Jobs and the Economy
I know that the biggest problem facing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania right now is unemployment. State government must work together to bring more paying jobs to Philadelphia. To do this, we will need to continue Governor Rendell’s initiative bringing green jobs to Pennsylvania. It will also mean holding casinos to their word — ensuring that they hire locally and put our own construction firms to work. The state’s job creation tax credit must be simplified so that more small businesses qualify.
Pennsylvania’s General Assembly must work quickly to make sure that state budget cuts do not come at the expense of vital public employees including teachers, fire fighters and police officers. Our legislators should be loud voices fighting for more federal funding for these crucial services, enabling the state government to hold the line on taxes during these tough times.
Finally, more jobs means more training and more education. We must invest more in job training so that Philadelphians will have the skills necessary to compete for today’s jobs. We need to do a better job in our elementary schools teaching kids to read and in our high schools getting kids to graduate. We also need to promote community college and our state universities and state-related universities so that everyone in Pennsylvania will be ready for a 21st century job.