Jobs Creation Commission Regional Hearings Tour Continues in Lynn

In October, Senator Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) and Representative Joseph Wagner (D-Chicopee), co-chairs of the Jobs Creation Commission kicked off a Regional Hearings Tour in addition to their monthly meetings in Boston. During these hearings, commissioners solicit public testimony from businesses, hiring agencies, and workers throughout the Commonwealth to learn more about the key factors necessary to increase job creation.

Hearings have already taken place in Holyoke and Worcester and provided commissioners with a perspective on what residents identify as the successful tools and services to spur job creation as well as the barriers people in the region are facing when trying to find a job. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday, December 12th at the North Shore Career Center of Lynn.

These sessions are intended to provide commissioners with a complete overview of the challenges and opportunities individuals face when looking for work and those that local businesses face when looking to hire. Discussions will focus on the methods, ideas and opportunities available to help spur job creation and ensure continued economic growth across the Commonwealth. The intent is to use this information to examine the effectiveness of the State's existing policies as well as identify what additional work can be done to propel economic growth, create jobs and help Massachusetts maintain its competitive edge.

The hearings will consist of three panels:  

-A panel of individuals actively looking for work and officials from local organizations that represent workers to discuss successful services to utilize while searching for work as well as the barriers keeping them from being employed;

-A panel of local business owners to discuss the costs of doing business associated with the region, and the circumstances under which they look to hire additional employees; and

-A panel of human resource professionals to discuss what skills they look for in an employee, what services they use for employee training, and what they do when the available applicants do not meet all the criteria they look for.

The public is invited to attend and following the panels, there will be an opportunity for public testimony.

Schedule for Additional Regional Hearings:

• Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Plymouth, Location TBD, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Friday, February 10, 2012 Lowell, Location TBD, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Friday, March 9, 2012 New Bedford Whaling Museum on 18 Johnny Cake Hill, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Friday, April 6, 2012 MetroWest Region, Location and time TBD.