President Obama pledged in his State of the Union address to make jobs his top priority. His budget proposal reflects that focus with a $100 billion plan to spur job creation, including tax breaks to encourage small businesses to hire more workers and raise wages.
Urban Institute research and perspectives on employment and workforce development can inform the debate on how to encourage job growth and put Americans back to work.
Job creation
Jobs Programs Must be Targeted (Commentary)
Margaret Simms
America's 10% unemployment rate has overshadowed the plight of the chronically jobless and underemployed, but the jobs initiatives adopted or proposed so far won't do much any time soon to help those who are habitually at the end of the job queue, writes Margaret Simms in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commentary. A strategy to ensure that jobs reach the communities in which African-Americans live should include programs that jump-start job expansion where employment losses are heaviest.
The White House Summit on Jobs: Taking the Broader View (Updated 12/9/09)
Margaret Simms
In the White House jobs summit this week, policy recommendations to get the unemployed back to work are essential. But for the good of the economy and society, Institute Fellow Margaret Simms argues, a system of policies is needed to both promote immediate employment and create opportunities to advance to better jobs. See our recommended research on employment and work force development.
Time for a Federal Jobs Program
Harry Holzer, Robert I. Lerman
The U.S. unemployment rate is above 10 percent, with nearly 16 million Americans out of work, and President Obama is calling for a December summit to consider job-creation ideas. Two labor economists explain why it’s time for the federal government to directly create more publicly funded jobs.
Small business tax credit
TaxVox blog: The Stealth Tax Credit
Eric Toder
With great fanfare, the President in his 2010 State of the Union address announced a new small business tax credit that will go to “over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages.” A White House fact sheet described the credit as a “powerful short term incentive to not only create good jobs but to increase wages and hours for Americans with jobs.”
TaxVox blog: Obama’s Newest Tax Credit: First Houses and Cars, Now...
Howard Gleckman
To the surprise of nobody, President Obama has proposed new tax subsidies for businesses that hire additional workers by the end of the year. Structured as a payroll tax holiday, the plan would give companies a $5,000 credit against their share of Social Security payroll taxes for each net new hire, plus a “bonus” 6.2 percent credit for real increases in overall wages.
Workforce development
Characteristics of the Community-Based Job Training Grant (CBJTG) Program
Lauren Eyster, Alexandra Stanczyk, Demetra Smith Nightingale, Karin Martinson, John Trutko
This is the first report from the evaluation of the Community-Based Job Training Grants (CBJTG). The program focuses on building the capacity of community colleges to provide training to workers for high-growth, high-demand industries. The evaluation examines and assesses the implementation of grant-funded projects, identifying innovative features and promising strategies. The information provides a comprehensive picture of the grantee organizations and the activities planned for their CBJTG-funded projects.
Strong Students, Strong Workers: Models for Student Success through Workforce Development and Community College Partnerships
Harry Holzer, Demetra Smith Nightingale
Low-income youth and adults have less access to and lower rates of completion in higher education in the US than do others. What are states and local community college systems doing to deal with these problems? In this paper, we review a wide range of efforts by community colleges and the states, with funding from private foundation as well as the federal government, to improve enrollments and completion rates among disadvantaged students. We review the extent to which such efforts are "proven" (based on rigorous evaluation evidence) or "promising" (with impressive outcomes that require strong evaluation). We then consider policies by states and the federal government that can advance opportunities for the disadvantaged in this area.
A better way to get educated, employed
Robert I. Lerman
If you think apprenticeship sounds like a relic from centuries past — good enough for Ben Franklin but a no-go in a 21st-century economy — think again, Institute Fellow Robert Lerman explains in a commentary for thestate.com.
The Benefits and Challenges of Registered Apprenticeship: The Sponsors' Perspective
Robert I. Lerman, Lauren Eyster, Kate Chambers
This report analyzes a survey of a nationally representative sample of sponsors of registered apprenticeship programs. Commissioned by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, the survey includes questions about how sponsors (mainly employers) view their registered apprenticeship programs. The study analyzes these survey responses on the value, benefits, and drawbacks of registered apprenticeship, its integration with the workforce investment systems, apprentice completion and reasons for non-completion, and suggestions for possible improvement. In general, sponsors report highly positive attitudes about registered apprenticeship as a system for training their workforce.
Workforce Development and the Disadvantaged: New Directions for 2009 and Beyond
Harry Holzer
What should Congress consider regarding workforce development and the disadvantaged population? This brief reviews the arguments for a workforce development system, examining both the strengths and weaknesses of the current WIA program. Among the proposals are expanded funding, and planning grants which states could use to target industries and sectors with unmet demands for skilled workers. They would then identify potential "pathways" for different groups of disadvantaged workers to meet those demands.
Economic Costs of Inadequate Investments in Workforce Development (Submitted to Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives)
Harry Holzer
In testimony on the ramifications of inadequate investments in workforce development, Senior Fellow Harry Holzer told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the very low earnings and employment of millions of Americans generate high poverty rates and impose huge costs on the U.S. economy. The research evidence, while somewhat mixed, shows that many public investments in workforce development are cost-effective at raising the earnings of low-income workers.
