The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank closely aligned with Democrats, endorsed a version of a federal jobs guarantee in a new proposal Tuesday, bringing the ambitious left-wing idea closer to the Democratic mainstream.
In a sweeping economic reform plan that also includes big ideas such as paid child care and a major infrastructure program, the nonprofit think tank also called for a federal jobs guarantee for poor regions with high unemployment. Through the program, the government would offer employment, at minimum wage or higher, to anyone who needed and wanted work, or subsidize a private business to do the same.
“The United States’ low topline unemployment number disguises the reality that, for many people and in many communities, wages have been stagnant, particularly for those without a four-year college degree,” said Neera Tanden, CAP’s president. “From from Appalachia to Detroit, the benefits of economic growth are not reaching all Americans.”
The idea of a jobs guarantee has been gaining currency. It got its most prominent endorsement this spring from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey have also expressed interest in the idea, as have other Democratic members of Congress. Analysts with the Economic Policy Institute, another liberal think tank, have proposed a version.
Critics have argued that a jobs guarantee would entail the federal government redirecting resources from efficient activities on a large scale.
The CAP version would have the federal government guarantee jobs for unemployed workers in struggling areas, both urban and rural. Jobless workers could get work with public or private employers, subsidized by the federal government. Around 1.2 million people would participate each year, more than twice the size of today’s Postal Service.
The report doesn’t say how the jobs guarantee or other new government programs would be paid for, but claims that the cost to the federal government would be on the scale of the tax cut enacted by Republicans in January.
