Priority One: Job Creation For Worcester Region
In 2010, the biggest issue for Worcester area business owners will clearly be jobs. We’ll be talking about creating them, maintaining them and filling them.
Though Greater Worcester hasn’t had the same level of problems as some other communities, the past few years have been marred by volatility in the job market (and just about everywhere else). But in 2010, I believe we’ll start to see the beginning of a rebound, though it won’t be easy or quick.
Climbing Back
Massachusetts is in a historic hole jobwise — as bad as it’s been in about 12 years, by some accounts. It takes a lot of time and persistence to dig out of a hole that deep.
And though there have been some positive signs that we’re rebounding as a state, I share your concerns that we’ve met some of our economic benchmarks on the backs of one-time payments. Yet, I also know that the economic indicators cited by pessimists and optimists alike seem to signal that we’ve hit the bottom. If that’s true — and I believe it is — we should start to see a slow recovery in job creation. (That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods. Actual tax revenues lag two or so cycles behind on budget cycles, so we may still experience a lag in our recovery and growth.)
As a state with an economy heavily dependent on people working — we’re not as consumer-based as some other states — job creation is clearly vital. Local officials and those of us at the State House must do what we can to stimulate the job market, in order to keep our tax revenues at a sustainable level. We must continue to look at both fiscal and policy proposals to stimulate job growth.
For Greater Worcester business owners, that will mean the ability to hire and keep more workers, and grow their businesses. For workers, it means the ability to put food on the table and support a family.
We also need to ensure not just that we’re creating jobs, but that we’re creating quality jobs. To that end, I anticipate that much of that growth in Worcester will come from biotech and the health care industry over the next several years.
To be fair, it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation: We need people working to increase revenues and keep the state economy healthy, but we need to spend on programs to stimulate job growth.
Still, there is movement. The legislature is working on a bill that would give Worcester and other “gateway cities” important tools including tax incentives and corporate tax credits for job creation. Worcester continues to make good use of the TIF (tax increment financing) program, which gives businesses and developers who create jobs and invest in their facilities abatements. And Worcester has taken steps to make it easier for new companies to setup shop with an expedited permitting process.
Though I know more needs to be done, I’m very encouraged by what I see in the Worcester area, and know that the region is poised well for the economic recovery and for the job market recovery that is upon us.
Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, is the state senator representing Berlin, Boylston, Holden, Paxton, Princeton, West Boylston as well as portions of Worcester, Clinton and Northborough.
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