Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was in Pittsfield today to discuss the region’s economy and biotech industries.
Meeting at the Pittsfield Country Club Tuesday, members of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and the Berkshire Business Roundtable praised Governor Patrick for his work with the business community during his nearly eight years in office. Mike Daly chairs the Berkshire Business Roundtable.
“We do what we can to advance our relationships with our leaders,” Daly said. “That has always been frankly regardless of political affiliation.”
The visit comes less than a week after the state released seasonally adjusted job numbers for 2013. Data show the state added 55,000 jobs last year, the overwhelming majority in the private sector. This marks the largest job gain for a December to December period since 2000, dropping the statewide unemployment rate a tenth of a percentage point to 6.8 percent. Patrick’s administration has said the majority of growth was seen in the greater Boston area as the metropolitan areas in the four western counties accounted for just over 5,000 of the job gains in 2013. Still, Patrick says there has been progress in Berkshire County.
“From new buildings and labs at MCLA and Berkshire Community College, to new streetscapes in Pittsfield and Great Barrington, to a new 1,200 mile fiberoptic cable, to energy efficiency programs throughout the region,” Patrick said. “Berkshire County has participated.”
Last week, Governor Patrick joined President Obama and the governors of Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island at Central Connecticut State University to advocate raising state and federal minimum wages. President Obama is proposing a federal hike to $10.10, while a bill that passed the Massachusetts Senate would raise the state level to $11 an hour. The bill will be taken up by the House this spring. Advocates in the commonwealth are also pushing a ballot question to hike the level to $10.50. Carl Pratt is the general manager of Cranwell Resort in Lenox, which employs 120 fulltime and 70 seasonal workers. He says the resort supports a raise to $9 an hour, but is concerned about how fast the hike would happen, saying it would result in a payroll increase of $500,000 over three years if wages go above $9 an hour. A cost he says they wouldn’t be able to cover.
“This idea of really almost a fictitious ability for businesses and/or organizations to support that and then pass that expense on is a challenge for us,” said Pratt.
Patrick says he hears the concerns of the business community and that the rate at which the wage is implemented will be debated in the legislature. But he does believe the state’s minimum wage will be increased this year.
“Mostly what I’m hearing from the general public is that it’s time to raise the minimum wage,” the Democrat said. “Frankly I’m also hearing that from the business community.”
Governor Patrick also toured Nuclea Biotechnologies headquarters in Pittsfield to discuss the state’s life sciences and biotech industries. In February, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center granted Nuclea a tax incentive of more than $500,000 as the company has committed to creating 25 jobs this year. It was one of 33 companies across the state receiving an overall amount of $25 million in tax incentives. Collectively, they have promised to create 1,200 jobs in 2014. Here’s Patrick.
“You encourage the pioneers,” Patrick said. “You create the kind of environment that enables the biotech industry.”
Nuclea employs 70 people, with more than 40 of those jobs in Pittsfield. CEO Pat Muraca says the company plans to hire 35 in the next few months, 17 of those new hires in Pittsfield. The governor continued his discussion of regional economic growth in Cambridge.
