All but four states now post at least partial information online showing which companies are receiving economic development subsidies. But the quality and depth of that disclosure varies widely, both among and within states. Three-fourths of major state development programs still fail to disclose actual jobs created or workers trained, and only one in eleven discloses wages actually paid. The best disclosure practices are found in Illinois and Michigan.
These are the key findings of Show Us the Subsidized Jobs, a report issued today by Good Jobs First, a non-profit, non-partisan research center based in Washington, DC.
‘Aside from a handful of holdouts, state governments now accept the idea that the public has a right to easy access to data about which companies are receiving taxpayer-funded job subsidies.’ said Good Jobs First executive director Greg LeRoy. ‘But with unemployment still high, Americans need to know how many jobs and what kind of wages and benefits their taxpayer investments are generating.’
Show Us the Subsidized Jobs is the third in a series of reports Good Jobs First has produced on subsidy transparency since 2007. In that period the number of states with at least some online disclosure has doubled from 23 to 46. The District of Columbia has also embraced transparency. Over the course of the reports, Good Jobs First has raised the bar in its rating criteria, reflecting rising public expectations about government transparency and improving web technology.
‘Transparency by itself is no guarantee that a subsidy program is accountable or effective,’ said Good Jobs First research director Philip Mattera, principal author of the report. ‘But it is the foundation for any meaningful assessment.’
Show Us the Subsidized Jobs rates the reporting practices of 246 key state economic development subsidy programs on how well they disclose online information such as company-specific award amounts, job-creation and wage-rate figures, the geographic location of subsidized facilities, and details on the recipient company and the project. Programs are also evaluated in terms of how easy it is to find and use the online data. Each program is rated on a scale of 0 to 100, and the program scores for each state are then averaged to derive a state score.
The report’s key findings:
· Forty-six states and the District of Columbia provide online recipient disclosure for at least one key subsidy program. This is up from 37 in late 2010 and 23 in 2007.
· The states with the best average program scores are: Illinois (65), Michigan (58), North Carolina (48), Wisconsin (46), Vermont (43), Maryland (42) and Texas (40). The most-improved state is Oregon, which had no disclosure in 2010 and is now in the top ten with an average of 38.
· The four states still lacking online disclosure are: Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho and Kansas.
· Of the 246 programs examined, 135 of them, or 55 percent, have online recipient disclosure (up from 42 percent in 2010). The average score for the programs with disclosure is 39. Only seven programs score 75 or better.
· Of the 135 programs with disclosure, 101 require some degree of job reporting, but only 59 report actual jobs created or workers trained. Only 47 provide any form of wage or payroll data, and only 21 provide wage data on jobs actually created or workers trained.
· Only six states practice consistency by providing online recipient reporting for all of the key programs we examined: Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
· States with disclosure often have major discrepancies in the quality of reporting from one program to another. In Minnesota and Virginia, for example, there is a spread of more than 50 points between their highest and lowest program scores.
· Consistent with our previous state accountability report cards, the existence and quality of subsidy transparency follow no partisan pattern. There are ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states among both disclosure leaders and laggards.
‘With most programs still failing to disclose actual jobs created or wages paid, taxpayers cannot even begin to weigh costs versus benefits,’ LeRoy concluded. ‘Taxpayers have the right to know exactly what they are getting in return for their economic development investments.’
A summary of state scores and ranks can be found in the table below. Details on each state’s program scores can be found in online appendices at www.goodjobsfirst.org/showusthesubsidizedjobs.
State Subsidy Disclosure Scores By Rank and Alphabetically
Rank
State
Average
State
Average
Rank
1
Illinois
65
Alabama
3
44
2
Michigan
58
Alaska
17
26 (tie)
3
North Carolina
48
Arizona
14
32 (tie)
4
Wisconsin
46
Arkansas
0
-
5
Vermont
43
California
21
21 (tie)
6
Maryland
42
Colorado
19
25
7
Texas
40
Connecticut
33
14 (tie)
8 (tie)
New York
38
Delaware
0
-
8 (tie)
Oregon
38
District of Columbia
17
26 (tie)
10 (tie)
Louisiana
36
Florida
32
16
10 (tie)
Washington
36
Georgia
4
41 (tie)
12
Kentucky
35
Hawaii
1
45 (tie)
13
Indiana
34
Idaho
0
-
14 (tie)
Connecticut
33
Illinois
65
1
14 (tie)
Missouri
33
Indiana
34
13
16
Florida
32
Iowa
27
19
17
Wyoming
29
Kansas
0
-
18
Virginia
28
Kentucky
35
12
19
Iowa
27
Louisiana
36
10 (tie)
20
Pennsylvania
25
Maine
4
41 (tie)
21 (tie)
California
21
Maryland
42
6
21 (tie)
Minnesota
21
Massachusetts
16
29 (tie)
21 (tie)
Ohio
21
Michigan
58
2
24
Montana
20
Minnesota
21
21 (tie)
25
Colorado
19
Mississippi
12
34 (tie)
26 (tie)
Alaska
17
Missouri
33
14 (tie)
26 (tie)
District Of Columbia
17
Montana
20
24
26 (tie)
New Jersey
17
Nebraska
10
37
29 (tie)
Massachusetts
16
Nevada
1
45 (tie)
29 (tie)
Tennessee
16
New Hampshire
5
40
31
Oklahoma
15
New Jersey
17
26 (tie)
32 (tie)
Arizona
14
New Mexico
7
38
32 (tie)
Rhode Island
14
New York
38
8 (tie)
34 (tie)
Mississippi
12
North Carolina
48
3
34 (tie)
Utah
12
North Dakota
4
41 (tie)
36
South Dakota
11
Ohio
21
21 (tie)
37
Nebraska
10
Oklahoma
15
31
38
New Mexico
7
Oregon
38
8 (tie)
39
West Virginia
6
Pennsylvania
25
20
40
New Hampshire
5
Rhode Island
14
32 (tie)
41 (tie)
Georgia
4
South Carolina
1
45 (tie)
41 (tie)
Maine
4
South Dakota
11
36
41 (tie)
North Dakota
4
Tennessee
16
29 (tie)
44
Alabama
3
Texas
40
7
45 (tie)
Hawaii
1
Utah
12
34 (tie)
45 (tie)
Nevada
1
Vermont
43
5
45 (tie)
South Carolina
1
Virginia
28
18
-
Arkansas
0
Washington
36
10 (tie)
-
Delaware
0
West Virginia
6
39
-
Idaho
0
Wisconsin
46
4
-
Kansas
0
Wyoming
29
17
Source: Good Jobs First1.29.2014 www.goodjobsfirst.org |http://clawback.org