Analysis of the Jobs for Main Street bill (the jobs bill passed by the House)
I will first summarize the contents of the bill. It will be seen clearly that the bill will create jobs for certain sectors of workers. After the summary I will discuss the types of workers whose unemployment will not be solved by the bill and the reason why the unemployment problem will persist despite the bill. If you are unemployed, this description can provide a guide of the areas in which to look for a job if the bill passes in the Senate. A poll for the unemployed and underemployed will appear at the end asking whether the bill will lead to employment in your situation.
The following is a list of the areas covered by the bill. Where the allocations are clearly stated in terms of dollars, they will be stated here. In some cases a clause of the bill refers to previous legislation. In those cases financial information or other details might not be listed. The following abbreviations will be used: M = million, B = billion.
Community Oriented Policing Services – hiring and rehiring of additional career law enforcement officers. $1.179B
Energy & Water Development – Corp of Engineers – Civil Works – Dept. of the Army. Construction $715M. Also water-related infrastructure.
Dept. of the Interior – Bureau of Reclamation – water & related resources $100M
Dept. of Energy – Incentives for Innovative Technology – loan guarantee program
Homeland Security – Firefighter assistance grants (hiring firefighters) $500M
Interior and Environment – Bureau of Land Management – management of lands and resources $20M
US Fish & Wildlife Service – resource management $30M
National Parks System $50M. includes fire management
Environmental Protection Agency State and Tribal Assistance Grants $2B. Includes capitalization grants for clean water.
Dept. Agriculture – Forest Service $75M, fire management $35M
Department of Labor – Job Training $1.250B, includes $500M for youth summer employment, $750M for worker training grants including $275M job training to prepare workers for careers in energy efficient and renewable energy.
Dept. of Education $23B to states. Expenses necessary to retain existing employees. Activities in the Workforce Investment Ace of 1998. Provide education (restricts use of money for administration. Modernization, renovation, repairing of schools and institutions of higher education. Not to be used for rainy day fund, capital programs, or R&D. Student financial assistance $300M.
Corp. for National & Community Service – operating expenses. Domestic Violence Services Act of 1973. Community Services Act of 1990.
Refundable credit for qualified school bonds
Transportation & HUD – FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) $500M for airports
Federal Highway Administration – Highway infrastructure investment – restoration, repair, construction $27.5B
$105B of this is allocated for the Puerto Rico Highway Program. $300M is for Indian reservation roads.
Federal Railway Administration – National railroads passenger corp capital grants, federal transit capital assistance, fixed guideway infrastructure
Maritime Administration – Maritime guaranteed loans - $100M
Dept. of Transportation Maintenance of effort
Dept. of HUD – Public & Indian Housing – public housing capital fund $1B. Priority investments including leveraging of private sector funding or financing for renovations and energy conservation retrofit. May not be used for rental assistance.
Community Planning & Development – Housing Trust Fund $1.065 B – Safety & Soundness Act of 1992. $65M maximum for voucher assistance or rental assistance.
TARP reduction by $150B.
Surface Transportation Extension, including projects described in previous bills, $235M. Highway Safety R&D $105.5M. Occupant protection incentive grants, safety belt performance grants, impaired driving countermeasures incentive grants, national driver register, enforcement programs, child safety and booster seat safety, commercial drivers license information systems modernization, hazardous materials research.
Extensions of unemployment benefits (this is needed, but it is not covered in detail here)
Financial services - SBA - $354M guaranteed loan fee reductions
The provisions of the act have been listed. The following statements are my own views and not parts of the legislation.
It seems that most of the jobs created under this plan are blue collar, many of them rural. While this is laudable, there is basically nothing in the bill that connects unemployed white collar workers, particularly older workers, to a job. Unless one is a hydrologist, energy engineer, or transportation engineer, the bill does not create jobs for white collar workers. The bill does not require that American citizens and green card holders are hired for the engineering jobs or that American wage levels are insured, so there is nothing to stop the jobs bill from funding further outsourcing.
While job training is always helpful, it is not sufficient for a career transition. For a white collar worker to make a transition from a low demand occupation to a high demand occupation, the funding for an additional four years of college, and probably further postgraduate education, is necessary. For example, if an IT worker wants to retrain as a nurse, that worker will need at least three years of college and probably a Master’s degree. Such workers may still be paying off student loans from the low demand career, since during the period of unemployment the interest has accumulated.
The restriction on R&D funding in the education section is another factor that will cause white collar workers to remain unemployed.
The bill does not address the way in which the hiring system systematically creates a sector of the population that cannot become employed. The bill perpetuates the paradigm of people applying for a job and being hired, which means that older workers, the disabled, women in science, minorities, persons with gaps on their resumes, persons with a mark on their credit report, those who do not score as a business "type" on a psychological test, those with a lot of temporary jobs on their resume, or persons with a criminal record will still not be hired. The bill will not alleviate the percentage of people who are unemployed due to the hiring system.
While the bill accomplishes some very laudable goals and will help to prevent the layoffs of teachers, we should be under no illusion that the bill will resolve problems of long term unemployment.