Bolling Talks Jobs With Economists

Speaking at the conference, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, who Governor McDonnell has appointed chief job creation officer for the Commonwealth, says the administration has identified the top 50 job creators in the state. This group will be interviewed to ask what can be done to help grow their business.

Bolling:  And then we’ve identified an equal list of targeted businesses across the country that we want to go to and meet and say, why are you in California?  Arnold Schwarzenegger may have bigger muscles but we have lower taxes and less regulation.  You know, why are you in Connecticut or New Jersey or New York, where you’re being strangled by excessive taxation and regulation and litigation.  Your business needs to be in Virginia.

As we face the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Virginia is in a better position than most states.  Virginia’s unemployment rate is currently 6.7 percent, down from 7.2 percent compared with the federal rate of 9.7 percent. For the last several years leading business and policy publications have consistently named Virginia the best-managed state and the best state to do business.

On Wednesday Lt. Governor Bolling will co-chair the first meeting of the Economic Development and Job Creation Commission, a part of Governor McDonnell’s Executive Order One.

Craig Carper, WCVE News, Capitol Square.