New Report Catches Job Creation Programs Asleep on the Job

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.jwjblog.org/2010/08/new-report-catches-job-creation-programs-asleep-on-the-job/

By Kristi Barnes, on August 23rd, 2010

Our country is long past desperate for jobs, and the tools we’ve got for creating them aren’t working. With nearly one in ten Americans out of work and Congress floundering to pass a jobs bill, it has fallen to cash-strapped states to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, many states’ job creation programs are nothing more than a shadowy network of corporate ATMs that hand out hundreds of millions in subsidies each year without bothering to ensure that the money goes toward creating jobs, let alone quality jobs.

A new report from New York Jobs with Justice, Urban Agenda and the Coalition for Economic Justice demonstrates how New York’s main job creation entities, Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) have taken advantage of a lack of public scrutiny to spend more and more money while creating fewer and fewer jobs. According to the report, entitled No Return on Our Investment: The Failure of New York’s Industrial Development Agencies, IDAs waste $135 million a year on subsidies to businesses that cut jobs or fail to create them, and over 80% of IDA spending results in net revenue loss to local government.

At a time when public services are being slashed and many states are facing severe fiscal crises, we need to transform job creation programs from corporate giveaways to smart, targeted incentive programs that create good jobs, foster healthy communities and lead us on a path to economic recovery and sustainable growth. The report shows that the status quo is not up to the task.

Fortunately, there’s something we can do about it. The report proposes specific reforms to end IDA abuses and ensure we get our money’s worth from economic development programs. We also just launched an online petition campaign to pressure candidates for state office to make these reforms a central plank in their economic platforms. With your help, we can push New York’s leaders to take action and set an example of how to get job creation right.

With the country on a brink of a renewed plunge into recession, and the states’ backs nearly broken by the weight of the ongoing fiscal crisis, we can hardly afford to keep throwing millions after broken corporate promises. Sign the petition now and tell a friend to join in!

[LisaM]

1. Keep up the good fight, my friend

Labor is the backbone of what (was) great about America.

[dionysus]

2. kick

[jannyk]

3. Kick & Rec!