Job creation: What can $100 billion per year do?

[ProSense]

Republicans love to claim that the rich are "job creators," but everyone knows that giving tax cuts to the rich will not create a single job.

If Republicans are really interested in creating jobs, would they object to a proposal that's a win-win for businesses and the unemployed?

Here's the plan: Instead of tax cuts for the "job creators," subsidize jobs for employees.

The money goes directly to wages and the employer gains a worker at a reduced cost. Putting people back to work stimulates demand, creating more jobs.

Now, there have been similar programs funded by the stimulus at about $1 billion, but with significant job creation, though for a limited period.

Tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs within weeks unless Congress extends one of the more effective job-creating programs in the $787 billion stimulus act: a $1 billion New Deal-style program that directly paid the salaries of unemployed people so they could get jobs in government, at nonprofit organizations and at many small businesses.

In rural Perry County, Tenn., the program helped pay for roughly 400 new jobs in the public and private sectors. But in a county of 7,600 people, those jobs had a big impact: they reduced Perry County’s unemployment rate to less than 14 percent this August, from the Depression-like levels of more than 25 percent that it hit last year after its biggest employer, an auto parts factory, moved to Mexico.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/us/26stimulus.html

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About 247,000 workers will have been placed in these subsidized jobs by the end of September, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research organization. The jobs cover everything from assembly-line work to white-collar positions like business development, and typically pay $8 to $15 an hour, according to LaDonna Pavetti, a director at the center. There are exceptions: San Francisco, for example, pays up to $74,000 in annual salary, which employers can also supplement with additional pay.

So far just over a billion dollars has been approved to create subsidized employment programs in 36 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The biggest year-round program is run by Illinois, which has put 22,000 workers in subsidized jobs (and 5,000 in subsidized summer youth jobs) and has 30,000 people on its waiting list.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/business/economy/29workers.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Why not reinstate, expand and extend this program? Ensure that the jobs created cover a spectrum of industries and wage levels. The snip above offers examples of $8 to $15 per hour up to $74,000 per year.

What can $100 billion per year do? The incentives could be strengthened, the program's time frame expanded, the wages increased and the benefits to the economy significantly enhanced.

If Republicans reject such a plan, it will prove that they're only interested in lining the pockets of the rich (not that proof is needed).

[ProSense]

1. OK, maybe

it could be sold as costing only a quarter of President Obama's $447 billion jobs proposal that failed 50 to 49 in a cloture vote: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00160

Alternatively, it could be reduced to $60 billion per year and funded by ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

Not a good idea?

[ProSense]

2. Another good thing:

We Can't Wait: White House Announces Nearly 300,000 Summer Jobs and Other Employment Opportunities for Youth and New Online Tool to Help Youth Access Opportunities

Today, Secretary Solis will join Mayor Nutter at Philadelphia’s City Hall to announce that the Administration has secured additional commitments from 95 companies and non-profits, three cities, two federal agencies and the White House to provide 110,000 new summer jobs and other employment opportunities for low-income and disconnected youth this year as part of the Summer Jobs+ initiative for a total of nearly 300,000 opportunities. Employment opportunities include 90,000 paid jobs and thousands of mentorships, internships and other training opportunities. The Administration will also launch the Summer Jobs+ Bank, a new online search tool to help connect young people to jobs, internships and other employment opportunities this summer and year round.

“In January, we called on the private and public sectors to help us address record unemployment among America’s youth. Today, we are proud to announce that cities, federal agencies, non-profits, and companies from across the country have come together to provide hundreds of thousands of summer jobs and employment opportunities for our young people,” said President Obama.

“The Summer Jobs+ Bank and the growing list of organizations stepping up to answer the President's challenge are important to maintaining our commitment to the next generation of the American workforce,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. “There's no replacement for the dignity that comes with earning your first paycheck, and whether young people are looking for a job at the retail store around the corner-or at a national park states away-they now have one place to start their search.”

The President proposed $1.5 billion for high-impact summer jobs and year-round employment for low-income youth ages 16-24 in the American Jobs Act as part of the Pathways Back to Work fund. When Congress failed to act, the Federal government and private sector came together in January to commit to creating nearly 180,000 employment opportunities for low-income youth in the summer of 2012, with a goal of reaching 250,000 employment opportunities by the start of summer. Since the announcement of the initiative in January, nearly 100 more private sector partners nationwide have answered the President’s challenge to provide young people summer jobs, mentorships, internships and other opportunities to build skills.

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/02/we-cant-wait-white-house-announces-nearly-300000-summer-jobs-and-other-e

No Congressional action required.