Jobs For Connecticut Now

On December 8, the Brookings Institution released its Ten Facts about Mobile Broadband, a technology that is “is reshaping society, communications, and the global economy.”  All the more reason why New England policymakers should continue to support policies that promote development of and access to the newest and best technologies.

1. Smartphones Will Outnumber Personal Computers in 2012

2. Mobile Broadband Is Growing Much Faster than Fixed Broadband

3. More Than One-Third of Americans Own Smartphones and Use Them for a Wide Range of Services

4. Mobile Technology Has Gone Global

5. The Mobile Economy Is Creating Jobs and Driving Development in the United States and Around the World

6. Mobile Applications Are Reshaping Education

7. Mobile Helps Patients and Health Care Providers

8. Mobile Alters the Way People Engage Politically

9. Mobile Empowers Entrepreneurs and Overcomes Digital Disparities

10. Mobile Is Vital to Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

This week Jobs for New England Now Posted two new blogs. The first, Massachusetts Needs Job Creation, discusses the real need for job creation in Massachusetts. The second, Massachusetts Employers Have More Confidence… So Why Aren’t There More Jobs? Discusses the Business Confidence Index and describes why Massachusetts might have stable confidence index but seems to be lacking jobs.

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

Progressive Railroading: Connecticut Considers Funds for Rail Station – Tomorrow, $1 million in state funding is expected to be approved by the Connecticut State Bond Commission for the construction of a second train station in Bridgeport, state Rep. Andres Ayala Jr. said in a prepared statement. Currently, numerous projects are being built in the area of the proposed station, which would help spur economic development in the city, said Ayala and other Democratic state lawmakers who represent the area.

Tribune: Group Exploring Ways for Environmental Protection, Economic Growth to Work Together – The future of environmentalism in Connecticut just might be economic development. At the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters’ 12th Annual Environmental Summit in Hartford Tuesday afternoon, it was growth, not blocking bulldozers, that got the old hands and activists chattering. Sure, it was obvious Tuesday that some in the tree-hugging community are still steamed at the Malloy administration’s failure to do enough to protect a state-owned conservation tract in the infamous Haddam Land Swap. And yes, cyclists still want more proof that the state Department of Transportation cares about something more than autos and pavement.

Worcester Telegram: Some high-tech Mass. jobs fade – High-tech employment dropped at a higher rate in Massachusetts between 2001 and 2009 than it did in the nation as globalization wrung thousands of manufacturing jobs out of the state, according to data in a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Employers in Massachusetts have more confidence, according to a monthly poll from Associated Industries of Massachusetts.  The Business Confidence Index rose from 46.4 points in October to 50.1 points in November. That’s a 3.7 point increase. But before you get too excited, keep reading.

The Boston-based business lobbying group measures confidence on a 100-point scale with 50 being “neutral.” So while confidence has increased, the numbers are still tepid for the Massachusetts economy.

The good news is, 75 percent of business executives say they aren’t planning on cutting jobs in the next six months. The bad news? They aren’t planning on adding jobs either.

In a piece for The Republican on MassLive.com, Michael D. Goodman, chairman of the Department of Public Policy for the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, says the wait-and-see method is “not a recipe for the kind of job growth we are going to need in order to get out of this hole.”

The unemployment rate of Massachusetts seems to have stabilized, but according to a recent Boston Herald article, this stabilization may be attributed to another factor.

“If Massachusetts has not done a good job at creating jobs, why does it consistently have a lower unemployment rate? The reason is the rate of growth of the labor force. Even with the large numbers of people who have dropped out due to the recession, the U.S. labor force is 7.3 percent larger than it was in 2001, while Massachusetts is up only 2.7 percent. The commonwealth has lower unemployment rates because its labor force grew slowly. If the labor force is not growing or is growing slowly, it doesn’t take many new jobs to reduce unemployment. “

It could be this lack of significant growth that is showing artificially low unemployment rates. The article asks a very important question,

The article asks, “The unemployment rate is a useful guide but it can obscure what really matters — are we creating jobs?” Ultimately it seems that the labor force has remained flat while the population has seemed to grow slightly, according to the article. This means that job growth is especially important now. As it is with our national economy, our ability to show the competitive advantages of having a business in the Massachusetts is essential for encouraging corporations to invest in our region. One of the most important factors is access to high-speed reliable broadband. Major corporations utilize broadband every single day for mundane tasks such as checking email to more important communications with global clients or looking at resumes of potential new hires on online hiring programs. If Massachusetts needs job creation, increasing access to high-speed broadband is key.

This week Jobs for New England Now Posted three new blogs. The first, Online Holiday Shopping is Catching Fire is, New England Ready? , discusses retailers’ big push for E-commerce, the success of Black Friday, the growth of Cyber Monday sales, and the real need for broadband access for New England businesses. The second, Increase in Online Shopping Sparks Job Growthreviews a comScore report  about the success of Cyber Monday reporting that Cyber Monday 2011 was the highest-grossing online shopping day in U.S. history, with spending reaching $1.25 billion.  The third, “Being Connected is No Longer a Convenience; It is a Necessity”: An FCC Analysis of Broadband on the Economy is an analysis of the FCC’s new report on the state of broadband in the U.S. The report details the importance of broadband on many sectors of the economy and in everyday life.

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

Worcester Business Journal: State Launches Manufacturing Study Group In Clinton – State Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki joined dozens of manufacturing executives and public officials in Clinton this morning to launch a new group that aims to increase the viability of the advanced manufacturing sector in Massachusetts. Read More

WB Journal: Unemployment is steady in most Mass. cities and towns – Unemployment in most Bay State cities and towns budged little last month, moving less than a percentage point in a vast majority of communities, according to recent figures released by the governor’s labor office. Read More

CT Mirror: Fiscal analysts leave large question mark over small budget surplus – Three months after the largest state budget deficit in Connecticut history was resolved, the budget remains modestly in the black — for now. But budget analysts both for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly put a big asterisk next to surplus figures Tuesday, warning that could change quickly — for better or for worse — as delayed state income tax receipts pour in over the next few months. Read More

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It’s no secret that access to broadband is a vital tool for American citizens and entrepreneurs, in fact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) called the digital divide, an opportunity divide. According to the FCC Jobs and Economic opportunities that are lost due to this divide have a vast impact on our economy.

Did you know that 50 percent of today’s jobs require digital literacy skills? The commission predicts that this number will grow to 77 percent within the next decade. Did you also know that 80 percent of fortune 500 companies require online job applications? This means that those without access to high speed broadband are  much less likely to obtain positions with these companies.

There are two even bigger economic opportunities provided by the expansion of broadband according the FCC findings. The first will come from the 100 million more people who will have the ability to utilize online shopping which the FCC says has the potential to bring billions of dollars into the American economy. The second will ocme from the millions of Americans with digital literacy skills who will become employed. This means that we must start educating our children using the most up-to-date digital technologies.

Broadband has so many economic benefits that it would be difficult to give out a hard number estimate of its initial benefits. There may be any number of jobs created by the expansion of internet from IT professionals, to people who need to build out the physical infrastructure, to people needed to deliver the many products purchased online. We should not underestimate the power of broadband on the economy.

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!