ALTOONA, Pa. -- Blair County's business community has been pushing for changes in Harrisburg to help bring in jobs and in turn, boost the local economy. However, officials at the Blair County Chamber of Commerce said with the new state budget, the Alleghenies will be no more competitive, and instead there are tough times ahead for our local economy.

"Businesses look at our tax structure and no matter what else we offer, it's not quite enough. Then they go elsewhere and that's a really bad sign," said Joe Hurd with the Chamber.

Hurd said plans to give tax breaks and incentives to area businesses were not included in the state budget. He said that's going to keep businesses from setting up shop in the region and prevent other businesses that are already here from bringing more employees on board.

Chamber officials said for jobs in Blair County, across the Alleghenies and across the Commonwealth, it's a downwards spiral.

"As unemployment rates start to rise, sometimes you can do certain things to try to head a lot of that off and stimulate job creation. But we're running out of ideas," said Hurd.

The Chamber of Commerce is trying to counteract what legislators are not doing in Harrisburg by looking for more ways to market local goods and by asking businesses to buy products locally instead of going somewhere else. However, they said they're going to keep knocking on legislators' doors until they get some help.