Mass jobs creation report released

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Massachusetts has made great strides in improving the economy, but a special commission says we’re not out of the woods yet.  The Massachusetts Jobs Creation Commission released four strategies to jumpstart the state economy Wednesday.  They say there needs to be more road and bridge repair and demand needs to be raised for Massachusetts goods and services.

“There are still some suggestions and thoughts that we have such as trying to get more goods and services made in Massachusetts here, sold in Massachusetts,” said Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland).

The Commission recommends aligning education with job demand and coordinating work training programs with job search resources. Fortunately the state has already passed bills to achieve those goals.

“There was an economic development bill right as this Jobs Creation Commission was created in 2010 to try and streamline some of the regulations,” said Mass AFL-CIO spokesperson Tim Sullivan. “Then in 2012 …we passed a pretty significant omnibus jobs bill which had a huge focus on workforce development.”

The Commission says the state needs to continue to allocate resources to road and bridge repair, education and workforce training.  But to do that, taxes need to be raised.

“So there’s an area in which you could expand a public investment, but in order to do that you need more resources and that means more tax revenues,” said Northeastern University Associate Professor Alan Clayton-Matthews.

The Commission also recommended that the state establish broadband internet and bring manufacturing back to the western part of the state.