From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a report on The Federal Job Guarantee: A Policy to Achieve Permanent Full Employment. From the Levy Economics Institute, a report on A Consensus Strategy for a Universal Job Guarantee Program. Sam Fulwood interviews William Darity on a federal jobs guarantee, an idea gathering momentum. Is this the time for a federal jobs program? What America would look like if it guaranteed everyone a job. Erik Loomis on the case for a federal jobs guarantee (and more). Kate Aronoff: “Yes, a jobs guarantee could create ‘boondoggles’ — it also might save the planet”. We have an opportunity to pass a good-jobs guarantee — but we have to start a movement now.
We will know that a job guarantee has succeeded when the conventional incentives have flipped, when localities compete to attract job guarantee workers rather than to try to shift the burden of this otherwise marginally employed population elsewhere. Harold Meyerson on why the cause of full employment is back from the dead. Need work? Maybe that’s a job for government. We work: James K. Galbraith on giving job guarantee a chance. Why politicians should promise every American a job.
The challenge for Democrats: A plethora of ideas on jobs and wages. Jared Bernstein on Democrats’ big idea: A job creation program. Sean McElwee, Colin McAuliffe and Jon Green on why Democrats should embrace a federal jobs guarantee (and more and more). A guaranteed “jobs for all” program is gaining traction among 2020 Democratic hopefuls. Cory Booker’s new big idea: Guaranteeing jobs for everyone who wants one. Robert E. Rubin on why the U.S. needs a federal jobs program, not payouts. Josh Bivens on making sense of debates about full employment, public investment, and public job creation.
Booker, Sanders want to promise every American a job — some Democrats are skeptical. Dylan Matthews on 4 big questions about job guarantees. Dean Baker on how Dems’ job guarantee isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. Democrats are rushing into a job guarantee — it could be a huge mistake. Stop thinking small: We can do better than a jobs guarantee. Jack Meserve on the job guarantee and the wilted liberal imagination. Nancy LeTourneau on the problem a federal jobs guarantee won’t solve. America is obsessed with the virtue of work — what about the virtue of rest?
