State starts new job creation program
State officials have begun taking applications for a new business-development incentive aimed at creating jobs.
The Minnesota Job Creation Fund is designed to aid businesses willing to expand operations and hire new workers. The program requires participating companies to create at least 10 full-time jobs and invest $500,000 in property improvements.
Eligible companies can get up to $1 million after meeting the job-creation requirements.
The incentive is aimed at Minnesota companies and those in other states looking to move here, Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben said Friday.
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"We estimate this initial funding round of $24 million for this biennium will help create 5,000 jobs and help attract another $450 million in private investment," she said.
State lawmakers approved the Minnesota Job Creation Fund last session. It will replace the state program known as JOBZ, which is set to expire in 2015.
Minnesota needs targeted incentives to help deliver businesses and jobs, Gov. Mark Dayton told reporters.
"The reality is 49 other states are using them, many of them more extensively than Minnesota," Dayton said of the public incentives. "If we want to be competitive, and we do, and be successful, which we are increasingly, we need to be able to compete as well."