Jobs For Connecticut Now

Recently, Jobs for New England Now posted several blogs. Using the Internet for Profit One Note at a Time, encourages New Englanders to use technology to create new and innovative businesses. Growth continues…slowly, details the slow economic recovery taking place in New England. Steady Drop in Unemployment is a Pleasant Surprise, encourages innovation and cooperation in the New England economy in order to continue to see economic growth, stability and a drop in the unemployment rate.

Here are a few recent news stories:

The Hartford Courant: NSTAR Rush A Merger Application To CT Regulators - Northeast Utilities and NSTAR wasted no time seeking Connecticut approval for their planned merger Thursday, submitting an application one day after regulators decided the utility companies needed state approval to consummate the deal. The companies repeated their claim that the deal will benefit consumers in their petition to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority — directly addressing the suddenly sensitive issue of storm recovery.

Boston Harold: Mass. jobless rate dips to 6.8 percent in December – Massachusetts employers cut 6,200 jobs last month but the state’s unemployment rate still fell again last month to 6.8 percent. The jobless rate dropped from an even 7 percent in November, the lowest monthly rate since December 2008 and below the national rate of 8.5 percent, the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said today. The job estimates and unemployment rate can go in different directions because they are based on separate surveys of employers and households, respectively

Boston Herald: Gone with the Wind? – State and city officials hope a proposed $16 million Vestas research facility in Marlboro won’t just blow away after learning yesterday the Danish wind turbine maker would lay off 182 U.S. and Canadian workers, with the possibility of another 1,600 U.S. manufacturing jobs on the chopping block this year.

Stratford Patch New Stratford Economic Development Website to Launch Soon – A new town website aimed at attracting business to Stratford will launch in early February. The project is more than a year in the making but has matured rapidly over the last month, according to Dave Lostracco, an Internet marketing consultant hired by the town to spearhead the website.

Thankfully, it seems that unemployment rates are dropping throughout the nation. The same seems to be true for Massachusetts. A recent article from Wicked Local reported that unemploment rates had dropped significantly from 2010 averages and that even the lull of the winter months haven’t had much of an impact on the unemployment rate, which typically increases during the off season. The state average now sits at about six percent.

If we want to continue to see economic growth and stability flourish throughout Massachusetts and New England as a whole, it will be vitally important that we encourage new investors to come to our region. This means that we need businesses that can create jobs, legislators and workers to be in constant communication. Together we can work to mend our recovering economy. It is going to take hard work and innovative thinking to see progress, but in the end it will definitely be worth it.

Continuing the good news we reported before the new year, unemployment rates in New Haven, Connecticut have dropped according to the Yale Daily News. These statistics come directly from the U.S. Department of Labor, which released the results on January 6th.

“While the current economic situation is still shaky, this is an encouraging sign,” said Michael Piscitelli, the city’s deputy economic development administrator. “We didn’t have a huge employment dip following the recession, and we have a high concentration of jobs held by New Haven residents.”

While this drop is promising news, Piscatelli notes that it still points to the difficulty of economic recovery. New Haven’s unemployment rates are still significantly higher than the rest of the country. Research has shown that the recent signs of economic recovery have been driven by hiring in certain sectors including manufacturing, health care, education among others – which is encouraging for other sectors to follow.

Jobs in our state and communities are needed, and policies and efforts that encourage those types of economic growth are exactly what is needed to help stimulate us in these times.

A recent article from the New York Times introduces the talented Dr. John McClure, a pathologist from Edina, Minnesota, who always dreamed of learning to play the bagpipes. In the article we learn that Dr. McClure’s hopes for mastering the ancient instrument were dashed when his first instructor moved away leaving Dr. McClure with no instructor.

Now however, Dr. McClure studies with Jori Chisholm, who won a first-place award at the 2010 Cowal Highland Gathering in Dunoon, Scotland.  The two men have never met in person, but Dr. McClure’s bagpipe skills keep getting stronger. How? Skype. Dr. McClure uses the popular video calling service to learn how to play the bagpipes.

Assuming that Mr. Chisholm is being paid for his services, one could call him an entrepreneur. His business relies solely on the internet, a phenomenon of our age. New England is in desperate need of jobs. We need innovative thinkers, like Mr. Chisholm, to help us create new types of jobs. For New England, technology is the missing link in our job creation venture.

New England needs high-speed broadband, innovative business plans, and determination to come up with lasting strategies that will put us back on the economic map. Think about it, if someone is willing to pay for bagpipe lessons over the internet, imagine what else could be marketed over the internet. Dance lessons, foreign language classes, cooking lessons, art classes, and so much more. There is hope for our economy, but we need to take a leap of faith and embrace new technology and the many opportunities it presents.

This week Jobs for New England Now posted three new blogs. The first, MIT Is Going Digital, outlines the new trend of universities utilizing digital services to entice and engage students and faculty. The second, FCC Names New Chief of Staff, announces Zachary Katz new position as chief of staff at the FCC. The third, Cuts at the Pentagon Give New England the Opportunity to Innovate, encourages New England business stakeholders to embrace technology as a way to boost job creation and economic stability.

Below is a brief list of news articles we posted this week:

NECN: Lt. Gov. Tim Murray Announces Big Boost to Mass. Economy – It’s a move that could bring dozens of jobs to the central part of Massachusetts. Lt. Governor Tim Murray joined state and local officials at IPG Photonics to announce a very big boost to the economy. Part of this boost to the economy is more than $4 million in grants being awarded to IPG Photonics, as well as a few of these towns in central Massachusetts.

Hartford Unemployment Examiner: Minimum Wage Increase Dangles Carrot in Front of Unemployed? – The good news is the minimum wage went up to $9 an hour and even over that amount in some cases. The bad news is that it’s hard to find a job to reap the benefits of the higher hourly wage, according to CBS News.

