What would be the quickest, most effective way to create jobs?

[jld]

I've been reading that this is the top concern among voters right now. What would your solution be?

[Catherine]

And I don't claim to know a thing about economics. But if the problem is that businesses are not hiring, when they used to be hiring, then what would the solution be? If the business is manufacturing, then we are talking about factory jobs, and in that case jobs will not reappear until we can compete with other nations in terms of labor costs. Not gonna happen anytime soon.

 

The kinds of jobs that are desirable, that pay a wage sufficient to support a family are going disproportionately to people who've learned their science and engineering degrees outside the USA. So I think the root of the problem is in education. When sputnick was launched, the US reaction included a push to improve science and math education here, and I think a similar return to emphasis on science and math education would result in a growth in good jobs, but it's not going to happen overnight.

 

Meanwhile, new businesses would provide $$ and jobs, so greasing the wheels for borrowers who are starting new businesses would be good-encouraging banks to lend in those circumstances would help, but I don't know how you'd do that. Banks IMO are a big part of the problem-from tightening lending to small businesses, to outrageous fees and corruption and mismanagement of mortgages, banking practices are at the root of so many of our current problems. So banking reform would be at the root of my strategy.

[Sherry in OH]

I agree with Catherine. There is no quick solution. I think the focus should be on small business rather than big business. An entrepreneur focusing on a local need or niche market could do well even in this economy. I expect we'll see more businesses catering to senior citizens.

 

I also think that continuing education will be the key for success. People can expect to have five or more careers in a life-time. There will be fewer cases of resting on one's laurels. Retraining will be a way of life. So, possibly more no-frills educational institutions. 5-star dorms and fancy gyms are not so attractive to returning adult students.

[easygoer]

A renewed "Buy American" reminiscent of "look for the Union Label" campaign. Consumers are the one who can create more jobs, by being willing to pay more for things that were made here and supporting business are local and/or that employ Americans at living wages. Create a demand for it.

[plansrme]

Businesses are scared stiff and are holding onto their cash, and justifiably so.

 

And I think it's ridiculous to favor small businesses over big businesses; jobs are jobs. Big business gets an undeservedly bad rap, but really, do you want oil production in the hands of a mom-and-pop company? Don't we want big pockets behind some of our products? These are just two of a thousand such examples, but government policy should not discriminate against big business.

 

Terri

[Sherry in OH]

Businesses are scared stiff and are holding onto their cash, and justifiably so.

 

And I think it's ridiculous to favor small businesses over big businesses; jobs are jobs. Big business gets an undeservedly bad rap, but really, do you want oil production in the hands of a mom-and-pop company? Don't we want big pockets behind some of our products? These are just two of a thousand such examples, but government policy should not discriminate against big business.

 

Terri

 

JLD asked for quick solutions. US economic history indicates that small business accounts for 60-80% of new jobs in the U.S. Historically post-recession job growth has been led by small business, large businesses tended to contract during such times. More than half the private sector workforce is employed by small businesses (500 or fewer employees).

[ma23peas]

Cut spending, scrap the health care plan..it's going to cost us billions and is already putting many out of their jobs...the managed care system had issues, but the amount of money they mismanaged will not touch the debt this health care bill is costing our country...where will that money come from? We have fewer jobs, fewer taxes, those who want more govt control want both spouses working full time jobs because they NEED those taxes to offset the spending...a key reason homeschooling is not encouraged in some circles....

Our local AEA is like a thug business...we had one representative running for governor who was for charter schools and homeschooling and one who was for 'shoring' up the existing educational system...guess what, the AEA was the sole 'anonymous' provider for the advertisements ran by the second guy (750k)...he won by a small margin..they want complete control of the educational funding...they are NOT creating jobs...

The private sector has always been where the jobs are created, if the feds invest in anything it should be to stimulate that sector....cut spending and let the ingenuity of Americans take us back to prosperity...having a govt think they can fix it by putting people to work on roads/trains is extremely shortsighted...

Award small business owners tax cuts..do not require the small business owners to offer health care for every employee under the limits they're under today..