America's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs: Education and Training Requirements in the Next Decade and Beyond
Harry Holzer, Robert I. Lerman
This paper analyzes data on recent and projected employment and wage trends and finds that contrary to recent assertions that demand for middle-skill jobs (those requiring more than secondary school but less than a bachelor's degree) will shrink dramatically, demand for such jobs will remain quite robust. The growth in supply of workers with these skills will also likely shrink as baby boomers retire and are replaced by immigrants. Thus, education and training programs that help less-educated workers gain these skills remain a worthwhile investment.
Older workers
Unemployment Statistics on Older Americans: Updated 1/10
Richard W. Johnson, Corina Mommaerts
The recession has increased joblessness among older Americans. These graphs and tables report unemployment rates and how they have varied by age, sex, race, and education since 2007.
Rising Senior Unemployment and the Need to Work at Older Ages
Richard W. Johnson
Unemployment rates for older workers reached record levels in 2009, partly because fewer workers eligible for early retirement benefits are dropping out of the labor force. Growing concerns about the adequacy of retirement savings and whether retirees will have enough money to live comfortably in later life appear to have discouraged early retirement. Instead, more older workers are now remaining in the labor force and searching for work after they lose their jobs. The need for older adults to keep working raises the imperative for new policies that help address the special challenges that older job seekers face.
Unemployment Rate Hits All-Time High for Adults Age 65 and Older
Richard W. Johnson, Corina Mommaerts
The unemployment rate for adults age 65 and older reached 6.8 percent in February 2009, the highest level recorded since the federal government began computing reliable unemployment rates in 1948. Senior unemployment rates were particularly high among African Americans, Hispanics, those who did not complete high school, and those in the construction, manufacturing, and leisure and hospitality industries.
Promoting Economic Security at Older Ages through Workforce Development
(Written Testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Aging U.S. Congress)
Richard W. Johnson
The 2008-2009 collapse in the stock market wiped out trillions of dollars in retirement account wealth and forced millions of boomers to rethink their retirement plans. Working longer is commonly seen as the key solution to the retirement financing dilemma. However, poor job prospects prevent many older people with limited education from working into later life. This testimony for the Senate Special Committee on Aging argues that Congress could improve the economic security of these older adults in retirement and in the years leading up to retirement by increasing government-funded employment and training services.
Senior Unemployment Rate Hits 31-Year High
Richard W. Johnson
Unlike most previous recessions, the current economic slowdown has substantially increased the unemployment rate for older Americans. In December 2008, 5.1 percent of workers age 65 and older were unemployed, a higher share than at any time since March 1977. This factsheet provides the latest information on the employment situation of older Americans.
Older Workers and the Recession
Richard W. Johnson
For older workers, this recession is unprecedented. Retirement expert Richard Johnson explains why and what should be done to cushion its impact on seniors who want to work. This commentary appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Unemployment Rate Soars for Older Men with Limited Education
Richard W. Johnson, Corina Mommaerts
As the recession enters its 15th month, job losses continue to accelerate. The downturn has not spared older workers. The January 2009 unemployment rate reached 6.0 percent at age 55 to 64 and 5.7 percent at age 65 and older. Hispanic men, older men working in construction and manufacturing, and those with limited education have been hit hardest.
Workforce policies
Black Males Left Behind
Ronald B. Mincy
Despite the overall economic gains in the 1990s, many young black men continue to have the poorest life chances of anyone in our society. Joblessness and low earnings among these less-educated young adults are contributing to reductions in marriage, increases in nonmarital childbearing, and a host of other social problems. Mincy has assembled a distinguished group of experts who examine how less-educated black men fared relative to other less-educated young people during the economic expansion of the 1990s and why. This book makes a compelling case for greater public attention to a serious domestic problem.
Making America Work
Jonathan Barry Forman
While we Americans value and respect work, we are also concerned about economic justice. We like to see all workers earn a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. And we like having a safety net to catch those who cannot compete successfully in our labor markets. America works because of this balance between the desire to reward work and our concerns about economic justice. Forman explains how current government policies influence work and work behavior and makes the case for changing government tax, welfare, Social Security, pension, and labor market policies to encourage work and promote greater economic justice. It is a clear, provocative declaration of principles and a bold prescription for policies that restore and preserve the balance of work rewards and economic justice.
Reshaping the American Workforce in a Changing Economy
Harry Holzer, Demetra Smith Nightingale
What directions should workforce policy in the U.S. take over the next few decades in light of major labor market developments that will likely occur—such as the retirements of baby boomers and continuing globalization? This new volume edited by Harry J. Holzer and Demetra Smith Nightingale presents fresh thoughts on the topic. This book offers policy discussions that are firmly grounded in strong research and that address the critical workforce issues of the coming years.
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