Digital News Report – The release of new unemployment numbers today show we are still in the midst of the worst economic crisis to hit our country since the Great Depression. Though San Francisco’s unemployment rate remains one of the lowest in the state, at 9.4%, it is still unacceptably high. With tens of thousands of San Franciscans looking for work, we must redouble our efforts to spur job creation and local economic growth.
Through our JobsNow program, we have put more than 1,500 San Franciscans back to work. This week in Washington D.C., I met with Senators, our Congressional delegation and key officials in the Obama administration to ask for a one-year extension of the program past September 2010, when the program’s funds are now set to expire. People in Washington are taking notice of our successful, stimulus-funded jobs program and we are committed to putting even more people back to work today and in the months ahead.
But we must do more. In my State of the City last week, I announced three new measures aimed at helping small and mid-sized businesses create and retain local jobs – an extension of our City’s biotech tax credit through 2014, a payroll tax exemption for new hires and tax incentives for small businesses that provide health care to their employees. The City’s chief economist said this week that the new jobs payroll tax exemption is ‘one of the most cost-effective ways’ for the City to spur private sector job-growth. We must pass these measures now to continue the progress we’re making creating local jobs and reducing our local unemployment rate.
Unfortunately, the Board of Supervisors is refusing to even calendar these three job creation and job retention measures for a hearing. With today’s unemployment numbers, I once again call on the Board of Supervisors to schedule hearings for the job measures I have outlined. At a time when so many San Franciscans are still hurting and out of work, we must put aside our ideological differences and do whatever it takes to grow our local economy and create jobs.
By: Gavin Newsom (Press Release Jan – 22)
Mayor of San Francisco