 

I have several friends who have worked for privately owned companies or owned them and they closed b/c the costs against them (taxes and forced insurance demands) would have sent them into bankruptcy...so now you have 3 business closed, 38 people out of work with no good option for health care, when they were working my friends simply bought catastrophic healthcare (cancer/major injury etc.) when one's son broke his hand and needed surgery, the costs were over 10k..she negotiated it down to 3k with all the specialists and paid cash....what she paid for that surgery is less than what many of us have taken out of paychecks each month to give us coverage.

 

Pumping money into a system (stimulus bill, education) has shown time and time again it does not work, if it did, we'd have the best educational system in America and sadly in most urban areas, schools have less than 50% graduate. That money did not help..charter schools/homeschooling (American ingenuity) is helping to change that, not dumping money.

 

Tara

[Jumping In Puddles]

I think green technology is going to be HUGE in the very near future. I think if we start investing in companies that can make the US world leaders in this area, there will be plenty of jobs and money.

 

From Thomas L Friedman in the NYT:

 

Aren’t We Clever?

 

What a contrast. In a year that’s on track to be our planet’s hottest on record, America turned “climate change†into a four-letter word that many U.S. politicians won’t even dare utter in public. If this were just some parlor game, it wouldn’t matter. But the totally bogus “discrediting†of climate science has had serious implications. For starters, it helped scuttle Senate passage of the energy-climate bill needed to scale U.S.-made clean technologies, leaving America at a distinct disadvantage in the next great global industry. And that brings me to the contrast: While American Republicans were turning climate change into a wedge issue, the Chinese Communists were turning it into a work issue.

 

“There is really no debate about climate change in China,†said Peggy Liu, chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, a nonprofit group working to accelerate the greening of China. “China’s leaders are mostly engineers and scientists, so they don’t waste time questioning scientific data.†The push for green in China, she added, “is a practical discussion on health and wealth. There is no need to emphasize future consequences when people already see, eat and breathe pollution every day.â€

 

And because runaway pollution in China means wasted lives, air, water, ecosystems and money — and wasted money means fewer jobs and more political instability — China’s leaders would never go a year (like we will) without energy legislation mandating new ways to do more with less. It’s a three-for-one shot for them. By becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P., China saves money, takes the lead in the next great global industry and earns credit with the world for mitigating climate change.

 

So while America’s Republicans turned “climate change†into a four-letter word — J-O-K-E — China’s Communists also turned it into a four-letter word — J-O-B-S.

 

“China is changing from the factory of the world to the clean-tech laboratory of the world,†said Liu. “It has the unique ability to pit low-cost capital with large-scale experiments to find models that work.†China has designated and invested in pilot cities for electric vehicles, smart grids, LED lighting, rural biomass and low-carbon communities. “They’re able to quickly throw spaghetti on the wall to see what clean-tech models stick, and then have the political will to scale them quickly across the country,†Liu added. “This allows China to create jobs and learn quickly.â€

 

But China’s capability limitations require that it reach out for partners. This is a great opportunity for U.S. clean-tech firms — if we nurture them. “While the U.S. is known for radical innovation, China is better at tweak-ovation.†said Liu. Chinese companies are good at making a billion widgets at a penny each but not good at complex system integration or customer service.

 

We (sort of) have those capabilities. At the World Economic Forum meeting here, I met Mike Biddle, founder of MBA Polymers, which has invented processes for separating plastic from piles of junked computers, appliances and cars and then recycling it into pellets to make new plastic using less than 10 percent of the energy required to make virgin plastic from crude oil. Biddle calls it “above-ground mining.†In the last three years, his company has mined 100 million pounds of new plastic from old plastic.

 

Biddle’s seed money was provided mostly by U.S. taxpayers through federal research grants, yet today only his tiny headquarters are in the U.S. His factories are in Austria, China and Britain. “I employ 25 people in California and 250 overseas,†he says. His dream is to have a factory in America that would repay all those research grants, but that would require a smart U.S. energy bill. Why?

