QUORUM | MPB 3-24-2010 - Focus on Jobs

The March 24th edition of QUORUM on MPB focuses on the state's economic and employment prospects.

Thousands of state workers now face furloughs as agency heads look for relief from the budget crunch. Lawmakers have little choice but to cut funding levels across the board, as Mississippi faces some its lowest revenue levels in years. From the Governor's Mansion to the Capitol rotunda, there's wide agreement that solid job growth offers the best hope for reinvigorating the state's economy and refilling state accounts. But is the private sector ready to bring life to that hope, and chip away at our rising unemployment rate?

Our panel consists of Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority; Mississippi Economic Council president Blake Wilson; and Maury Granger, chairman of the Department of Economics at Jackson State University. We also have excerpts from an interview with Rep. Rufus Straighter (D), House Labor Chairman, who remains at the center of a debate over authorization of Mississippi's Department of Employment Security.

Category:

News & Politics

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• Quorum
• MPB
• Mississippi
• Legislature
• Economy
• Employment
• Jobs