President, finally made a speech addressing job creation in the economy. This speech and initiatives are coming too late to the party, but better late than never for small businesses and their need for a commercial property loan and access to operating capital.

We know that the economy has been in trouble for quite a while. The FED did a fairly good job of staving off a depression and changing it into a recession. Going forward, however, employment will be key to a sustained economic recovery. The government has just now decided to put some focus on this problem.

Unemployment rates have continued to rise until we topped the 10% rate. This rate is probably only half of the real/actual rate that would take into account individuals no longer in unemployment roles, those who have given up searching for a job, those that retired early and those that are working either part-time or are underemployed. Estimates of job growth show that it will be many years before we can get back to unemployment rates prior to the recession. Over the next 6 months, most CEOs of the Fortune 500 are not looking to hire. Small businesses will continue to be the key driver in the job creation sector.

Another major concern not often addressed is wages. They have been virtually stagnant since the late 1990s. A recession, like the one we are currently in, also will have a negative effect on wages and their growth. Even when the economy starts to add jobs, salaries will still be less than early in the decade, not counting the effects of inflation or on buying power.

As an example, healthcare costs continue to escalate every year causing individuals and businesses to constantly re-evaluate coverage. It is estimated that 14,000 people lose their healthcare coverage every day. This is not just the unemployed but also would include businesses that had to cut policy subsidies or increase co-payments to their employees or drop coverage completely. Additionally, even though the United States spends more on health care than any other developed nation, we are nowhere near the top when you compare effectiveness.

We need to look at multiple areas in order to stimulate job growth.

• Tax Incentives-Employment, Capital Gains Investments, Payroll Tax
• Health care
• Commercial Credit
• Commercial Property Loans and Loan Modifications
• We will take a look at these areas in more detail in future posts.