HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 7, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Business leaders from across the Commonwealth joined the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry at a news conference in Harrisburg today to unveil a broad-reaching job creation plan.
The Chamber's "Agenda for Jobs" is a four-point plan that reflects input from more than 9,000 Pennsylvania employers -- the true experts in job creation -- and includes real reforms to the Commonwealth's business tax structure, health-care system, legal system and labor laws.
"For years now, the business community in Pennsylvania has stood by and watched while other states and nations have run circles around us in the job competitiveness war, as many of our communities have stagnated, and as our state population has become the second oldest in the country," said Kirk Liddell, president and CEO of Irex Corporation, and first vice chairman of The Chamber's board of directors and chairman of the Government Affairs Roundtable. "Pennsylvania has made timid attempts to compete while others have waged bold and aggressive campaigns for jobs and economic prosperity."
Liddell, who was joined at the podium by PA Chamber Board Chairman Henry Fader, a health-care partner in the Philadelphia office of Pepper Hamilton LLP, said although Pennsylvania has made some minor reductions in business taxes, the Commonwealth remains worse off than it was in 1990. Compared to other states, Pennsylvania now has the worst reputation for business taxes. And while government officials have talked about regulatory improvements and lawsuit abuse reform, little has actually been accomplished.
The Chamber's Agenda for Jobs addresses those issues, recognizing that real job creation doesn't come from state government, but rather from a free market within an environment of competitive business taxes; limited and efficient regulation; balanced labor laws; and freedom from the risk of arbitrary confiscation due to lawsuit abuse.
Liddell said companies look at the overall business climate when making a decision on whether Pennsylvania is a viable option for them.
"They will look at business taxes, health-care costs, labor issues and the legal climate," he said. "There is absolutely no way to quantify how many opportunities Pennsylvania has lost because we are removed from consideration at the outset. We cannot continue to kid ourselves that ranking as one of the worst states in which to do business isn't having an impact. It is."
Liddell said Pennsylvania businesses want a chance to grow and for once, have an opportunity to compete without handicaps and burdens that its competitors do not share.
"The solution is not complicated," he said. "It is clear to the more than 9,000 members of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. It is a solution that gets at all of the factors that are considered when business location, relocation and expansion decisions are made. It's simple. It's about jobs."
More information about The Chamber's Agenda for Jobs is available at www.pachamber.org/itsaboutjobs.
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association and the fastest growing state chamber in the United States, with more than 9,000 members covering all 67 counties. More information is available on the Chamber's website at www.pachamber.org
The PA Chamber of Business and Industry logo is available at: http://media.primezone.com/prs/single/?pkgid=353