[fortwaynebandit]

Not certain what health care has to do with my original question.
Can we get back to answering that instead debating people’s opinion about their perceived strengths/weaknesses of the Vermont medical care situation?

[delmioquartiere]

Originally Posted by fortwaynebandit

According to this news story, Vermont’s unemployment rate is the second lowest in the US:Vermont says unemployment now 2nd lowest in US

Is this an accurate assessment of the situation? Are there plenty jobs in the state? If so, where are they?

When you're the Governor of a state and not much is going your way you try and spin what you can get away with. We have a magic manipulator in office right now as far as that goes.

Unemployment in the state's 17 labor markets ranged from a low of 2.4 percent in Warren-Waitsfield to 6.6 percent in Newport.
Shumlin says the rate is a reflection of a skilled workforce, great schools, a "remarkable quality of life."

Are there plenty jobs in the state? To answer your question which has been answered many times yes there are plenty of minimum wage jobs, from there you step up to an awesome job at $13 and finally the ultimate state job at $19 with lots of benefits and overtime.

[cwaggy]

It's so low because if you can't get a job you can't live there so you have to leave. So anyone who lives there has to work making the UR low.

[TRexGurl]

I left an abusive/controlling relationship about six years ago. Moved from the North East Kingdom back to the Burlington area where I grew up. I have not been able to find steady work since. Either I get hired and then not needed or I get outsourced. I also need to be on a bus line and need something M-F. Even with years of health care and customer service experience. The unemployment rate is so low because employers in the area are extremely picky about who they will hire or they give one person more than one job so they do not need to hire more help. I have even seen job postings that request a head shot. I cannot even get a call back from the three McDonald's locations that are near me. My SO and I have lived with family for three years because we could no longer afford to live in an apartment with one income and he has what is considered to be a really good job that not many people besides him are qualified to do in the state.

Poor state: Vermont on skid row when it comes to economic outlook « Watchdog.org

[delmioquartiere]

Originally Posted by TRexGurl

Poor state: Vermont on skid row when it comes to economic outlook « Watchdog.org

Poor state: Vermont on skid row when it comes to economic outlook « Watchdog.org


Thanks for the link, interesting but not surprising.


If lawmakers don’t do something soon, fed-up Vermonters may just pack their things and head to Utah.
That’s because Vermont has one of the worst economic outlooks in the nation according to new report that ranks states on economic competitiveness, while Utah has one of the best.
When it comes to tax and regulatory policies that produce economic growth, Vermont ranks 49th in the nation. The ranking appears in the 2014 Rich States, Poor States report released Tuesday by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The Green Mountain State has remained at the bottom of the heap every year since the report was first published in 2008.

[cgregor]

Don't believe anything negative about Vermont you read in WatchDog.org. It is a right-wing welfare program for propagandists funded via Brent Bozell's Media Research Center. WatchDog's goal is to slam liberalism in any form, so it is devoted to making Vermont look bad. This is fine with me, since it will likely discourage right wingers from moving into the state, but it is nevertheless deceptive.

WatchDog recently posted a reporter to Vermont for the purpose of doing what it can to defeat our attempt to have a universal health care system as it comes to the forefront in the next legislative session. Watch for him flinging fear, uncertainty and doubt-- "f u d"-- in his articles to help the wingnuts win the fall elections.

[68vette]

There are major concerns with the business environment in the state. You can disregard the article as right wing, but you need to pay attention to what is happening in the state. Vermont is not a business friendly state. Liberal forums such as MSNBC have reported on how high the tax burden is in the state and how poor the state does in attracting and retaining big business.
Low taxes, low debt, and balanced budgets create the best environment for business. This is what businesses want in a state. Look at states like Texas, Virginia and Utah, those states have the key components of attracting and holding onto business. We do not have the infrustructure, workforce, technology, etc to maintain business. This has been evident by the large numbers of layoffs in the past several months. Kennametal, IBM, Green Mountain as well as companies that decided not to locate to the state such as Menck Manufacturing. These are all high paying jobs the state has lost. The state needs the high paying jobs over the huge number of service industry jobs that pay low wages. There has to be a balance.

[rubygreta]

Just look up Vermont in Wikipedia. The 2010 population was 625,741. The 2013 estimated population is 626,630, for an increase of a whopping 0.1%.

A state with a growing economy does not have a population increase of only 0.1% in a 3-year period. The fact is Vermont's economy is stagnant at best. And ambitious people who want to build a business are probably very concerned about the unknown healthcare taxes that will be imposed in the next several years. Do they open the businesses? Perhaps not.

[Know Nonsense]

They probably have large welfare and govt. assistance programs. Do people on welfare and govt assistance get added to unemployment percentages?

[cgregor]

Texas might be a "business-friendly" place, but it is not a people-friendly place. Its quality of life indicators with the exception of breast cancer treatment do not in general get into the top quarter of the country. Vermont's "business friendliness" has resulted in a reduction of 60% in corporate taxation, with corporations now paying into the General Fund about one-quarter of what households do. The "tax burden" is not the reasons corporations don't move here! Nevertheless, although we complain about taxes, we understand that they are an investment-- which is why we have education, health and other quality of life indicators that are not only better than most states, but remarkably superior, given our size and economy-- and we see no problem in keeping them there; we value the ability to seek a more perfect life. And ask any small-scale entrepreneur about getting started-- you will find any who have had experience in other states will express near-astonishment at how friendly state government is, tax-wise, toward them.

Entities that call Vermont business-unfriendly are just trying to push it into the race to the bottom that the US Chamber of Commerce favors for all workers.