LATHROP - Helping to grow jobs and improve the City of Lathrop’s business climate is at the top of Steve Carrigan’s list each day as he walks into City Hall.

Carrigan, the City of Lathrop’s new Economic Development Administrator who started in December, knows all too well how difficult this economy can be.

“I was laid off in 2009 and I didn’t like it very much at all,” he said. “Being laid off gave me a real clear perspective of how important economic development really is.”

With the unemployment rate in Lathrop at 12.1% and with sales tax revenue down 29% from this time one year ago, Carrigan recently told the Lathrop city council that his main focus will be on jobs.

Carrigan told the city council that in the short term, he planned on holding a series of meetings in conjunction with San Joaquin County economic development officials and PG&E officials.

“Since 80% of job growth comes from existing businesses, we plan on holding a series of free informational workshops for Lathrop businesses that would include Enterprise Zone incentive information and information on energy efficiency programs, rebates, and incentives offered by PG&E,” he said.

Other workshops would include information on the county’s Revolving Loan Fund, SBA loans, Small Business Development Center technical assistance, and more. “