(9/1) Good paying jobs with family supporting wages is not just polished statement to make during an election year, it’s a necessity of life! Frederick County has always been blessed with a diversified industrial base that has lasted for decades. Small businesses remain the backbone of
America in creating more than 65 percent of our new jobs in the past 15 years. Unfortunately, in communities across the country even as the economy is improving, job growth is recovering at a slower rate as small and community-based businesses, and critical sources of employment lack access to the capital they need to create and sustain jobs. Providing the capital that community
businesses need to grow will go a long way to address the nation's job crises.
I believe that business brings prosperity and Frederick County has fared well as compared to other regions throughout the state and US during the recent recession. It takes a lot of foresight and planning to create jobs but unless we become more proactive in going after family supporting jobs in the future, the long-term affect in the county could be difficult to turn around
and this would trickle down into every job category, in every region in this county. I know what it feels like to be laid off from company downsizing. I know what it feels like to make less money than I did 6 years ago. I know so many people who are unemployed or underemployed in Frederick County. I know so many college graduates that can’t find a job. This is why we need to do
more then we have done in the past several years to grow jobs and bring jobs back to Frederick County.
There are several economic engines that exist in Frederick County that if given the proper economic development resources could grow jobs locally and attract other companies to start up or move here. It has been discouraging to see the county dissolve the once very strong Business Development Advisory Council that included members of the local business community that were the
eyes and ears in business community. It has been discouraging to see the county cut funding and deprioritize the once very strong Economic Development Department. It has been discouraging to see the county cut funding to the Frederick Innovative Technology Center that had a great record or creating new jobs in Frederick County. As a county it’s also extremely important to
understand that each industry has different life cycles and challenges that they must face to move forward to the next discovery and become successful.
There are many ideas out there on how to create new jobs. Tweaking existing federal employment or tax policy so that it can be implemented at the state and local level, helping all small businesses generate more jobs by tax incentives/credits, and developing new jobs in emerging or resurgent sectors such as clean energy and manufacturing. This list touches on the major
generators of job growth from private and public sectors, small business, new markets, public employment and tax policy.
Frederick is poised to become the major player in Maryland in biotech, cyber security, and other high-technology fields and beyond with all the engines in place and as a county we need to develop creative ways to support every aspect of these fields. Collaboration is everything and Frederick County needs to continually support these economic engines, which will trickle down to
job growth and business success in many other support organizations. Let’s show Maryland that you don’t have to be along the I-95 corridor to create great family supporting jobs!
