Economic Dignity by Gene Sperling

Author:Gene Sperling [Sperling, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHOOSING JOBS PROGRAMS WISELY

I have focused on double-dignity jobs that involve the direct services from one American to another, services that provide dignified work and lift up the dignity of those being helped. Yet these jobs should be seen as part of a larger principle: we should ask how much we can align jobs for those in need of dignified work with our most compelling national priorities. An expansion of AmeriCorps or national service jobs programs may not always lead to career paths but could address pressing social needs, instill a greater national ethic of civic participation, and lead to a tighter job market. Building on the Civilian Conservation Corps concept to undertake a generational upgrade of our public lands and national parks is an example of a worthy and deeply needed national project that could create jobs and experience connected to the natural environment. More ambitiously, there are potentially millions of jobs that can be created or enhanced by making good on the vision of a Green New Deal—from energy-efficient installations, to lead removal, to installation and maintenance of new infrastructure like electric vehicle charging stations. These jobs may not involve direct assistance to promote the dignity of specific individuals, but they can represent dignified work that furthers an environmental future that will have a profound impact on health, happiness, and overall well-being. As Lawrence Summers has argued, with economic trends pointing toward weakened demand and lower interest rates in the future,68 the economic argument for even borrowing to create jobs through public capital investment with high national economic returns has rarely been stronger. Jobs created through addressing deferred maintenance, modernizing schools, and creating a carbon-free national infrastructure would be another win-win mechanism to create dignified work in the face of temporary or structural declines in private sector demand for workers.

Another option that has been proposed in various forms is a guaranteed jobs program to ensure all people can work at all times. From a values perspective, such a guaranteed jobs program incorporates the compact of contribution and the value of dignity. It is an idea that deserves to be considered and piloted in particularly hard-hit communities and economically disadvantaged areas, for the long-term unemployed, and especially during serious economic downturns.69 There is strong evidence from an Obama administration emergency jobs program in 2009 that subsidizing private employers to hire unemployed workers during the downturn is quite effective. Studies have shown that 63 percent of the employers created jobs that would not have otherwise existed, helping the unemployed reenter the job market and boost earnings—and even helping those facing the barriers of long-term unemployment and a prior criminal record.70 Certainly, initiatives like this should be expanded.

But we will change more lives by focusing our investment on double-dignity jobs. Why?

There is enormous temporary job loss and job change in our economy. As many as six million a month—yes, a month!—change jobs willingly or unwillingly. Guaranteeing that each person is employed at all times could be a herculean managerial challenge that fails to target our greatest job and social needs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.