FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 13, 2021

Montpelier - In response to a lack of comprehensive long-term planning on behalf of state leaders around economic recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic, today Campaign for Vermont (CFV) releases a roadmap forward. “We were just frustrated,” said CFV Chairman Pat McDonald, “the legislature had lots of work being done all over the place but no overarching plan to tie it all together.”

We are excited to be able to share the third and final phase of our economic recovery plan from Covid-19. Please consider supporting our efforts in the legislature to move forward these and other ideas. If you missed previous parts of the plan, you can find them here.

Phase 3 – The Long Game. It’s not enough to have a thriving tourism industry and universal broadband access in our state. Tourism is important, but most of its jobs are low-wage with limited growth opportunity. Broadband is an important for a whole host of reasons, but it won’t solve all of our problems.

We are excited to be able to share the second phase of our economic recovery plan from Covid-19. Please consider supporting our efforts in the legislature to move forward these and other ideas. If you missed our introduction or Phase 1 of this plan, you can find them here.

Phase 2 – The Courtship. There is little doubt that Covid-19 has changed our world for good. One of the most meaningful ways is how we work. Many employers have discovered the benefits and limitations of remote work. Major corporations like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Spotify have gone remote. Salesforce even went as far as to declare that the 9-5 workday was dead. Office buildings in downtown San Francisco and Manhattan are now empty. What’s more, the majority of workers prefer to continue working remotely even after restrictions are lifted. Experts are predicting that 25-30% of the US workforce will still be working from home, at least part-time, at the end of 2021.[1]

There is little doubt that Covid-19 has changed our world for good. One of the most meaningful ways is how we work. Many employers have discovered the benefits and limitations of remote work. This presents a massive opportunity for Vermont. We are within the drive market of multiple major metropolitan areas, we have an international airport, and our quality of life was ranked #2 (behind Hawaii) by CNBC in 2019.[2] This allows workers the flexibility to live a rural lifestyle but have relatively easy access to international travel or corporate offices should the need arise.

We are excited to be able to share the first phase of our economic recovery plan from Covid-19. Please consider supporting our efforts in the legislature to move forward these and other ideas. If you missed our introduction to this plan, you can find it here.

Alright folks, here’s the problem; no one knows what the heck to do about economic recovery from Covid-19 and perhaps rightly so. The last time it was done was over 100 years ago and today’s economy looks much different than at the end of the last pandemic in industrial 1918 United States.