Even though the Commonwealth’s economy is in recovery, an official with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce says the reason why state government is experiencing another revenue shortfall has to do with the quality of its jobs.
Bryan Sunderland is the business group’s senior vice-president of public affairs. He says many of the positions lost during the recession have been replaced by jobs that don’t pay as well as others.
“During the peak of the recession, we lost about a hundred and four thousand jobs as a state. We’ve replaced about sixty five thousand of those. But if you dig down into those numbers, twenty three thousand of those jobs were in employment services. Lower wage jobs, you’re talking temporary jobs, you’re talking contract work.” –Bryan Southerland
Sunderland points out that while income tax revenues are down, state sales tax collections are on the rise. He appeared Monday (July 7) on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight” program.
