Alabama Arise suggests strategies to improve Alabama’s workforce participation rate

In 2010, when Republicans gained a majority in the Alabama Legislature after 135 years of Democratic control, they inherited all the legacy problems facing the state, including high joblessness, low household income, and high rates of poverty. In large measure, the GOP solution was economic development. The state reformed and increased its economic incentives package — while Greg Canfield and his Alabama Department of Commerce team worked globally to find employers to create jobs in Alabama. The strategy has worked. Airbus, Toyota, Mercedes, Hyundai, Boeing, Lockheed, Mazda, Polaris, Kimber, H