Full Employment for All

Full Employment for All

2023 marks the 60th anniversary of  Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It’s time to remember that the dream also included a large-scale federal program to train and place all unemployed workers.

Everyone who wants to work should be able to find a job, but this is not the case today. Although the official statistics indicate that we are in a period of historically low unemployment, there are still millions of people who are willing to work but are not able to find a job. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that there are about 15 million people who are unable to find work.[i] This joblessness is not uniformly distributed across the country but concentrated in the most disadvantaged communities. A targeted federal program for subsidized employment could create jobs and economic growth in these communities that have been left behind.

With subsidized employment, the government covers some or all the wages of new hires. Scholars find that this is one of the most effective policies for putting people back to work.[ii] Increasing the employment rate of the most disadvantaged workers has been shown not only to benefit the workers and their families but also to have broad community-wide benefits.[iii] We are a stronger nation when more people are working.

In every state in the nation, there are communities that have been left behind. For example, in West Virginia and Kentucky, many people—including many low-income White people–are unable to find employment. In New Mexico and Arizona, many Latino people suffer from joblessness. In Mississippi and Louisiana, many Black people are impoverished because of a lack of work. In Indiana and Michigan, many Asian Americans are without work. In South Dakota and Alaska, many Native Americans want to work but are unable to find employment. In this period of historically low unemployment, there are communities, from urban areas to rural counties, that have been left behind to suffer with high rates of joblessness.

We the undersigned are inspired by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to call on our elected officials to create a subsidized employment program targeted to the communities that face high rates of joblessness even during periods of low unemployment. In 2023, 60 years after King’s famous “I have a dream” speech, it is important to remember that King gave that speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. One of the demands of that march was for “[a] massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers — Negro and white — on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.” King died working to achieve this goal. As the historian Michael K. Honey states, in the last year of King’s life:

He sought an Economic Bill of Rights for Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and poorer whites, as well as for blacks. He sought to create a nonviolent army of poor people in jobless inner cities and barrios and in reservation and rural areas. He challenged the country to create an economy of full employment.[iv]

As King did, we the undersigned challenge our elected officials to create an economy of full employment for all regardless of race, gender or region. We call for a federal program for subsidized employment targeted to the communities that face persistently high rates of joblessness.

Organizational Endorsements

Center for Economic and Policy Research

Center for Law and Social Policy

Community Change Action

DC Fiscal Policy Institute

Demos

Economic Opportunity Institute 

Economic Policy Institute

Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality

Heartland Alliance

Jobs with Justice

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Labor and Working-Class History Association

Michigan League for Public Policy

National Black Worker Center

National Jobs for All Network

Ohio River Valley Institute

Progressive Global Commons

Prosperity Now

CA Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute

National Youth Employment Coalition

The Forum for Youth Investment

Bread for the World

National Alliance to End Homelessness

National Association of County Human Services Administrators

County Welfare Directors Association of California

Individual Endorsements

Merius Atangcho

Alan Barber, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center

Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes

Allicia Brolsma, Student

Erika Brown, Broke-ish podcast

Geronimo Collins, Self-Employed

James Crawford

Brendan Deery, Student

Frank DiCristofano, Retired

Kevin Gallagher, Unemployed

Shawn Lewis, Unemployed

Bob Lucore, Self-Employed

Bob Martin, Retired

C.A. Matthews, The Revolution Continues

Robyn Muncy, University of Maryland, College Park

Meredith Muncy

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Jay Schaffner, Portside

Patricia Simpson,  Emerita Professor, Loyola University Chicago

Dan Souder

Tess Speranza

Naomi R. Williams, Rutgers University SMLR

Melissa Young, Self-Employed

Aramis Alaude

Adele Gladstone, League of Women Voters

Dr. Colette Harris Mathews, Self-Employed

Debra Hunter, Information Design Consultants Inc.

