[Sherylcatmom]

Economic Opportunity and the Jobs of the Future

The Commission on the Future of Economic Development
for Vermont (CFED) is hosting public meetings throughout the state to stimulate local, regional and state conversations on specific strategies to create jobs and opportunities for you and your children, for entrepreneurs and businesses and employers of all sizes in our communities. CFED is seeking your ideas and specific suggestions on what the state's role and priorities should be in the next five, ten or twenty years.

May 5, Monday, 5:30-7:30pm in Middlebury- Kirk Alumni Auditorium Middlebury College

May 8, Thursday, 5:30-7:30pm in White River Jct - American Legion Club

May 21, Wednesday, 5:30-7:30pm in Burlington - location TBA

[mustmove]

HA- VT needs more commissions hiring more people to figure out what commissions VT needs to hire more people... Tax money is freeeeee

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by mustmove

HA- VT needs more commissions hiring more people to figure out what commissions VT needs to hire more people... Tax money is freeeeee

The last State Commission whose hearings I followed and testified at didn't cost the taxpayers a cent. No one was hired to work on the 8 public hearings, although 2 existing State staff members served some administrative needs. The Commission members were not reimbursed for travel or meals and were not paid for their time. You might look into other State Commissions, including this one, as that may be true for them as well.

[flu189]

The concept is good and the timing is critical. Unfortunately for any meaningful and productive change to occur, the legislature needs to change their focus and outlook or rather the legislature needs an overhaul. We spend too much time and effort on frivilous bills, studies, paying ridiculous consultant fees, promoting utopian visions, instead of taking a pragmatic look at the here and now and what to do to effect real policies that will generate real and widespread economic opportunity.

[MTK1]

On a related topic there was in interesting article recently in Seven Days by Doug Hoffer an independent policy analyst in Burlington. The current administration has had a horrible track record in creating jobs.

In the last 12 months, the number of net new private sector jobs in Vermont was zero — none. For comparison, the median during the 1990s was 5700 per year.

From July 2003 to January 2008, Vermont gained 7000 private-sector jobs — a 2.8 percent increase. That might sound pretty good, until you consider that U.S. job growth was more than twice that — 6.9 percent.

Since Douglas’ first budget took effect in July 2003, the state and federal governments have spent about $100 million each in Vermont for core economic development activities. And that doesn’t include secondary or dual-purpose expenditures such as higher education, affordable housing, energy efficiency, transportation, telecom and childcare.

So having invested $200 million, we spent approximately $28,000 per net new job, many of which are low-wage. At this rate, it will take more than 20 years to get that money back in taxes. Not a great return on investment.

The problem is Vermont’s economy is not providing enough jobs at good wages for all those who want and need them, and anyone concerned about the availability of skilled workers ought to address this rather than fret about demographics. If you can earn 30 to 60 percent more in New York or Boston, is it any wonder some people leave?





Is Vermont Really on the Job? | Seven Days#

[flu189]

Job creation and business expansion, especially the kinds that can weather through periods of economic stress, are indeed critical, but by implying that the governor, whoever it may be at any particular time, is the major cause of either lackluster growth or prosperity for that matter is a bit of stretch. The legislative body as a whole and their actual performance has much more bearing in addition to external factors beyond our borders. We now need to focus on realistic and pragamtic approaches to provide initial stability and then hopefully sustained growth which will provide real opportunities for real people to garner employment to sustain themselves and their families and not create a dependant class on the public dole. Lets hope that durng the next legislative session frivilous, utopian, and the nice to have yet unecessary agendas can be tabled to really focus on reality in terms of what really matters to current day to day concerns and issues. Get the real work done first, then if time and money permits go ahead and fool around, not the other way around as we have seen with all the self congradulatory backslapping and sudden recognition of issues during the last weeks of each of the last three sessions that I have experienced in this state.

[GypsySoul22]

I'd like to see more better paying jobs. Less of the food service/maid/low end earners serving the rich.

Get with the times. People cannot live on $200 a week when the prices of housing (particularly renting) and food are on par with places like Long Island, NY (my only personal reference point). It's very sad to see administrative professionals with education and experience paid less than $12/hour. I found out the other day I make nearly the same wage, per hour, as the housekeeper at my job. She's a nice, hard worker, but 'unskilled' and doesn't need to use English, whereas I have to communicate with people at all levels from the CEO of the company, people on various committees, and so forth.

Yeah, makes me really optimistic. Peering over the river to NH....