March 22, 2004

ROMNEY ANNOUNCES NEW ANTI-OUTSOURCING INITIATIVE

Three-step plan will stimulate the economy and spur job growth

 

HYANNIS – Governor Mitt Romney today stepped up his efforts to slow the outsourcing of jobs from Massachusetts to other states and nations by unveiling a series of financial incentives to grow and retain jobs.

 

Romney’s plan offers working capital assistance to companies looking to stay and expand in the Bay State, grants and loans to attract new cutting-edge employers to the Commonwealth and job training funds to encourage businesses to immediately hire employees who have been out of work for at least a year.

 

“I am very concerned about outsourcing. The reality of today’s business climate is that a growing number of companies are sending their best jobs out of state,” Romney said. “Whether it’s the loss of one job or 100,000 jobs, it’s a very real issue for all of us. These common sense initiatives will help slow outsourcing and speed up insourcing.”

 

Romney’s anti-outsourcing initiative includes:

 

• Recapitalizing the dwindling Economic Stabilization Trust to provide more than $8 million in working capital loans next year to companies already in Massachusetts that are looking to stay or expand here. Over the last five years, the trust has assisted nearly 260 Massachusetts companies, positively impacting 7,600 jobs and protecting $450 million in payroll.
• Directing $10 million from the Emerging Technology Fund into a new Insourcing Initiative (I 2) that can be used to provide grants to cutting-edge companies who create 250 or more jobs in Massachusetts. These funds will also be used to offer low-interest loans that the companies can use to purchase capital equipment.
• Using $11 million from the state’s Workforce Training Fund to provide $2,000 grants to companies that hire workers who have been out of work for at least a year and have earned Massachusetts wages for at least four years before unemployment. These grants, which will be matched by the employer, will help upgrade the skills of the employee, whose job may have been permanently lost to outsourcing. Romney has a bill pending before the Legislature to appropriate these funds, which are currently not being spent.

 

Romney outlined the new initiatives at Sencorp, Incorporated, which recently decided to keep the company and its 115 jobs in Massachusetts because of a working capital loan from the Economic Stabilization Trust. He said the trust is a critical tool to keep jobs in the Bay State.

 

Sencorp President and CEO Brian Urban praised the Administration for their efforts to keep the company in the Bay State. “I want to thank the Romney Administration for the personal encouragement and support which ensured our success in keeping and growing Sencorp in Massachusetts.”

 

“Massachusetts is a world-class center of innovation,” Romney said. “Let’s work together to keep our jobs and keep our employers here in our state where they belong.”

 

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