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As Gov.-elect Ned Lamont prepares to take office on Wednesday, business groups are appealing to the new administration for policies that improve Connecticut’s competitive climate.
At an economic outlook forum Friday, business leaders said the state is positioned to rebuild its manufacturing sector, which has lost 26 percent of its jobs since 2008.
Lamont did not attend Friday’s forum, held at the Hartford Marriott Downtown, because of an undisclosed conflict, but speakers were quick to offer the Greenwich Democrat some policy advice. The event was sponsored by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), the Metro Hartford Alliance and Webster Bank.
Neal Keating, CEO of Bloomfield-based aerospace contractor Kaman Corp., said the state’s strengths including the “crown jewel” of its workforce are offset by high business costs. Tax policies that reflect the cyclical nature of the manufacturing sector would be a benefit, he said.
“Modest improvements will improve our attractiveness,” said Keating, whose company had 2017 revenues of $1.8 billion. “We need to have predictability. When you hear about large, looming deficits and try to plan over a five- or a 10-year period for a company, that is a real issue with the uncertainty.”
Keating cited CNBC’s 2018 “Top States for Business” survey which said Connecticut has the nation’s fifth highest costs of doing business and ranks 37th in its overall business climate.
Growth of manufacturing jobs would reverse a decade-long trend of declines in high-paying industries, noted Manisha Srivastava, a budget analyst and economist for the state’s Office of Policy and Management. The changes to the labor market have put more stress on the state budget, which derives approximately half of its revenues from income taxes and is facing a $1.8 billion deficit.
CBIA President Joe Brennan said Connecticut’s “suburban strategy” is no longer effective in an era of revitalized cities, but cited encouraging economic indicators including a gain of 26,000 private sector jobs in the last 12 months.
“We haven’t seen numbers like this in several decades, so there are some good things happening,” Brennan said.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said the region has an opportunity to poach businesses and job seekers from its higher-cost neighbors.
“We’re not ever going to beat New York or Boston,” Bronin said. “But we have a window of opportunity. We can compete and beat Pittsburgh and Raleigh and Austin and Des Moines. You need a strong urban core to act as a magnet for talent and jobs.”
Greater Hartford’s attempts to position itself as a fintech hub spinning off of its insurance industry have started to pay off, with New York-based Ideanomics acquiring the University of Connecticut’s West Hartford campus for $5.2 million in October. The company plans to invest $283 million to convert the 58-acre property into “Fintech Village” with 330 jobs specializing in artificial intelligence, IoT technology and blockchain research.
And Infosys has picked Hartford for a tech and innovation hub expected to host 1,000 jobs by 2022, after receiving $14 million in state grant funding.