 

Americans recycle about 25 percent of their plastic bottles. Most of the rest ends up in landfills or gets shipped to China to be recycled here. Getting people to recycle regularly is a hassle. To overcome that, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea — and next year, China — have enacted producer-responsibility laws requiring that anything with a cord or battery — from an electric toothbrush to a laptop to a washing machine — has to be collected and recycled at the manufacturers’ cost. That gives Biddle the assured source of raw material he needs at a reasonable price. (Because recyclers now compete in these countries for junk, the cost to the manufacturers for collecting it is steadily falling.)

 

“I am in the E.U. and China because the above-ground plastic mines are there or are being created there,†said Biddle, who just won The Economist magazine’s 2010 Innovation Award for energy/environment. “I am not in the U.S. because there aren’t sufficient mines.â€

 

Biddle had enough money to hire one lobbyist to try to persuade the U.S. Congress to copy the recycling regulations of Europe, Japan and China in our energy bill, but, in the end, there was no bill. So we educated him, we paid for his tech breakthroughs — and now Chinese and European workers will harvest his fruit. Aren’t we clever?

 

 

[JenC3]

Infrastructure Investment.

 

It is beyond necessary that we give real attention to our national infrastructure. Currently it is disintegrating. Updating our sewers, water systems, electrical grid, a REAL rail system, etc. would create jobs and produce lasting results.

 

Unfortunately the new paradigm is not the exponential growth model we've been living with for several hundred years. It's over. We cannot continue to grow, Grow, GROW!

[Barry Goldwater]

This would cause an immediate flood of capital back into the US. Factories would re-open, jobs would expand like crazy. And it's a revenue neutral plan...we could pay for the govt. as it is now.

 

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_main

 

Agree with prior posts re: the job creators' dilemma in the private sector.

[creekland]

I don't personally care about the Union-made deal, but I think adopting an attitude of Buy American would help a ton. At my school we have to buy on cost. Most items now come from China - crayons, staples, everything. If you find an older teacher's stash, most things were Made in the USA. Multiply my experience by tons of schools and teachers and then wonder why we no longer have much of a manufacturing base.

 

Then go out to the average family shopping for the same things. Most of them too choose cost over country of origin. Then they wonder why manufacturing is all overseas.

 

Even food is now affected. Try to find all American grown apple juice, honey or canned mushrooms in the usual stores... they all used to be US.

 

Clothing? We went through some things of my grandma's not all that long ago. Everything was made in the US - even shoes. Try finding that now.

 

American companies can't compete with cheap labor, cheap taxes, extensive laws and a cheap consumer. I don't foresee anything changing in the near future.

 

We were building an artificial economy based on service jobs and housing. Now that the consumer has figured out they don't need tons of services (eating out, travel, manicures, etc) or expensive houses that's going down too.

 

Going back to supporting local - from VERY local to US local is the best option we have. We, personally, try to make those decisions with the few extra dollars we have to spend.

 

Edited to add: OF COURSE that "local" would change to your own country if you don't reside in the US and want to help your own economy.

[ma23peas]

 

American companies can't compete with cheap labor, cheap taxes, extensive laws and a cheap consumer. I don't foresee anything changing in the near future.

 

 

The key problem here is out of control spending, our fed govt has tapped into as many resources as possible..it was impossible for manufacturing plants to make money with all the state taxes/fed taxes/regulations..so now we get a cheaper pencil but what toxic element is in it when you sharpen it? China has very few regulations that are actually monitored, they just needed cash flow in...some companies are starting to come back to the US and reopen plants but it's slow....

 

I have been amazed that I can't find apples/oranges/grapes/plums from the US! Huh?? What happened to our growers? I knew manufacturing was going out, but are we running our growers into the ground? I won't buy produce that does not come from this Continent...Canada/Mexico fine, but any produce that had to be shipped over..they're getting for rock bottom dollar and the quality is not there...

 

I stopped buying anything made in China 3 years ago, it has saved me a lot of money and our clothes/furniture/appliances etc. all last longer...what is hard is on the car..while our Prius was made here, many of the parts in it are now being made in China, I doubt my 2010 Prius will last as long as my 2000 Sienna...just on that basis..

 

Tara