Cape Business Trends newsletter August 2, 2007
Many thanks
We try to dedicate Cape Business Trends purely to data and information you can use to manage and market your businesses, so forgive us for this personal interjection.
We want to thank all of you for your great support over our first three years. It was this month in 2004 that three partners met and began planning Cape Business, confidently investing in what we saw as extraordinary changes in Cape Cod’s population and economy.
As we enter our fourth year, we now also publish Plymouth County Business and Cape Business Health & Wealth, our newest magazine, which has just been mailed to the 20,000 highest-assessed homes on the Cape, including primary addresses of second-home owners.
Our growth has been pegged directly to three major trends: second-home ownership; an astounding surge in entrepreneurship; and the arrival of baby boomers, who are reinventing themselves rather than retiring.
If any business wants to see a copy of our inaugural Health & Wealth magazine and learn more about its unique reach, please contact us. We will be happy to visit you to discuss. We also will share with you our plans for a unique approach to shopping – and connecting your business to our 20,000 households – just in time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.
For an appointment, call Glenn Ritt or Bob Viamari at (508) 385-3811 or e-mail glenn@capebusiness.net or bob@capebusiness.net.
The jobs picture
Cape Cod’s labor force and employment numbers are up modestly from a year ago.
In June 2006, the labor force for Barnstable County stood at 143,350; last month it had reached 144,016. At the same time, the number of people employed across this statistical area totaled 137,387, compared with 136,871 a year earlier.
Despite the improved labor force and employment picture, the region’s actual unemployment rate actually rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 4.6 percent. Still, that was less than the statewide unemployment rate of 5 percent.
The Cape’s unemployment rate is among the lowest of all regions of the state during the summer. The Brockton/Bridgewater area, for example, stood at 5.7 percent in June, while New Bedford registered a 6.4 percent jobless rate.
Across Massachusetts, for the first six months of this year, more than 23,000 jobs were created, according to the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. Another 3,800 jobs would be created and 6,268 retained through deals already closed.
Women returning to the workforce
Among those new workers are many women returning to jobs after years raising children. Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin, authors of “Back on the Career Track,” offer this advice: Update your professional and job search skills; attend workshops and other professional association events to get yourself back on the market; choose volunteer opportunities in your career field; network and market yourself; contact people from your former job and professional circles; channel family support; and make sure your spouse is on board.
Savvy businesses seeking talented employees can make themselves particularly attractive to women returning to the workforce.
Protecting your business from theft
Rosemary J. Erickson, Ph.D., is a forensic sociologist and nationally known expert on crime prevention and security. One of her most recent studies focuses on teenage robbers. Her work on how to reduce robberies and violent crime in convenience stores has led to new measures seen nationwide at retail establishments – from cash control to better lighting and visibility to employee training.
She will be bringing her expertise to a free workshop in Yarmouth next week, compliments of 7-Eleven’s Northeast division manager of loss prevention, Jim Dale, along with the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce. It promises to provide valuable tips and techniques that you can use in your business to reduce your risk of crime.
Reservations are necessary for the three-hour workshop, to be held Wednesday, Aug. 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Red Jacket Beach Resort, 1 South Shore Drive, South Yarmouth. Lunch will be served. Registration begins at 9 a.m. To RSVP, call (508) 778-1008 or e-mail rsvp@yarmouthchamber.com.
June’s housing numbers are in, and the conclusion is…
The full picture on housing for June is in, and it wasn’t a pretty picture. Numbers for July will begin arriving next week.
Here’s the June lowdown from The Warren Group, which has the most comprehensive take on statewide numbers because its sales go beyond those measured by the MLS.
Down 9 percent in May, statewide home sales fell by more than 8 percent in June, typically one of the year’s busiest months for sales. June condo sales were off by more than 12 percent, compared to June 2006. Year-to-date home sales are down 4.3 percent from the first half of 2006; condo sales are down 5.6 percent at the year’s midway marker. Year-to-date median home and condo prices are also in decline, with the median home price at $334,000 at the end of June and the median condo price at $318,000, both down by 3.6 percent.
Now the good news: June’s performance marked improvement compared with the same time last year, said The Warren Group, which summed up the current situation this way: “It will likely be many months before the market bounces back and we see consistent positive numbers for both sales and prices. We’re still keeping a close eye on foreclosures, which could have a significant impact on the housing market in general.”
Sales tax holiday
The House overwhelmingly approved legislation to suspend the state’s 5 percent sales tax on items selling for less than $2,500 on August 11 and 12. Proponents say the measure helps consumers and boosts sales for retailers on a slow summer weekend. Opponents contend it merely shifts sales and costs the state $16 million. Big stores benefit more than smaller ones, they add. The Senate has passed the law and Gov. Deval Patrick must still approve the bill.
Meanwhile, the Senate approved legislation directing the Department of Revenue to study a national uniform sales tax collection policy, which would allow imposition of state sales tax on out-of-state and Internet purchases. Proponents say the state could gain $300 million to $500 million in additional revenues through a national streamlined system. But opponents point out that streamlining is a massive tax increase, the state already has a use tax on out-of-state purchases, and any streamlined system could eliminate many of the sales tax exemptions unique to Massachusetts, specifically food and clothing under $175.
State budget ends year in the black
After months of deficit talk, the state actually ended FY07 about $450 million in the black. Of course, the deficit talk did hold down spending. And the state still has large long-term spending commitments, such as pensions and health care, that dwarf the half-billion “surplus.” A supplemental budget to complete actual FY2007 spending will also reduce any surplus. But this is better than a $1.3 billion budget gap predicted earlier.
The new Cape Cod
Peter Karlson of NeuEon and business consultant Barry Neagle join Glenn Ritt of Cape Business for a series of morning workshops identifying five key trends confronting every kind of business on the Cape. After identifying these trends, Karlson and Neagle will offer up a half dozen easy-to-implement business and technology steps you can take to ride the wave.
Workshops will be held in Yarmouth, Orleans and Sandwich in October. Final plans will be determined in coming weeks. If you would like to attend one of these sessions, we would appreciate you contacting Glenn Ritt at (508) 385-3811 or glenn@capebusiness.net now so we can gauge interest in these 90-minute sessions.
Beacon Hill news
Laurie Burt, 58, founder of the environmental law practice at the Boston law firm Foley Hoag LLP, is the state's new Department of Environmental Protection commissioner, effective next month. Before joining Foley Hoag in 1980, she was an assistant attorney general in environmental law enforcement.
Business headlines
Christy’s to re-brand as Gulf Oil. The chain of convenience stores is giving up Citgo and moving to Gulf Oil this summer.
KeySpan Energy received official permission from Yarmouth officials to build a pipeline through the town. It’s part of a 13-mile pipeline also going through Dennis and Yarmouth.
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