October has been a roller coaster month nationally and locally for economic events. Rhode Island has the highest unemployment rate in the United States. Only education and information have shown an over the year increase in jobs. There were continued job losses in manufacturing, health care, construction, retail trade and government. Leisure and hospitality and financial services reported a small monthly increase in jobs in September. As a result of the mortgage and credit crunch, it is expected that the financial services industry will lose large number of jobs both locally and nationally in 2008 and throughout 2009. And, we can expect education to lose jobs as private schools, colleges and universities need to cut back to meet their budget targets.

The employment outlook for 2009 and 2010 in Rhode Island is bleak if all of the economic forecasts become reality. We can easily have unemployment rates of over nine percent in the state unless we act now. The next few months will bring layoffs in many of the employment sectors that deal with consumer products. Large corporations are planning cost-saving moves to "ride out" a recession. Among these moves is a cut-back in manufacturing, reducing inventories, consolidating operations, planning a reduction in workforce at the management and employee levels and cancelling capital projects. These cut-backs will impact small and mid-sized businesses that provide products and services to these companies.

We need to avoid the "chicken little" syndrome of giving up or blaming others for our bad economic situation. There are things we as a state and consumers can do to minimize the economic hurricane in front of us. First, we need to become better educated on finance and not invest in things we do not understand. Second, we need to vote for candidates who are proposing realistic economic solutions. Third, we need to recognize that this is not a "rich" vs. "poor" people situation and it affects all of us. Fourth, we need to support out Rhode Island businesses and buy from them. We need to keep "Main Street" alive. And lastly we need to celebrate our economic successes such as some of the positive economic developments in October.

A major leader in the food distribution industry announced it will be moving its corporate headquarters to Providence during the first half of 2009 bringing over 150 jobs; Kohl's opened a department store in Quonset Park and the Business Innovation Factory (BIF) held its fourth Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence on October 15th and 16th drawing attendees from all over the United States.

BIF is an independent, nonprofit organization began in 2004 under the leadership of Saul Kaplan. BIF creates a platform for public and private organizations to collaborate on innovative projects. I serve as a member of the Research Advisory Council of BIF. Using story telling at the Summit, presenters talked about the nursing home of the future, the blue-shirt nation (Best Buy Employees), new technologies, scientific discoveries, fashion and dealing with aging. Each story teller had a personal story about his or her experience with innovation. After listening to the stories, it is easy to get excited about Rhode Island's potential for economic growth.

Rhode Island legislators need to place job creation as their number one legislative priority. The state can not continue to rank high in unemployment and in the loss of jobs. Without jobs, there will be reduced consumer spending, insufficient tax revenues and an increasing state budget deficit. We need to focus on employment sectors where Rhode Island has strength, and make sure those sectors have access to a well-educated workforce. The employment sectors to target are marine sciences (ocean related industries), education, health care and leisure and hospitality. Other sectors including professional and business services and information technology support these sectors.

Here are ten ideas for job creation our legislators should consider:

1. Recruit Rhode Islanders, specifically business leaders, to serve as Ambassadors in sharing with others in their industries the benefits of living and working in the state.

2. Create programs to attract and keep young professionals in the state.

3. Use trade and professional associations to attract businesses from neighboring states.

4. Allocate more resources to attract foreign investment and to support existing businesses that want to sell their products and services abroad.

5. Promote the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge from colleges and universities to the private sector.

6. Provide more competitive grants to entrepreneurs for research and development activities that lead to commercialization of business ideas.

7. Utilize agriculture and natural resources, namely, the ocean, for economic development.

8. Develop a branding/marketing initiative to change the state's image as an unfriendly business-state to a business-friendly state after removing some of the barriers to doing business.

9. Get business retention and expansion activities done with little bureaucratic delay.

10. Build a regional partnership to keep businesses in the New England states.

The adoption of these ideas will lead to new and better jobs, greater per capita income growth for Rhode Islanders and a better platform for future economic development programs. We need to set annual and three year measurable objectives for job creation, per capita income growth and gross state product per job growth rate. Our long term objectives should be a productive knowledge-based labor force and a competitive operating cost structure that retains and attracts businesses.

The legislature needs to create a state-wide business advisory council to advise, guide and support legislative initiatives for economic development. This council could be supportive of the Governor's efforts through the Economic Development Corporation. Job creation can only result from a public, private and nonprofit sector partnership focused on reducing unemployment and creating new jobs.