Restoring job growth and economic competitiveness in CT will require more hands on deck.
This issue brief finds that restoring job growth and economic competitiveness will require state policymakers to focus our resources where they can have maximum impact, chart a clear course for economic growth, and take a comprehensive approach that encompasses not just traditional “economic development,” but all state activities that significantly affect our economic climate.
In order to execute any strategy, however, we must boost the state’s capacity to coordinate planning and management of economic policy across state agencies. This capacity shriveled under Governors Rowland and Rell. As the Pew Center noted in 2008, “the Office of Policy and Management—once home to many of those [planning] efforts—now operates with nearly half the staff it had 15 years ago.” In short, to steer a course to recovery, Connecticut needs more hands on deck.
