By Minority Leader, Representative Craig Ford
There is a simple business principle that many understand and that economists have spent years dissecting and discussing in books, on television and in newspaper articles: creating jobs for people means generating revenue for all sectors.
Unfortunately, for Alabama, there are people in Leadership that don’t understand that simple principle. Instead of wanting to create jobs that will help solve the budget problems our state is facing, and ease some of the pressure on working families, the Leadership in Montgomery is too focused on pleasing their party, special interest groups and big businesses.
We need to move Alabama forward. That cannot happen without bi-partisan leadership and working with whomever is elected governor, by thinking first and foremost about the middle class.
Working families have been hurting over the past four years, that’s no secret. It’s getting harder and harder for these families to make ends meet. Without serious job creation, it’s only going to get harder.
Over the past four years, all political players have talked about job creation pretty heavily—me included. But when our state’s unemployment rate has remained at nearly 7% with an adjustment for seasonal employment, according to the most recent report by the state’s Department of Labor, we need to be not only talking about job creation, but also actually creating some jobs! Alabama hasn’t seen a rate this high since fall 2012!
What exactly does the Leadership propose to do to cut down on the unemployment rate and help working families, when the report shows that 10,000 fewer Alabamians, after seasonal adjustment, were employed in June of this year than the previous year? So far, it’s been nothing. The unemployment rate has risen nearly a whole percentage point in less than six months under our current leadership.
The middle class has seen no relief. Things are getting harder. The major industries, construction, finance, education and healthcare, have each cut jobs over the last year the state’s report shows. And still, some current state leaders want to fire as many as 9% of public employees. This comes at a time when law enforcement and other critical agencies are already underfunded and understaffed.
Working families aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch of hard times thanks to a lack of job creation. Since there are no jobs, people don’t feel as comfortable spending money, which hurts our small businesses. It’s extremely hard to grow a business, and create jobs, as a small business owner when state leaders are more interested in taking care of special interests. Every business owner in Alabama deserves to be not only heard, but also appreciated and looked after-not just the big ones that make sizable political donations.
We need voices in Montgomery that are not only concerned with working families and small businesses in radio and television interviews; but ones that are actually focused on helping the middle class—ones whose track record proves a strong voting history in the middle class’ favor. Leaders that are focused on making sure that working families in Alabama don’t have to simply scrape by and only know hard times.
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Rep. Craig Ford is a Democrat from Gadsden and the Minority Leader in the Alabama House of Representatives.
