Jobs For Connecticut Now

From Connecticut Plus:  “State Rep. William Tong (D-Stamford, New Canaan), House chair of the legislature’s Banks Committee, said financial service companies and banks will be encouraged to locate and establish business operations in Connecticut, thereby creating well-paying new jobs, if legislation approved by his committee becomes law.

Under one of the bills approved (Raised Bill 6496), the Finance and Banking Development Commission would be established to advocate for changes in state policies and laws necessary for encouraging financial services companies and banks to relocate or organize in Connecticut.

“Connecticut’s finance and banking industries are critical to the state’s long term economic strength and recovery,” Rep. Tong said. “These laws empower the state to go out beyond Connecticut to fight for these businesses and convince them to come to Connecticut and to stay.” To see the full article click here!

From the Providence Journal:  ”An ongoing study of port development in Rhode Island has found that there is potential for 1,000 new jobs from cargo shipping, auto imports and the staging of offshore wind farms.

Ames Colt, chairman of the Rhode Island Bays, River and Watersheds Coordination Team, presented initial findings from the study to a special legislative commission on port development this week. The study, which is expected to be completed in April, is being done by John Martin Associates, an economic consulting firm with expertise in seaports and waterfront development based in Lancaster, Pa.

The firm was charged with assessing development opportunities in the ports of Providence, Davisville and Newport. According to a 172-page draft being reviewed by Colt and other state officials, fully utilizing the ports could result in an additional $127 million in business revenue and $8.1 million in state and local tax revenues annually.”  To see the full article click here!

From the Hartford Business Journal:  ”If Connecticut is open for business as Governor Malloy so loudly proclaims, that memo apparently never got to the legislature.

This month, legislative committees have advance bills that would:

• Add a handful of coverage mandates for health insurance sold in the state (SB21, SB312 and HB5032 among others) that will hit employers and their employees in the wallets;

• Disclose sensitive tax data of privately-held companies that could be used by competitors, unions and advocacy groups (HB6560);

• Limit what employers can say to their employees in company meetings (HB5460);

• Impose a $340 million tax on in-state energy producers — $320 million of that from Dominion Energy — because the firms profited from simply doing business in a state that made a mess of energy deregulation (SB1176);

• Create a single-payer insurance system called SustiNet that will draw on the state’s general fund and require creating a large bureaucracy (HB 6305);

• And mandate paid sick time (SB 913).

Now, by what measure is enacting any of that business-friendly?”  To see the full article click here!

From USA Today: “A Massachusetts employment organization has canceled its annual job fair because not enough companies have come forward to offer jobs.

From The Day: ”The state gained 5,400 jobs this past month and over the past year added nearly 29,000 jobs, but Connecticut’s unemployment rate remained stuck at 9 percent – still slightly above the national rate of 8.9 percent.

The state Department of Labor said Thursday the jobs gains are a sign the statewide economy – with a work force of some 1.62 million – is showing some signs of recovery.

Nearly all the state’s labor markets showed employment growth during February, including Norwich and New London, which gained 100 jobs to bring the total work force to 128,700. The Norwich-New London labor market, however, lost 800 jobs from February 2009 to February 2010 – the state’s only labor market to show such steep job losses. In February, the jobless rate for the Norwich and New London areas – which unlike the statewide rate isn’t seasonally adjusted – stood at 9.6 percent.”  To see the full article click here!

From the Hartford Courant: ”Connecticut employers added 5,400 jobs in February, a strong month of job growth, though temporary jobs are about half of the total.

The unemployment rate remained stuck at 9 percent, as it has been for about a year, according to the report from the state Department of Labor today.

How can there be job growth but no drop in unemployment?”  To see the full article click here!

From the Providence Journal: “Most of the people who visited the annual Maple Festival here last week came to see the homemade quilts, hear the local band, eat some chilli and catch up with neighbors after a long winter.

But a few stopped by the blue tent set up by the Hebron Democratic Town Committee. They wanted to talk about the new governor’s plan to raise taxes to close a $3.2-billion budget deficit next year and another $3 billion the year after.

The discussion, and some of the heated arguments, sounded a lot like Rhode Islanders’ anger after Governor Chafee proposed to close a state budget deficit with a huge tax increase and some spending cuts.”  To see the full article click here!

From the Providence Journal: ”Governor Chafee proposes sweeping changes to the ways in which businesses are taxed.

His plan would reduce the corporate income tax; broaden and reorganize the corporate minimum tax; and expand the list of tax delinquents the state publishes.

Overall, the proposed changes in business taxation would make Rhode Island’s tax structure “more transparent and fair” and make the corporate tax more competitive with those of neighboring states, Chafee said in a letter on Tuesday, outlining his plan to the General Assembly.”  To see the full article click here!

From the Providence Journal: ”Governor Chafee on Tuesday plans to propose a controversial change in the way that many corporations report their income for Rhode Island tax purposes, a change that will result in some paying higher taxes.

Under the proposal, corporations would have to use what is known as the “combined-reporting” method, instead of the “separate-entity” method they use now.

That one change would force at least some corporations — mainly large multi-state corporations — to pay more in state income tax.”  To see the full article click here!

From Providence Business News: ”The cost of doing business in Rhode Island is too high. From Main streets to board rooms, small-business owners and executives alike are constrained by the state’s highest-in-the-region corporate taxes that have stifled economic growth and job creation.

To thrive, Rhode Island must become more competitive with our New England neighbors. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a single Rhode Island economy. Rhode Island is part of a compact and highly competitive New England regional economy. Because the region is such a compact market, it is easy for businesses to pick up and move across borders to a more favorable state. They can do it without losing access to vendors, suppliers, services or customers.”  To see the full article click here!