Jobs For Connecticut Now

This may have been a tough year for the economy, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from this year’s Cyber Monday numbers.

A new article from CNN.com reports that Cyber Monday 2011 was the highest-grossing online shopping day in U.S. history, with spending reaching $1.25 billion.  That’s up 22% from the previous record. An interesting note: the previous record was actually last year’s Cyber Monday, showing that online commerce is quickly gaining momentum.

During a press conference in San Francisco this week, Sony Electronics President Phil Molyneux explained, “There’s a pent-up demand from consumers.”

But how does that demand relate to the big picture?

Jordan Weissman at the Atlantic writes that the record-breaking numbers aren’t a crystal ball for the economy as a whole, but says companies should take note of digital demand. Weissman predicts, “Our future is on our phones. And the companies that learn to compete in that environment are the companies that will survive.”

One New England company that’s taken notice is the clothing and accessories chain Mexicali Blues. Topher Mallory, CEO of the Maine-based company, told The Portland Press Herald that online sales are playing a bigger role in revenue.

The growth goes beyond online retail sales. Once purchases are made online, they need to be shipped. Ahead of Cyber Monday, FedEx announced it was hiring 20,000 workers to deliver holiday packages, an 18% increase from last year. USA Today reports “the number of shipments FedEx handles at this time of year has climbed steadily through the recession as holiday shoppers have gifts shipped after buying them online.”

FedEx isn’t the only shipping company that noticed the increase in online sales. UPS announced plans to hire up to 55,000 seasonal workers nationwide, which is 5,000 more workers than last year. Alan Gershenhorn, UPS chief sales and marketing officer, is optimistic. In a company press release, Gershenhorn declared, “Early indications point to a solid holiday shopping and shipping season.”

What if on Black Friday instead of standing in line, pushing and shoving, or seeing that “temporarily out of stock” sign where your dream purchase was supposed to be sitting; you were clicking your way to holiday gift perfection? According to IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, more of us stayed in this year than in previous years. One of the biggest online shopping days is Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving. On Cyber Monday sales were up 33 percent over 2010 and those purchases on average cost about 2.6 percent more than last year’s.

“Cyber Monday was once again the big winner for the Thanksgiving holiday shopping season, with a record number of consumers focused on finding the best online deals,” said John Squire, Chief Strategy Officer, IBM Smarter Commerce. “Retailers that adopted a smarter approach to commerce, one that allowed them to swiftly adjust to the shifting shopping habits of their customers, whether in-store, online or via their mobile device, were able to fully benefit from this day and the entire holiday weekend.”

Online Shopping is in high demand among consumers. If retailers, small or large are looking to expand, it is extremely important that their business have access to the internet and if at all possible they need to include the luxury of online purchasing options for consumers. This transition from traditional commerce to E-commerce is completely natural we have seen the changes to a typical market made for the better in all throughout history and it is important for our businesses in New England to utilize new technologies in order to stay relevant and increase demand for their products.

This week, JNEN posted two blogs. Lack of Broadband Depth Hurting Maine’s Economy, Study Shows describes how Maine’s lack of broadband has been particularly bad for the state economy.  In New England, Cranberries Mean Jobs discusses the economic benefits of innovation and the expansion of technology.

Our most recent news articles:

The Day: Make Sure State Incentives Create Jobs – If the state is going to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in economic incentives to attract businesses and grow employment, it needs do a better a job of honestly assessing if those investments are having the desired results. That is the gist of a new report, “Connecticut Economic Development Subsidies: Costly and Blunt” by the organization Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability on the use of taxpayer incentives. Read More

Hartford Business Journal: Dreams Derailed- Meriden can see light at tunnel’s end as it eagerly awaits station and track upgrades to raise its profile to more than just a stopover on Connecticut’s vaunted $647 million expansion of high-speed rail service linking New Haven, Hartford and Springfield. The central-region community also has “The Hub,’’ 14 center-city acres across from its existing Civil War-era station — plus state and federal dollars to develop it — into a floodless town green that would perhaps eventually be hugged by housing, shops and cultural attractions. Read More

The CT Mirror: Farm Bill Cuts Likely to Bring Pain to More Than Connecticut’s Farmers- Mention of the farm bill generally conjures visions of big payouts to Midwestern corn and wheat growers with little relevance to the small farmers or just about anyone else in Connecticut. True those subsidies don’t mean much here, but there is plenty in the legislation that does. It is packed with provisions from dairy supports and farmers market grants to food stamps and farmland protection, not to mention assistance with solving runoff problems on farms, renewable energy and municipal sewers. Read More

Every year we look forward to Thanksgiving classics like turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and the ever famous cranberry sauce. For the Makepeace family of southern Massachusetts the consumption of cranberries on Thanksgiving means a whole lot more to them than tradition. This family has been growing cranberries for five generations and is now the largest cranberry grower in the world and is a major supplier to the Ocean Spray company. For them, cranberries are their livelihood, and according to Michael Hogan who served as the chief of MassDevelopment, the same is true for a number of people in Massachusetts. He said, “one job out of five in Massachusetts is related to food… There are lessons in this for other businesses trying to succeed in a tough economy: Innovate, go green and go global. Technology and automation come into play as well. The water levels in Makepeace’s bogs are monitored by satellites, adjusted by computers.”

Mr. Hogan couldn’t be more right. As he said, Massachusetts and the whole of New England needs to “innovate…and go global” if they want to compete within the United States and within the global economy.

This Thanksgiving as you enjoy your Turkey with a heaping of cranberry sauce, remember that you are doing your part to boost the New England economy.

Jobs for New England Now wishes you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Maine is falling behind its New England neighbors when it comes to broadband and job growth, according to a recent study from the Maine Heritage Policy Center.

Maine’s central problem, according to the report, is a lack of depth in terms of broadband capacity and speed. When measuring connections with advertised speeds of at least 3 mbps, Maine’s subscriber ratio of 15 percent falls far behind the U.S. average of 33 percent. The authors concluded that Maine “is severely lacking in broadband depth.”

That lack of depth is hitting Maine’s economy hard. While the study notes that New England in general is “strong and healthy” in the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) industries, Maine is suffering.  After measuring Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, and average compensation, the study found that Maine has the weakest ICT industry in New England. Next door, New Hampshire boasts a robust subscriber ratio of 53 percent, the strongest ICT industry in New England.

Maine Heritage Policy Center Chief Economist J. Scott Moody, who co-authored the report, says the findings are proof that access to high-speed broadband is the key to job growth and cautions that Maine is in serious economic trouble.

“The facts are clear, increased broadband access means more jobs for Mainers,” said Moody. “If Maine doesn’t address the need for increased broadband depth with high-speed residential and business broadband, we will continue to fall behind our neighbor states economically, and creating new jobs will become even more difficult.”

You can check out the full study from the Maine Heritage Policy Center here