30 Ways in 30 Days: Job Creation

Senate Budget Would Slow Job Growth

Hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs would be lost across Pennsylvania due to a proposed reduction of more than $200 million in business and community grants administered through the Department of Community and Economic Development under a Senate-approved budget plan.
 
HARRISBURG (June 13, 2009) - Despite the high unemployment rates seen across the state due to the nation's continuing economic troubles, a proposed cutback in a Senate-passed budget bill would further slow job growth in the state. Senate Bill 850 would nearly eliminate state spending on vital business and community development programs, which have been very successful, creating tens of thousands of jobs for Pennsylvanians to date.
 
Workforce development funding cuts in SB 850 would reduce appropriations to the state Department of Community and Economic Development by $200 million.  The agency oversees dozens of specialized job and business development programs.  The department allocates much of the community development funding to attracting and retaining businesses in Pennsylvania's cities and boroughs.
 
"Economic development in our cities and older towns is never easy, and having access to low-interest loan and grant funding is an essential element in the smorgasbord of funding options that we use to attract and retain businesses and the jobs they bring with them," said Ed Nielsen, Director of the Harrisburg Mayor's Office of Economic Development. "In Harrisburg alone, such state-funded initiatives as the Keystone Opportunity and Improvement Zones and the Opportunity of Workforce Leadership Grant Programs have directly led to the creation of hundreds of new jobs in the city."
 
"Defunding or eliminating these programs will have an extremely adverse impact upon our business and job development efforts, and will drastically reduce our competitiveness against other parts of the country," Nielsen added.
 
Among the programs slated for reduction or elimination under the proposed Senate budget are the Enterprise Zone Program, Opportunity Grants, Community Development Bank, PennCAP, Customized Job Training and Industrial Resource Center. Without the funds to attract and retain businesses in Pennsylvania's cities and boroughs, job growth there will slow drastically.

Ed Nielsen, Director of the Harrisburg Mayor's Office of Economic Development and Special Projects, can be contacted at 717-255-6595.

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