Hayden and Judge Testify at Jobs Hearing
George Hayden, of George Hayden Electric, and John Judge, vice president of education at ABC Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter, testified before a special Jobs Policy Hearing in Hazleton. The hearing, convened by Representative Tarah Toohil, sought feedback from area businesses on regulatory issues that prevent businesses from growing and hiring new employees. Hayden discussed the restrictive ratios imposed by the Pennsylvania Apprenticeship and Training Council. The Hearing, attended by the majority members of the House Policy Committee, heard reports from local business on taxes and workforce development programs, however Hayden's testimony detailed a state problem that hampers employers and prevents young people from entering the construction industry. It is a problem created by Pennsylvania State regulations, and must be solved by the Corbett Administration and the Legislature.
August 25
By MATT HUGHES This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
HAZLE TWP. - State Republican leaders heard suggestions from Hazleton area business owners and industry advocates Wednesday about how the state can spur job growth.
Left to right: State Reps. Kurt Masser, Michael Peifer and Dave Reed, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, listen as Rep. Tarah Toohil opens a hearing on job creation.
Mike Leib of Hazleton Casting Co. testifies Wednesday during a House Republican Policy Committee hearing on job creation.
Members of the state House Republican Policy Committee, including Chairman Dave Reed, R-Indiana, and Hazleton area Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, gathered at the Hazle Township Commons building for a hearing on job creation in Pennsylvania.
The Republican and Democratic policy committees have held numerous such gatherings around the state as they prepare for legislative sessions to resume Sept. 26. Reed said Republicans plan to introduce a comprehensive jobs package of legislation then.
Many of the six Republican leaders attending the hearing said they were most concerned with finding ways the government could stay out of the way of small business owners by easing regulations and permitting requirements.
"Really with job creation and job growth, the key component of that is private sector development," Reed said. "While the state can create the atmosphere to help create jobs... what the state is really focused on is: How can the state get out of the way and let the private sector put those folks back to work."
Mike Leib, president of two cast metal companies in Hazleton and Weatherly, called Department of Environmental Protection storm water management requirements as a particularly cumbersome requirement.
John Keegan, owner of Heights Terrace Pharmacy, said he is most disturbed by a seemingly endless thirst for revenue in Harrisburg.
Citing state liquor stores, the state lottery, legalized gambling and now a push for a Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction tax, Keegan said "an appetite for cash in the Legislature is the biggest obstacle for job growth."
Some of those testifying at the hearing spoke to ways the state could better encourage education for skilled laborers and factory workers.
George Hayden, president of an electrical contracting company bearing his name, and Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President John P. Judge said the state should update regulations governing the number of apprentice laborers a contracting company can take on.
Skilled laborers are in high demand and earn family-sustaining wages, but the state loses out to others because apprenticeships aren't as easy to come by in Pennsylvania as in other states, he said.
Hayden said he would like to train more apprentice laborers at his company but is prevented from doing so by regulations requiring a minimum ratio of four to five journeyman laborers per apprentice working at a job site. He said most other states and the federal government have "modernized" those ratios, most to a minimum of one journeyman per apprentice, but the state has not done so for "political reasons."
Labor unions are allowed to set their own ratios, giving them an unfair bargaining chip in contract bidding, he added.
Eric Esoda of the Northeastern PA Industrial Resource Center and Jack Pfunder of Manufacturers Resource Center spoke about the need to educate children about the high wages and high-tech work manufacturing jobs offer, as many students don't consider factory work a career option and their parents often steer them away from it.
Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/GOP_hears_job_ideas_08-24-2011.html#ixzz1W8lRtoM0
