Economy poses new needs

The notion that we might re-create jobs at the same rate we lost them, however desirable, is unrealistic (Jim Camden column, Feb. 1). We’re not going to be able to simply put people back to work in the same jobs from which they were laid off. Many of those jobs are gone forever.

Our economic landscape is changing on a magnitude comparable to our country’s transformation from an agrarian economy to an industrial society at the turn of the 19th century. We are shifting from a domestic economy to a global economy where we face steadily improving competitors.

That’s why the Senate is:

•Focusing on retraining unemployed workers for the jobs our businesses need to fill.

•Doubling our schools’ capacity to retrain an additional 6,000 workers.

•Creating tax credits for businesses that create new, living-wage jobs.

•Expanding assistance to small businesses through small business development centers.

•Increasing our investment in the commercialization of innovations developed in our research facilities.

This might not put people back to work as fast as we’d like, but it’s the smartest course – and the path that will reap the most realistic and lasting dividends for our state.

Sen. Jim Kastama

Puyallup