A new state program aimed at growing small businesses in Connecticut by rewarding employers who hire the unemployed has added 65 jobs at 45 small businesses since it began in February.
The Subsidized Training and Employment Program -- STEP UP -- was created during a special legislative session on jobs last October and provides employers with six-month wage subsidies, and training grants to small manufacturers.
It will provide $20 million in subsidies and training grants to help small businesses hire more employees.
Of the new jobs the program has helped create so far, positions include customer service representatives, machine operators, office assistants, carpenters, mechanics, equipment installers, shipping and receiving, fabricator, dispatch manager, tool grinders, help desk technicians and process engineers with hourly wages from $10 to $28.85.
Gov. Dannel Malloy commended the program on Tuesday during a news conference at Street Fleet Mechanics in Bloomfield. Under the program the Street Fleet Mechanics has hired two new employees.
He said an additional 135 residents are in the process of being hired.
Steve Lanza, of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut, said it's hard to make a connection between government subsidies and new hiring. He said many businesses would likely hire without the program.
