Landes: revenue shortfall traced to low-pay jobs, slow economy - The Daily Progress

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WAYNESBORO — Area state legislators say that while Virginia’s unemployment rate is going down, jobs lost to federal sequestration several years ago are being replaced by lower-paying jobs.

That is one key factor, they say, in the slower growth of the commonwealth’s economy. The result is a nearly $1.5 billion projected state budget revenue shortfall over the current budget biennium. And somehow, that shortfall must be offset somehow, likely a combination of the state’s rainy day fund and spending cuts.

Del. Steve Landes, R-Weyers Cave, said the population centers of Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia “are not seeing the kinds of good-paying jobs that were in the past. And that’s where the population and the revenue are coming from.”

Landes, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Virginia’s economy is growing at a rate of 2 to 3 percent, below what analysts had projected.

The delegate said part of the loss can be offset by using Virginia’s Rainy Day Fund, and said state agencies will look for “efficiencies” in an effort to cut costs.

Already, Landes said, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has told state agencies not to spend any funds other than those absolutely necessary.

Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, said some infrastructure investments will help.  Hanger, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, would like to see the federal government step up infrastructure improvements. “At the federal level, we are in need of significant investment in infrastructure,’’ said Hanger, pointing to crumbling bridges and roads across the country.

Landes said legislators can’t do much until the General Assembly comes back into session in January. He will watch state revenue collections over the next few months closely, he said.

Despite the rise in lower-paying jobs, McAuliffe insists that the cupboard on high-paying positions is not completely empty. He told legislators on Friday good-paying jobs in the commonwealth do exist — but many aren’t being filled because of a shortage in qualified workers. 

“The truth is that there are 36,000 high-paying jobs in Virginia today that are open because we don’t have workers with the right computer and math skills to fill them,’’ the governor said in his address to legislators.

And, he noted, the commonwealth’s 3.7 percent unemployment rate is the lowest since April 2008 and the lowest in the Southeast.

Landes said the Shenandoah Valley is well-positioned to fill jobs in emerging sectors.

The delegate pointed to an existing bioscience program at James Madison University and the plans for Blue Ridge Community College to construct a bioscience facility on campus that will train lab technicians.

Said Landes: “We are better off in the Valley than in other parts of the state.” 

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