Jobs must be at the top of any public official's agenda. We all know that upstate New York has a tremendous need for economic growth and job creation.
In the North Country, the saying goes that when Albany catches a cold, the Adirondacks sneeze. This, of course, is true and due to the extra layer of laws and regulations that govern what happens within the Adirondack Park Agency's Blue Line.
As a result, we, in the North Country are, perhaps, more attuned to the relationship between government decision making and economic growth than others. For us, the debate is more acute than the usual one about taxes, regulation and the size of government.
There is another area of public policy that has an even greater effect on us: trade policy. According to the White House, every $1 billion in new exports creates about 6,000 new jobs.
Our proximity to Canada is central to our economy. This has been highlighted recently by the welcome news that the Laurentian Aerospace Corp. has decided to build a new aircraft maintenance facility on the site of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base. Up to 900 new jobs are anticipated.
At first glance, many assumed that Laurentian was a Canadian company. It's not; they are incorporated in the United States. The assumption, however, underscores an essential point about trade policy. There is no better trade relationship in the world for economic growth and job creation than the one between the United States and our neighbors to the north. Canada is by far our largest trading partner. In 2010, we exported $248.8 billion worth of goods to Canada. This represents nearly a fifth (19.5 percent) of U.S. global exports. By contrast, exports to the entire European Union last year were $239.8 billion.
As a result, Clinton County has more jobs. A study issued by the Plattsburgh North Country Chamber of Commerce showed that 14 percent of all people employed in Clinton County in 2004 worked for Canadian entities, and that number had doubled in the previous 10 years since the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect.
Laurentian Aerospace Corp.'s plans also illustrate the power of international trade to create jobs more broadly. Airlines from all over the globe will fly their planes to Plattsburgh for maintenance. The new jobs created will be professional and pay well. Plattsburgh also will reap the secondary benefits from Laurentian's decision. Local business owners, restaurants and shops will directly benefit from a new employer creating hundreds of good new jobs. This means more haircuts, more dry cleaning, more lunchtime sandwiches and a large economic benefit for the entire community.
Trade agreements such as NAFTA have a direct, positive impact on our economy. Other trade agreements also help. For example, prices for hard and soft timber climbed last year despite the dismal economy. Why? Trade agreements opened Asian markets to North American lumber. Demand from Asia, China in particular, accounted for the sale of 25 percent of North American timber and was responsible for the price increases. The effect meant increased revenue for our local timber industry at a time when it was desperately needed and surely saved jobs.
The United States has entered into trade agreements with Columbia, Korea and Panama. The agreements must be approved by Congress before they take effect. Unfortunately, these trade agreements languish. In the absence of effective leadership in Congress that recognizes how real economic development genuinely stimulates our economy, these trade agreements will continue to languish. We need more jobs now. Congress should approve all three with haste.
The North Country needs all the help it can get to create more jobs.
Charles E. Kilbourne, who lives in Keeseville, was in Gov. George Pataki's administration from 1995 to 2001, last serving as senior adviser to the commissioner of housing and community renewal. He now works in emerging-markets private equity.
