Connecticut lawmakers and workers have joined together to call on Congress to pass the Bring Jobs Home Act, saying the bill will help generate more stateside positions for people with skilled trades and manufacturing experience on their resumes. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who cosponsored the act, was recently joined by Connecticut steelworkers, Connecticut AFL-CIO President John Olsen and Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary to push for the immediate passage of the bill, which they said encourages American companies to bring jobs back to the U.S. while cutting taxpayer subsidies that help pay for overseas moving costs. "We should reward companies that bring jobs home - restoring and re-shoring them – not those that send them to China or elsewhere," Blumenthal noted. "A 20 percent tax credit could be the tipping point for many companies considering – as many are right now – whether to bring back facilities or plants. I hope that a bipartisan coalition will come together this week to pass this bill, which hard working families in Connecticut deeply deserve." Olsen said that he is optimistic the bill will pass, which will help bring back the more than 2.4 million jobs that were shipped overseas during the past 10 years, many of them manufacturing positions. "I want to thank Senator Blumenthal for being a champion on [the Bring Jobs Home Act]," Olsen added. "It is very important to our state to bring back the good-paying manufacturing jobs we've lost over the years." In Connecticut, the manufacturing industry currently employs 165,000 people and accounts for approximately 10.5 percent of the state's total economic output. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment opportunities for industrial production managers, who must have a bachelor's degree on their resume, are expected to increase by 9% through 2020. |