playing into such decisions, if only indirectly. Public policies like high tax rates translate into added costs for struggling businesses, and when these inescapable costs are factored in to the bottom line, they sometimes lead to other unfortunate results like job loss and factory closures.
There’s only so much we can do to help fix the global economy, and there’s no doubt that the best remedy for our job market here in Massachusetts would be a general economic turnaround. That will come, in time. But there is a lot that we can do to make Massachusetts a friendlier place for businesses to operate, like keeping taxes and fees low, maintaining a robust education system to train workers, and creating affordable housing to keep residents’ cost of living low. We’re not doing enough on that front, and if we want to avoid seeing more stories like the one involving Charles River Labs, we need to start acting now.
You can read more about Charles River Labs in this story in the Boston Business Journal. What do you think? Are you being affected by the Charles River Labs decision? What do you think the state should do to prevent stories like this in the future? Please post your thoughts below.
Our state can’t afford to keep seeing bad headlines like this in the papers. Massachusetts residents need jobs. The strength of our economy depends on jobs, as does the strength of every household across the commonwealth. Whenever we hear of an employer like Charles River Labs cutting back its operations, it’s evidence that we still have a lot to do to fix our economy and to put Massachusetts back to work again.
On the surface, this decision and others like it are business judgments being made by companies across Massachusetts. It’s perfectly understandable that private sector employers would make difficult decisions to trim their budgets at a time like this, much like I’ve been urging the public sector to do. But it’s also safe to assume that the unfriendly business climate we have created for ourselves in Massachusetts is playing into such decisions, if only indirectly. Public policies like high tax rates translate into added costs for struggling businesses, and when these inescapable costs are factored in to the bottom line, they sometimes lead to other unfortunate results like job loss and factory closures.
There’s only so much we can do to help fix the global economy, and there’s no doubt that the best remedy for our job market here in Massachusetts would be a general economic turnaround. That will come, in time. But there is a lot that we can do to make Massachusetts a friendlier place for businesses to operate, like keeping taxes and fees low, maintaining a robust education system to train workers, and creating affordable housing to keep residents’ cost of living low. We’re not doing enough on that front, and if we want to avoid seeing more stories like the one involving Charles River Labs, we need to start acting now.
You can read more about Charles River Labs in this story in the Boston Business Journal. What do you think? Are you being affected by the Charles River Labs decision? What do you think the state should do to prevent stories like this in the future? Please post your thoughts below.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thought of the Day - 10/26/2009
There's a front page story in the Boston Globe today that says the economy is forecast to grow by about 2 percent over the next year, but over the same time employers are expecting to cut about 37,000 more jobs in this state.
It's great news that the economy might be on the rebound, but that's cold comfort to people who have lost jobs or who are about to be laid off. Unemployment in this state is already at its highest level since the 1970's. Finding a job is difficult because, aside from the fact that many companies are still cutting back, many others lack enough confidence in the economy to start hiring again, even if their fiscal situation is improving.
An economic recovery in Massachusetts won’t mean much to average people until it results in jobs coming back to our state, and that's going to take some time and some effort. For its part, state government needs to do whatever it can to help the business community and boost confidence. We need a business policy that is smart and sustainable to lure companies back to the Bay State and to encourage them to stay and grow here.
It's great news that the economy might be on the rebound, but that's cold comfort to people who have lost jobs or who are about to be laid off. Unemployment in this state is already at its highest level since the 1970's. Finding a job is difficult because, aside from the fact that many companies are still cutting back, many others lack enough confidence in the economy to start hiring again, even if their fiscal situation is improving.
An economic recovery in Massachusetts won’t mean much to average people until it results in jobs coming back to our state, and that's going to take some time and some effort. For its part, state government needs to do whatever it can to help the business community and boost confidence. We need a business policy that is smart and sustainable to lure companies back to the Bay State and to encourage them to stay and grow here.
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