(HOST) While commentator Tim McQuiston regrets the recent layoffs at IBM, he thinks other employment concerns around the state may be more pressing.
(McQUISTON) The recent news that IBM in Essex Junction had laid off 90 workers was very disappointing. For Vermont, of course, that is a significant number of employees. Outside of state and local government, there are only about 250 companies in the entire state with a workforce of 90-plus employees.
Aside from the personal heartache, there’s an economic consequence to the layoffs. Those 90 jobs represent 90 consumers, 90 mortgages, 90 bank accounts, and 90 local investors in various local businesses and various community projects.
Still, I’m getting tired of wringing my hands over the future of IBM. Enough already. They have their job to do; I have mine; you have yours. If this round of layoffs makes that division of IBM stronger, as UVM economist Art Woolf put it, then it will probably be better for the Vermont plant in the long run.
IBM still has more than 5,600 workers here, and we’re lucky to have them. There’s also not a lot we can do to affect IBM’s future in Vermont. Sure there are energy and regulatory policies that would make them happier. A strong local workforce with higher education opportunities is important. And maybe the moribund Circumferential Highway would help. But for the most part, those are things that would benefit every business which is where our concern should really be directed every business.
The economy is softening everywhere. Housing, which has bolstered local economies in most regions of the state, has retreated. It’s a buyers market But frankly, I’m not that worried about Chittenden County. Vermont’s largest and most prosperous county has plenty going for it.
Rather than the Burlington area, we should focus on places like Rutland, Springfield and Brattleboro. Sustainability is the new catch phrase. The Simpsons was fun for a couple of days. But Homer and Bart alone can’t sustain the Windsor County economy.
So, then, what do we do? Here’s a better way to pose that question. If you could do one thing, any one thing, to help the economy, what would it be? Different people would have vastly different answers to that question.
High wage earners would want a lowering of the state income tax, which would then circulate more money into the economy. Small business owners would want a radical cutting of health care costs. Home owners would want a cut in property taxes. Manufacturers and contractors are drained by workers comp costs and the cavalier way claims are justified. And developers are exhausted by the regulatory atmosphere, less by the laws themselves than by how they’re implemented.
I’d start with the property tax. It would put more money into more people’s hands. In capitalism, the consumer is king. In the meantime, enough of the hand-wringing. Let’s get back to work.
Timothy McQuiston is editor of Vermont Business Magazine.