Boston Herald: Where’s the Beef? – We’re underwhelmed by the 34-page economic development plan released last week by the Patrick administration and the new Economic Development Planning Council, a document required by a 2010 act of the Legislature. It purports to be a road map for improving the state’s economy, and it does include 55 “action steps.”

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Last week, The Hartford Courant business staff wrote a “wrap-up” on the year in Connecticut business. 2011: A year of Slow Progress in CT Business wasn’t just about slightly discouraging stories of reaching low-set goals in our current recession, however.  While at times, the outlook seemed bleak for the state, there has been some progress and growth for Connecticut’s businesses and its economy.

The Courant piece highlighted Connecticut’s “Top 10 Business Stories of the Year,” and one of the most compelling sections was the employment rate growth due to the “First Five” program. The program offers low-interest loans and grants to companies that commit to adding jobs in Connecticut. Four companies including Cigna, TicketNetwork, ESPN and NBC Sports Group swore to add hundreds of jobs each in 2011 in the state with accordance to Gov. Malloy’s program. With incentives to stay local and create jobs for large corporations, it seems that there is hope for the future of Connecticut’s residents who depend on these companies for employment.  With unemployment rates that continue to remain high at 8.4 percent statewide, any opportunity, legislative or otherwise, for businesses to grow in Connecticut seem like a great way to help our economy continue to develop into 2012.

This week we heard of major cutbacks in military spending, including cuts that would affect New England jobs. But one New England paper sees these cuts as an opportunity rather than a hurdle. NECN.com says that a smaller budget  “will be more focused on threats like counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, and missile defense – and some New England defense-sector leaders think that’s a lineup that could play to this region’s strengths.”

Christopher R. Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, whose Defense Technology Initiative works to promote the sector with political and military leaders is quoted in the article as saying, “The New England region has a terrific innovative-technology capacity to support an increasingly technology-oriented defense mission. The areas where there’s intense need and where the priorities of the government still lie are in technology areas, many of which we have terrific capabilities here: Cyber-security would be chief among them, surveillance, intelligence, protecting the warfighter through enhanced personal technologies used by soldiers and Marines in the field.”

Following Mr. Anderson’s rationale, New England now has an opportunity to take what could be bad news and turn it into something positive – using our technological strength to provide the resources our country needs in a more digitally focused defense mission.

So, what about it New England? Are we up to the Challenge? Can we innovate, expand broadband access, and provide the expertise and dedication that this type of business desires? Jobs for New England Now thinks we can and will!

Tech startup companies are all the rage these days. From apps that count calories to businesses incorporating digital strategies into their economic plans, it’s clear  that technology is taking over our world at an exponential rate. One place the digital world meets the real world more frequently than any other is the university. In fact, many top-notch universities, like our very own MIT, are utilizing digital technologies, such as online education for masters programs and direct digital relationships between students and faculty, to foster a fuller educational experience.

Fast Coexist, a tech blog, recently posted an article that explained three different ways that top-notch universities are building out their digital presence. The article said that these universities are using, “a top-down strategy driven by the administration, a bottom-up strategy that uses students to evangelize (and support) the new tools to professors, and through professors themselves looking to expand their digital platform. And to support these trends, venture capitalists are starting to put real money to work.”

These three different methods have proven to be quite successful in past years for both the universities and the tech startups that create the products. 2tors, a New York-based company that helps big-name universities establish digital master’s programs, grossed $32.5 million from their project in 2010. In 2012, MIT will launch MITx , which it calls an open-teaching initiative that lets non-enrolled students earn a certificate for a lesser fee than traditional graduate classes, which the university hopes will broaden their reach.

These digital resources are gaining support as universities realize that making education accessible and personal is becoming more and more enticing to prospective students as well as current students and faculty. It will be interesting to watch how these products and services change business models and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship as they begin to take hold throughout our higher education systems.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that Zachary Katz will succeed Eddie Lazarus as chief of staff. Katz, who has been chief counsel at the FCC, will be responsible for “‘Building on the successes of the past few years,…[to continue] unleashing the benefits of broadband, driving economic growth, and opportunity for all Americans’ said the chairman.”

Read the article

This week Jobs for New England Now posted three new blogs. The first, Mass. Council Aims to Develop State Through a “Growth Plan” in 2012, describes Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to boost the Massachusetts economy. The second, 2011 Was Quite a Year In Massachusetts, lists a few of the most interesting events that took place in the Massachusetts business world this year. The third, Massachusetts Projects Approved to Help Create and Retain Jobs, details the  14 projects that were approved for participation in the Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP) last week .

Below is a brief list of news articles we posted this week:

Danbury Patch: State to Spur Job Growth: Reinvent Connecticut – The goal of the special jobs session was to create pro-business incentives to jump-start Connecticut’s economy. The state came up with options like giving companies tax credits of $500 per month for each new hire. That is up from $200. Another tax credit is $900 for each person hired who was either a veteran, unemployed or disabled.

The Boston Globe: Report Lists Steps to Make Massachusetts More Competitive - The Patrick administration released a 34-page economic development plan yesterday that proposes dozens of steps to help make the state more competitive, from reducing the cost of energy to beefing up training programs for workers.

Wicked Local Winchester: Poll: Massachusetts Residents Doubtful About Economic Future – Bay Staters are a cynical bunch, but for understandable reasons. A new survey of Massachusetts residents by the Siena Research Institute, underwritten by First Niagara Bank, found people are deeply doubtful about the economic future as they struggle to make ends meet. The survey is the first part of a larger study of economic confidence in Massachusetts and Connecticut, said the research institute, which is based out of Siena College in New York.

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