{"id":8842,"date":"2017-11-10T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8842"},"modified":"2017-11-09T22:25:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T03:25:15","slug":"marc-elrich-on-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8842","title":{"rendered":"Marc Elrich on Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job growth has been stagnant in Montgomery County over the past few years. What would you do to encourage increased job growth? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Most job growth comes<\/a> from new businesses expanding in the location in which they were founded.\u00a0 Surveys indicate that the quality of life and the quality of public goods in an area \u2013 including transportation systems and schools \u2013 matter far more when businesses are making their initial location decisions than the taxes and other financial incentives they might be offered.<\/p>\n

While there is a lot about the economy that is beyond our control \u2013 there\u2019s no silver bullet for job growth \u2013 there is much that the county can do to create the conditions for businesses to start and thrive.\u00a0 To the extent that we have cumbersome and inappropriate regulations, we need to change them, and to the extent that regulatory costs are excessive, we need to lower them.\u00a0 More importantly, I would focus on incubating new local-grown businesses, nurturing their growth, and improving the county\u2019s economic infrastructure.\u00a0 Other jurisdictions have creative small business incubators and we can learn from their successes to grow a stronger local economy.\u00a0 The empty spaces in shopping centers and office buildings were once filled with small businesses, and we need to nourish a new generation of entrepreneurs to refill them.<\/p>\n

The bus rapid transit (BRT) system proposal that I initiated and have been advocating for during my time on the County Council also holds real potential as a tool for job growth.\u00a0 Businesses have made an issue of the lack of transit as an impediment to growth.\u00a0 If we want people to create startups or expand existing businesses, we need entrepreneurs to feel confident that their employees have a reliable way of getting to and from work, that their customers can get to their stores, and that they will be able to transport the goods and services they need to stay in business.<\/p>\n

A well-implemented BRT system would reduce future congestion and move more people than roadways alone, making the county a more attractive location for businesses of all sizes.\u00a0 It would greatly benefit residents as well.<\/p>\n

We also need to work with the school system, including Montgomery College, to make sure our students are prepared for jobs that don\u2019t necessarily require a four-year degree but do require post-high-school education. \u00a0And we should expand apprenticeship programs in cooperation with the building trades organizations that need the next generation of skilled workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Job growth has been stagnant in Montgomery County over the past few years. What would you do to encourage increased job growth? Most job growth comes from new businesses expanding in the location in which they were founded.\u00a0 Surveys indicate that the quality of life and the quality of public goods in an area \u2013 … Continue reading Marc Elrich on Jobs<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,84,2054],"tags":[1993,873,1508],"class_list":["post-8842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-marc-elrich","category-montgomery-county-executive","tag-economy","tag-jobs","tag-marc-elrich"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-2iC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8842"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8943,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8842\/revisions\/8943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}