The economic environment in America today is more dire than most of us have ever known. We are in the midst of an unemployment emergency, in essence a jobless recovery: notwithstanding recent marginal upticks in official U.S. jobs numbers, there will be no fundamental improvement in the unemployment picture unless major new national economic strategy initiatives are taken. Who will step up to drive them forward?
Americans need work, but many of the jobs on which they used to depend have vanished or gone abroad. Official unemployment numbers hover around nine percent. Compounding the challenge is the large budget deficit, the $14 trillion in federal debt, and the large and growing size of our nation’s international debtor status, which is the result of our massive and persistent trade deficits.
So far the White House has failed to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem and continues to apply a scattershot approach to solving it. Rather than bring all national resources to bear on the jobs crisis, the White House has addressed the interlocking variables in separate stovepipes.
Our national leadership is responsible for tackling such crises, and President Obama has shown a willingness to reform health care and regulate the financial services industries. Today our nation needs that same passion and commitment directed at job creation. All the factors contributing to the jobs crisis must be examined together so that our government can apply a coherent set of solutions to the problem. America needs the full attention of Congress and the White House to help get our unemployed back to work.
This report features 15 recommendations — covering manufacturing, international trade and China, the green economy, infrastructure development and youth unemployment — that the administration and Congress need to implement now in order to put America back on a path to full employment and economic recovery.
Task Force on Job Creation Event:
On July 22, the New America Foundation and the Task Force on Job Creation released this report at an event featuring Task Force Co-Chair Leo Hindery, Jr., Rep. John Garamendi, Sen. Tom Harkin, and members of the Task Force. More from that event is available here.
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