7 Proposals To Solve
the Unemployment Problem
The subject is constantly in
the news and may decide the next
national elections - the infamous jobless recovery.
More than 8 million Americans are out of work
with another 4 million underemployed or no longer looking for work.
Good manufacturing,
technical and services jobs are being shipped to India,
Asia, and other developing
countries. The mood of the
middle and working class becomes more pessimistic, the outlook for
their
immediate future more grim.
Politicians debate solutions:
abrogating current trade treaties,
providing protection for various industries, investment in retraining
programs,
wishful thinking that lower taxes will turn everything around, the
promise of a
labor shortage within 15 years.
Meanwhile, the population
grows, demanding the creation of
150,000 new jobs per month just to stay even. Where are the more than 2
million
2004 jobs promised by the Council of Economic Advisers?
They will come when the
government truly invests in the social
and financial welfare of the working public.
Historically, the U.S.
has looked at employment only in times of crisis - recession or
alarming
unemployment figures. Rather than “quick fixes,” we need a national
long-range
policy on employment which addresses the issue, in good times and bad,
with
sustained interest, analysis, and support.
Here are seven proposals:
1. Create
a National
Office of Employment to develop long term strategies and oversight of
the U.S.
labor market in order to track trends, analyze data, research emerging
problems,
and prepare early interventions.
<>2. Identify
growing and
potential industries and the skills they will need in future staff.
<>3. Design
a plan which
allows for the rapid retargeting of training courses as Community
Colleges and
vocational schools are traditionally 5 to 15 years behind current needs.
4. Provide
substantial
tax incentives for businesses to hire in the U.S.
rather than shipping their jobs to low income countries.
<>5. Devise
“red-tape-less”
programs to reward employers with significant tax credits for hiring
the
long-term employed and new trainees.
<>6. Overhaul
the
processes of State Unemployment Offices by implementing coordinated
support
programs in which workers participate as part of receiving unemployment
benefits and employers participate as a means of meeting their future
needs for
staff.
<>7. Provide
incentives
for employers to hire more part-time workers. Simultaneously, America
must
reframe its social policy to promote a new work ethic of reduced work
hours, along
with increased leisure and volunteer activities, to allow more workers
to be
employed, albeit for fewer hours. Due to
the negative emotional effects of living without work, our society
needs to
stress high employment rather than high productivity which often
translates
into fewer workers, working harder and longer.
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