Job Worries

With 105,000 jobs lost over the past year, the Massachusetts economy and the state’s taxpayers continue to struggle and are unable to afford the spending levels prescribed on Beacon Hill. Despite a steady stream of laws in recent years touted by proponents as job generators, lawmakers received a report Thursday showing Massachusetts ranks 46th among states in job creation between 2000 and 2009, a sobering fact that undercuts some arguments about the state’s diverse economy. As Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, the Senate budget chief, pointed out repeatedly at this week’s revenue review hearing, the income tax provides about 60 percent of the state’s tax revenues and the state’s largest pool of tax revenue is inextricably linked to its success or failure in creating jobs. House Republicans, who portrayed a series of approved tax increases as job killers, on Friday began agitating to bring attention to cost-saving proposals the Democrats have turned aside previously, saying the ideas deserve attention again. With immediate budget problems to go along with the gaping fiscal 2011 gap, the proposals –managed care in MassHealth, rules to expedite the sale of surplus land, state employee furloughs, revisiting the Pacheco privatization law, and encouraging medical facilities to return unused, unexpired medications – are likely to get a second look in the months to come. More immediately, House Speaker Robert DeLeo says the next major economic development bill will be centered around legalization of casinos and slot machines at racetracks, a proposal that has generated emotional debate from both sides and which is expected to draw lots of attention in the weeks leading up to an October 29 public hearing. Despite the tough long-term numbers, the rate of job growth has slowed and Patrick says Massachusetts is positioned well to rebound from the recession more quickly than other states. The latest unemployment and jobs data will be released on Thursday. Legislative leaders continue to keep their fall agenda largely under wraps, with DeLeo seeking out initiatives that don’t cost any money and top Hill officials working behind the scenes on an education bill. The Senate has one formal session next week on its radar, a tentative formal on Thursday. The House plans a formal session for Thursday, which could feature consideration of a bill, now before the House Ways and Means Committee, to close out the books on fiscal 2009. Fiscal conservatives will be on the lookout for spending expansions. “I don’t know how we’ll get beyond the fiscal insanity if there’s any new spending in this,” Rep. John Rogers (D-Norwood), a former Ways and Means chair, said Friday. Rogers said the soon-to-be-downgraded revenue estimate would be “screaming at us to do the exact opposite.”