Stefano Monti, Boston University School of Medicine

Katie Skean, Student

James Smart

Wayne Smith, Self-Employed

Martin Vandepas, Slow and Steady Farm

Maddie Ward, Self-Employed

Chris Becker, Groundwork Collaborative

Destinee Anderson, Center for Economic and Policy Research intern

Claire Goldberg, DC Fiscal Policy Institute

Gerry Toner, Self Employed

Shagufta Hakeem

Adam Krupa, Constellis

Mike Rissler, Self-Employed


[i]The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “The Employment Situation—November 2022” had over 6 million people who were unemployed, 5.2 million people who wanted to work but were not technically in the labor force, and 3.7 million people who wanted full-time work but could only find part-time work. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.

[ii] Levy Yeyati, Eduardo, Martin Montane, and Luca Sartorio. 2019. “What Works for Active Labor Policies?” CID Working Paper Series 2019.358. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, July. https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37366396.

[iii] See “Research Evidence for Subsidized Employment,” in Warland, C., & Young, M., (2019, November). Jobs for ALL: Recommendations for Ensuring Equitable Access & Outcomes for Subsidized Employment and Jobs Guarantee Proposals. Heartland Alliance. https://nationalinitiatives.issuelab.org/resource/jobs-for-all-recommendations-for-ensuring-equitable-access-outcomes-for-subsidized-employment-and-jobs-guarantee-proposals.html.

[iv] Honey, Michael K. “Introduction” in “All Labor Has Dignity,” ed. Michael K. Honey (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011), p. xiii.

 

 

Resources

More Lessons Learned from 50 Years of Subsidized Employment Programs

Building Back Better Requires Solutions Rooted in Economic Justice for Black Workers

CLASP Principles for Subsidized Employment

Toward Black Full Employment: A Subsidized Employment Proposal

Toward a Comprehensive, Inclusive, and Equitable Subsidized Employment Initiative in Detroit

Why Coretta Scott King Fought for a Job Guarantee

Everyone’s Economy: Guarantee Public Jobs

Martin Luther King, Jr., All Labor Has Dignity, ed. Michael K. Honey (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011)

William P. Jones, The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights (New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2013)

Targeted Employment: Reconnecting Appalachia’s Disconnected Workforce

2023 marks the 60th anniversary of  Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It’s time to remember that the dream also included a large-scale federal program to train and place all unemployed workers.

Everyone who wants to work should be able to find a job, but this is not the case today. Although the official statistics indicate that we are in a period of historically low unemployment, there are still millions of people who are willing to work but are not able to find a job. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that there are about 15 million people who are unable to find work.[i] This joblessness is not uniformly distributed across the country but concentrated in the most disadvantaged communities. A targeted federal program for subsidized employment could create jobs and economic growth in these communities that have been left behind.

With subsidized employment, the government covers some or all the wages of new hires. Scholars find that this is one of the most effective policies for putting people back to work.[ii] Increasing the employment rate of the most disadvantaged workers has been shown not only to benefit the workers and their families but also to have broad community-wide benefits.[iii] We are a stronger nation when more people are working.

In every state in the nation, there are communities that have been left behind. For example, in West Virginia and Kentucky, many people—including many low-income White people–are unable to find employment. In New Mexico and Arizona, many Latino people suffer from joblessness. In Mississippi and Louisiana, many Black people are impoverished because of a lack of work. In Indiana and Michigan, many Asian Americans are without work. In South Dakota and Alaska, many Native Americans want to work but are unable to find employment. In this period of historically low unemployment, there are communities, from urban areas to rural counties, that have been left behind to suffer with high rates of joblessness.

We the undersigned are inspired by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to call on our elected officials to create a subsidized employment program targeted to the communities that face high rates of joblessness even during periods of low unemployment. In 2023, 60 years after King’s famous “I have a dream” speech, it is important to remember that King gave that speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. One of the demands of that march was for “[a] massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers — Negro and white — on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.” King died working to achieve this goal. As the historian Michael K. Honey states, in the last year of King’s life:

He sought an Economic Bill of Rights for Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and poorer whites, as well as for blacks. He sought to create a nonviolent army of poor people in jobless inner cities and barrios and in reservation and rural areas. He challenged the country to create an economy of full employment.[iv]

As King did, we the undersigned challenge our elected officials to create an economy of full employment for all regardless of race, gender or region. We call for a federal program for subsidized employment targeted to the communities that face persistently high rates of joblessness.

