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Election Time. Job Time. Your Time.

By Mark Riffey

As I sat in the Montana House District 3 candidate forum at Discovery Square listening to candidates talk about jobs, the economy, taxes, education, roads and on rare occasion, things that only politicians seem to care about, they reinforced what I’ve said previously about the role of government (and the people) when it comes to economic development.

It’s on you.

While there’s no question that the candidates care, and that they as representatives have some ability to impact job creation and retention – their most important role for entrepreneurs, small business owners and their employees comes as connectors and roadblock eliminators.

It’s one reason why I’d like to see them all on Facebook (etc). Not because it gives them another mechanism for spouting the party line (how many use it), but because it gives them the ability – in real time – to say “Hey, I just saw this opportunity”.

Serving that role as a connector might be all the kickstart a community’s economic development needs.

The reality
I’ve made it clear before that I believe it’s your responsibility to fix your economy. By doing so, you’ll help others fix theirs.

Legislation doesn’t create sustainable jobs. The exceptions to that (like the stimulus) are temporary and require state or Federal money, a finite resource.

A sustainable job creates value for the employer that they can profit from, pays a wage that doesn’t require a responsible person to work two jobs, and doesn’t end when the road, bridge or what not is completed.

Even if they *could* create sustainable jobs, Helena has too many other things to fix – and by that, I mean things they have the ability to address – for them to focus primarily on creating jobs.

I feel their job is to grease the skids. To make it easier for people to start a business. To make it easier to hire employees. To make it easier for communities to transform themselves.

Not to do it for them.

The forum
At a candidate forum where no one yelled and screamed (thank you CFalls), in a year when people ought to have high interest in who goes to Helena next year, I counted 50 people in attendance.

Despite this, I think the forum was quite a success. The questions from the audience were quite good. But still, I wish more folks had been there.

Tax, tax, baby
Front and center was Montana’s oft-reviled business equipment tax. Candidates spoke of a holiday from it (as an incentive to bring a business to the valley) or of eliminating it altogether.

But one wanted to keep it to discourage replacing people (and thus jobs) with automated equipment.

This is a short-sighted argument even for a third-world country, much less a state full of smart, hard-working people.

Across the street from Plum Creek in CFalls, there’s a semi-trailer with the names of closed mills painted on the side. How many of those ignored technology and automation advances?

Look, I know that log supply, environmental issues and other things were involved, but a lack of modernization left some unable to compete in a commoditized market. Add those other issues and the results are predictable.

Avoiding automation of dangerous or repetitive work is a bad idea. Employees should be adding value to the company’s products and services whenever possible, or their jobs will always be in more jeopardy than the jobs of employees that DO add value.

Make better jobs
Automation performs tasks that 20 years ago were performed by employees, which reduces costs. I’m not insensitive enough to miss that this means jobs and thus impacts on family and community. But how sustainable are those jobs when the company ignores competitive advantages?

When companies replace jobs with equipment, it should result in better, higher-value jobs in most cases. Getting rid of industry knowledge by getting rid of employees wastes all of the investment made in them.

But it’s not just the responsibility of the employer. The more valuable you make yourself, the more likely you will be prepared to take on different responsibilities when your employer’s world (and thus yours) changes.

Bottom line, it takes two. I suggest you take the lead, no matter which one you are.

Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.