Eight things you need to know about the impact of COVID-19 on Saratoga County's economy.

1. Saratoga Partnership's President Recognized as Woman of Influence by Saratoga Today

Saratoga TODAY Newspaper recently recognized Saratoga Partnership's President, Shelby Schneider as one of the 2020 Women of Influence in Saratoga County. Congratulations to all of the wonderful Saratoga women who were recognized including Rev. Kate Forer, June MacClelland, Molly McMaster Morgoslepov, Kathy McNeice, and Lisa Moser. To find out more about these inspiring women, click here.

2. Saratoga County Had Highest Volume of PPP Loans for Small Businesses in Capital Region

According to a recent study by the Center for Economic Growth (CEG), more than 13,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans were approved in the Capital Region between April 3 and June 30. Of those PPP loans, 83 percent were below $150,000 and 15 percent were between $150,000 and $1 million. The majority of loans were approved in Saratoga County (3,416) which also received the most loans under $150,000 (2,956). See the CEG analysis and how many PPP loans the other counties in the Capital Region received here .

3. Interested In Getting Your GOOGLE IT Certificate, SUNY Adirondack Has Your Answer

SUNY Adirondack’s Office of Continuing Education invites individuals interested in a career in IT to register for the Google IT Support Professional Certificate Program in Fall 2020. This 5-course certificate program, developed by Google, includes an innovative curriculum designed to prepare you for an entry-level role in IT support and for additional industry certifications. A job in IT can mean in-person or remote help desk work in a small business or at a global company like Google. View more details here .

4. Semiconductor Industry Incentive Package Passed by U.S. Senate

U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand pushed through a  massive semiconductor manufacturing incentive package worth as much as $25 billion  that could benefit GlobalFoundries and IBM, both of which have a large presence in the Capital Region and the Hudson Valley. The bill, which must also be passed by the House and signed by President Donald Trump, will help the U.S. computer chip industry fend off the heavily subsidized Chinese chip industry and support the U.S. Defense Department's domestic chip making supply. Learn more about how this incentive package could help the Capital Region in this interview conducted by Saratoga Partnership's President Shelby Schneider with Semiconductor Industry Association's (SIA) President and CEO John Neuffer .

5. Women-Owned Small Business Federal and New York State Certification Webinar

Did you know the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting certification process is changing and the new certification will be REQUIRED as of October 15, 2020? Becoming certified for the WOSB program means your business is eligible to compete for WOSB Federal Contracting Program set-aside contracts. The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Syracuse District and SCORE are presenting a webinar on SBA's WOSB and New York State's Women-Owned Enterprise (WBE) certification programs. Register here for the webinar being hosted on Thursday, August 6, 2020, from 10:00 am to noon.

6. Enhanced Federal Unemployment Is Set To Expire This Week - Is it a Poverty Remedy or Job Slayer?

This week, enhanced federal unemployment benefits are set to expire. The CARES act gave unemployed individuals an additional $600 per week in addition to their standard UI benefit during the pandemic. Some argue that the extra $600 per week deterred people from returning to work, since some workers received more money with the enhanced UI than they earned at their previous jobs. New legislation being considered could reduce the enhanced UI and eliminate this disincentive to return to work. The payment now also makes up about 15% of the entire nation's wages and is fueling a portion of the U.S. economy — because unemployed people are spending more than they did before the pandemic, while those who have jobs are spending less. So did it work? Read more from NPR and Forbes . JP Morgan and Chase Institute also studied the consumption of benefit recipients during the pandemic and what the potential expiration of the $600 supplement to UI benefits could mean for the economy as a whole.

7. Will COVID-19 Hasten a Trend Towards Regional Supply Chains and Nearshoring?

The disruption associated with Covid-19 brought the resilience of manufacturing supply chains into sharp relief. China has long played a dominant role in global manufacturing, but rising labor costs, the US-China trade war, and most recently, COVID-19, has led to a reassessment of increasingly stretched global supply chains. Calls are growing to bring supply chains and manufacturing closer to final destination markets. What does this mean for global trade flows, and what are the real estate implications? Will COVID-19 hasten a trend towards regional supply chains and nearshoring ?

8. New York to Invest $750 Million to Expand Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure

Governor Cuomo announced that New York will allocate $750 million to build charging stations and other electric-vehicle infrastructure as part of the state's long-term goal to reduce emissions. The measure is set to create more than 50,000 charging stations and will largely be funded by the state's investor-owned utility companies, with the total budget capped at $701 million through 2025. An additional $48.8 million is allocated from a 2017 settlement with German carmaker Volkswagen Group over its diesel emissions cheating scandal to fund electric school and transit buses, as well as charging stations. Click here to read more.