House Republican Press Release
February 6, 2009
Press Office: 860-240-8700
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Connecticut Needs to Attract More Good Jobs |
By Mike Alberts
The looming budget crisis at the Capitol in Hartford, where the state must close an $8-billion budget gap for the next two years, is merely a sign of things to come. We may be heading toward a permanent fiscal crisis.
“Demand for public services is increasing, while slow population and economic growth are resulting in shrinking resources…. The current global financial crisis is exacerbating an existing structural problem.”
That’s not just my view, but that of the nonprofit Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and online at www.cerc.com.
The fiscal condition of the state is weak and getting weaker. Business as usual is a recipe for disaster.
The challenge for Connecticut is clear: We need a comprehensive statewide plan to attract more high-paying jobs, keep young graduates here and encourage entrepreneurs to start up new businesses.
If not, Connecticut soon will be unsustainable. There will be fewer people paying state income taxes. There will be fewer workers to support the elderly and the needy. Increased social service costs will lead to higher taxes. Declining economic opportunity will drive away more jobs and people to other lower-cost states.
For years, the state has been losing highly-paid jobs in manufacturing and insurance, while gaining lower-paid jobs mostly in the service sector.
To some extent, state government has contributed to these demographic and economic trends. Over the years, state government has expanded programs to help low-income people. At the same time, the state has made it more difficult and expensive to live, work and create jobs in Connecticut.
Law by law, policy by policy, the legislature has designed a system that attracts lower-paid workers and at the same time drives away higher-paid jobs and workers.
Look at some of the alarming trends from CERC:
- Connecticut’s job growth has been virtually flat for the past 20 years
- Jobs in low-wage industries may account for close to 50 percent of the employment base by 2020
- Connecticut is the only state in the country with fewer businesses in 2006 than it had in 1989
- Connecticut’s population growth rate over the next 20 years will be among the slowest in the nation
- Connecticut has been losing 18- to 34-year-olds for two decades, compounded by a growing proportion of low-skilled workers from the urban centers with higher school dropout rates
- As the population ages and retires, the income tax base will shrink.
With fewer workers in the pipeline, having less education and lower earnings potential, Connecticut--heavily dependent on income taxes--is heading toward a shaky fiscal future.
These are the conclusions from a recent conference held by CERC and summarized during a hearing before the legislature’s Commerce Committee. For more information, you can go to www.cerc.com and click on 2008 Research and Policy Conference Materials for details.
As always, I would be interested to hear your comments and suggestions on this or other state issues. You can contact me at the Capitol at 1-800-842-1423 or e-mail
Mike Alberts serves the 50th Assembly District of Brooklyn, Eastford, Hampton, Pomfret and Woodstock in the state House of Representatives.