Subject: [big campaign] Sign on to An Urgent Call for Action to Stem the U.S. Jobs Crisis
From: "Charney, Alan" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 18:14:07 -0500
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

National Organizations: 
Sign on to An Urgent Call for Action to Stem the U.S. Jobs Crisis

 On November 17, 2009, the leaders of the AFL-CIO, Center for Community
Change, Economic Policy Institute, Leadership Conference for Civil
Rights, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and
National Council of La Raza sounded the alarm on the need for Jobs NOW!

Many others have since joined the call, and we need you, too.

Please sign and read the full statement
<http://www.epi.org/page/s/jobscampaign>  here.  It is also pasted
below.

Then, please send this Urgent Call to Action to your partners,
affiliates and e-mail lists.   We welcome national, state and local
organizations to sign on.

To become involved in the campaign, email [email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]> .

 

The U.S. unemployment rate exceeded 10% in October for the first time in
a quarter century. Nearly 16 million Americans who are able and willing
to work cannot find a job. More than one out of every three unemployed
workers has been out of a job for six months or more. The situation
facing African American and Latino workers is even bleaker, with
unemployment at 15.7% and 13.1%, respectively.

These grim statistics don't capture the full extent of the hardship.
There are another 9 million people working part time because they cannot
find full-time work. Millions of others have given up looking for a job,
and so aren't counted in the official unemployment figures. Altogether,
17.5% of the labor force is underemployed - more than 27 million
Americans, including one in four minority workers. Last, given
individuals moving in and out of jobs, we can expect a third of the
workforce, and 40% of workers of color, to be unemployed or
underemployed at some point over the next year.

Despite an effective and bold recovery package we are still facing a
prolonged period of high unemployment. Two years from now, absent
further action, we are likely to have unemployment at 8% or more, a
higher rate than that attained even at the worst point of the last two
downturns.

Joblessness on this scale creates enormous social and economic
problems-and denies millions of families the ability to meet even their
most basic needs. It also threatens our nation's future prosperity by
casting millions more children into poverty, foreclosing educational
opportunities for many, limiting the investment and innovation that will
fuel future growth, and dimming long-term labor market prospects,
especially for younger workers.

The president and the Congress have already taken significant steps to
stop the economy's nosedive. Their efforts have already created over a
million jobs and led to renewed economic growth in the third quarter of
2009. But it's clear that much more must be done to generate millions
more jobs to assure a robust recovery that reaches all Americans.

Generating millions more jobs in 2010 is an urgent need, but doing so
alone will not fi x an economy that has failed working people for at
least three decades. New policies should aim to maximize job creation
and lead us to the new economy that we need. That economy must be one of
shared prosperity, with growth based on robust, broad-based wage gains,
not on asset bubbles or consumer debt. An economy in which the finance
sector services the real economy rather than the reverse. An economy in
which equity is seen as central to growth and pursues a low-carbon
future.

A first step is to provide relief through continued and expanded
unemployment benefits, COBRA, and Food Stamps. This directly helps the
state and local governments that are putting the brakes on growth as
they curtail programs in order to balance their budgets. 

Second, extending substantial fiscal relief to state and local
governments will not only preserve needed services, but will also
provide millions of jobs in both the public and private sectors (as many
private firms deliver public services from health to infrastructure).

Third, we can directly create jobs that put people to work helping
communities meet pressing needs, especially in distressed communities
facing severe unemployment. These initiatives are critically important
and can be carefully crafted so they do not displace existing jobs or
undermine labor standards.

Fourth, there are opportunities to invest in infrastructure improvements
in schools, transportation, and energy efficiency that can provide jobs
in the short run and productivity enhancements in the longer run.

Last, we should explore spurring private-sector job growth through
innovative incentives and providing credit to small and medium-sized
businesses.

These initiatives will cost money, and we will need to tolerate higher
deficits in the next few years. However, a jobs initiative can be
coupled with a revenue stream, such as a financial transactions tax,
that can take effect in the third year and more than pay for these
efforts over a 10-year period.

Americans are confronting the worst jobs situation in more than half a
century. This is not a situation we must continue to tough out. A robust
plan to create jobs in transparent, effective, and equitable ways can
put America back to work.

 

Sarah L. VonEsch

Program Assistant

USAction and USAction Education Fund

1825 K Street, NW Suite 210

Washington, DC 20006

(202) 263-4579

[email-masked]

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