Organizational Endorsements

Center for Economic and Policy Research

Center for Law and Social Policy

Community Change Action

DC Fiscal Policy Institute

Demos

Economic Opportunity Institute 

Economic Policy Institute

Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality

Heartland Alliance

Jobs with Justice

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Labor and Working-Class History Association

Michigan League for Public Policy

National Black Worker Center

National Jobs for All Network

Ohio River Valley Institute

Progressive Global Commons

Prosperity Now

CA Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute

National Youth Employment Coalition

The Forum for Youth Investment

Bread for the World

National Alliance to End Homelessness

National Association of County Human Services Administrators

County Welfare Directors Association of California

Individual Endorsements

Merius Atangcho

Alan Barber, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center

Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes

Allicia Brolsma, Student

Erika Brown, Broke-ish podcast

Geronimo Collins, Self-Employed

James Crawford

Brendan Deery, Student

Frank DiCristofano, Retired

Kevin Gallagher, Unemployed

Shawn Lewis, Unemployed

Bob Lucore, Self-Employed

Bob Martin, Retired

C.A. Matthews, The Revolution Continues

Robyn Muncy, University of Maryland, College Park

Meredith Muncy

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Jay Schaffner, Portside

Patricia Simpson,  Emerita Professor, Loyola University Chicago

Dan Souder

Tess Speranza

Naomi R. Williams, Rutgers University SMLR

Melissa Young, Self-Employed

Aramis Alaude

Adele Gladstone, League of Women Voters

Dr. Colette Harris Mathews, Self-Employed

Debra Hunter, Information Design Consultants Inc.

Stefano Monti, Boston University School of Medicine

Katie Skean, Student

James Smart

Wayne Smith, Self-Employed

Martin Vandepas, Slow and Steady Farm

Maddie Ward, Self-Employed

Chris Becker, Groundwork Collaborative

Destinee Anderson, Center for Economic and Policy Research intern

Claire Goldberg, DC Fiscal Policy Institute

Gerry Toner, Self Employed

Shagufta Hakeem

Adam Krupa, Constellis

Mike Rissler, Self-Employed


[i]The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “The Employment Situation—November 2022” had over 6 million people who were unemployed, 5.2 million people who wanted to work but were not technically in the labor force, and 3.7 million people who wanted full-time work but could only find part-time work. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.

[ii] Levy Yeyati, Eduardo, Martin Montane, and Luca Sartorio. 2019. “What Works for Active Labor Policies?” CID Working Paper Series 2019.358. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, July. https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37366396.

[iii] See “Research Evidence for Subsidized Employment,” in Warland, C., & Young, M., (2019, November). Jobs for ALL: Recommendations for Ensuring Equitable Access & Outcomes for Subsidized Employment and Jobs Guarantee Proposals. Heartland Alliance. https://nationalinitiatives.issuelab.org/resource/jobs-for-all-recommendations-for-ensuring-equitable-access-outcomes-for-subsidized-employment-and-jobs-guarantee-proposals.html.

[iv] Honey, Michael K. “Introduction” in “All Labor Has Dignity,” ed. Michael K. Honey (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011), p. xiii.

 

 

Resources

More Lessons Learned from 50 Years of Subsidized Employment Programs

Building Back Better Requires Solutions Rooted in Economic Justice for Black Workers

CLASP Principles for Subsidized Employment

Toward Black Full Employment: A Subsidized Employment Proposal

Toward a Comprehensive, Inclusive, and Equitable Subsidized Employment Initiative in Detroit

Why Coretta Scott King Fought for a Job Guarantee

Everyone’s Economy: Guarantee Public Jobs

Martin Luther King, Jr., All Labor Has Dignity, ed. Michael K. Honey (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011)

William P. Jones, The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights (New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2013)

Targeted Employment: Reconnecting Appalachia’s Disconnected Workforce