By Jan Teague, President/CEO
Over the last few weeks we have been hearing from both sides of the political aisle and at all levels of government that job creation is the top priority. Last week, our National Retail Federation quickly responded with support for President Obama's job creation priority with the notation to let the private sector do what it does best, create jobs.
I have been saying to whomever will listen that if we can start to get people back to work, the spirit of the nation will pick up and so will the economy. It takes time to build confidence in people that things are not going to get worse. We all have to participate in advocating that job growth is what we need. If unemployment continues to go up, and we read about increased costs for state budgets, and we read about increased costs for unemployment insurance taxes to cover the unemployed, and we read about increased taxes passing to cover state budgets - what will people decide to do? Sit back and wait it out.
It's not a good message for people to hear all the time and does not foster the mentality that energizes people to decide to go into business or to decide to take the risk of expanding their business.
Our next big hurdle is arguing over which ideas will create these jobs. Over the next few months competing ideas will be discussed on the best way for government to fund job creation. This brings me back to the statement made by our national affiliate last week; let the private sector do what it does best, create jobs.
Governor Gregoire plans to use the state's leverage to create jobs in health care and environmentally green jobs. Some state legislators want to rebuild schools. These are good goals, but will take years to implement. The Federal stimulus money of last year barely made a dent in a recovery as an example. In the short term, the answer is in the private sector. Business, not government, is agile, takes risks, and hires much more quickly to implement its business plans.
People need to see financial stability in their communities before they decide to spend money on new business ideas or go to the stores to buy the more discretionary consumer goods or big ticket items like a car or a home.
For businesses to develop or grow, that stability includes knowing what their tax obligations will be for the next few years and knowing that their elected leaders won't be adding new rules on them every year. Economic stability will require that government stop its silo mentality when it comes to proposing annual regulatory changes or tax increases.
When all government changes are put together, costs go up more than businesses can afford - for gas, for electricity, for payroll and for consumer goods. These cumulative decisions are made by local, state, and national governments - hundreds of them with specific specialty programs.
Can governments overcome their silo mentalities to give business a chance to do what it does best, employ people? We will all be waiting to see the details of the answer in the coming months.
