St. Paul, MN - Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher is announcing today the creation of a Minnesota House Jobs Task Force. In response to historic unemployment numbers, this task force will focus on capital investments and policies that will create significant job growth for Minnesotans.
"With unemployment in Minnesota at its highest level in over 20 years, the Legislature has made jobs a top priority for the 2009 session," said Speaker Kelliher. "We passed legislation designed to generate new jobs, retrain workers for new skills and educate workers for a new economy. Much more needs to be done, however.
This Jobs Task Force will develop a jobs plan for the 2010 legislative session that will build on this year's initiatives, with special emphasis on getting our construction industry working again."
Kelliher said that while it is widely understood that job recovery is often one of the last economic indicators to rebound, she is committed to pursuing all possible policies and investments to stimulate job growth.
"These are very difficult days for thousands of Minnesota workers and their families," said Kelliher. "They are right to expect their state government to work for them; we want them to know we are not sitting still, but are making every effort possible to lead both our workers, and our state, back to economic prosperity."
The Jobs Task Force will start meeting publicly in August. Chairs and membership of the bipartisan task force will be announced next week.
The following members will serve on the Jobs Task Force: