Rhode Island hit hard by economic downturn, state official says
4:12 PM Fri, Aug 29, 2008 | Permalink
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Rhode Island's economy is suffering, says Saul Kaplan, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. "We've been hit very hard by this economic downturn,'' Kaplan told about 230 business leaders, academics and others at a Bryant University's first annual Economic Summit. There are two main reasons. First, Rhode Island enjoyed a "nice run-up" in the construction and related fields earlier this decade. When the housing crisis struck, "We got hit harder,'' he said. Another factor: Rhode Island's economy hasn't made as much progress as has its two neighboring states - Massachusetts and Connecticut - in creating higher-paying jobs. "Too much of our economy is tied up in lower-wage service" sector jobs, he said. The average annual wage of Rhode Island workers is $39,000, compared with the national average annual wage of $42,000 - even though Rhode Island is in the high-cost Northeast section of the country, Kaplan said. The state needs to work at creating more jobs in higher-paying sectors, such as health and life sciences, information technology and digital media, Kaplan said. "We need a pipeline of skills and experience" that fits the 21st century knowledge-based economy, Kaplan said.
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Saul Kaplan is part of the problem as are his past two predecessors as EDC Diectors. There is nothing new or unique in the past five years that has changed the direction and vulnerability of RI's economy. We need an Executive Director and Economic Board of Directors who can change the status quo of how economic development is "managed" in RI. We can start with looking at the relatively more successful neighbors in NE then at others who have very good economic development programs. But no, it's business and so-called "economic development" as usual which is truly pathetic. It's easy to blame the national economy for our economic woes, but to be last in New England is an indictment on at least our system if not our governor, board of directors and our executive director. What a waste of such valuable resources for RI.
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Nice observation George.
Kaplan stated, "We need a pipeline of skills and experience" that fits the 21st century knowledge-based economy.
I would argue that we do have many college students that fit the criteria for a 21st century knowledge based economy. The problem is that they leave the state because they cannot find employment.
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I think both George and Joe have it wrong, and like most Rhode Islanders are quick to point fingers without any sort of facts behind their statements.
Have either of you visited the RIEDC's web site, read their Economic Growth plan, etc.? Both of your comments prompted me to do so (and I thank you for that) and quite frankly, I am impressed with the level of commitment that organization has to retaining our state's talent, aligning the state's R&D community, as well as attracting the kinds of companies and resources necessary to expand our economy and help businesses (especially small businesses). As a proponent of smaller government, this agency seems to want to right the ship and I for one applaud them for that. The kinds of changes being talked about will impact us for decades to come and we should be more informed (and I believe supportive) of these efforts.
Last I checked, we have a tremendous state budget deficit, a seemingly unattractive tax climate, a historically lower-wage service-oriented economy, deficient public schools, and members of the state legislature that don't understand the world of business.
We need to correct all of these issues if we expect to see long-term job growth in our state and it is not in the hands of just one agency to produce all of these corrective measures.
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The reason R.I. is experiencing this is because of the high taxes that the R.I. gov. puts on people.
The other reason R.I. is because of the lack of the knowledge of God in our country, esp. in New England. The other
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