Created by my team at the Economic Democracy Initiative @EDI_tweets, we feature a map with real-world programs that embody some of the Job Guarantee principles. The site also collects academic papers, books, legislative initiatives, surveys, events, FAQs and other information 2/x
In recent years, the Job Guarantee proposal has attracted global attention. From the UN Report on the JG to the new EU Resolution on Job Creation, to the US Green New Deal Resolution, it's a core policy for full and decent employment, economic security & environmental renewal 3/x
I was honored to offer expert opinion on the proposal to UN Special Rapporteur @DeSchutterO and participate in the launch of the report at the @un_hrc this summer. The report highlights the program’s key anti-poverty and stabilizing features, especially for developing nations 4/x
The largest job guarantee programs in recent history can be found in the developing world. Our JG map features programs such as India’s MGNREGA, South Africa’s Employment Stimulus and Expanded Public Works Programs, and many other JG-like programs (past or present) 5/x
Developed nations need a Job Guarantee too. Labor markets may be tight compared to recent history, but slack remains in many regions and living wages are out of reach for many workers.
Times of relative economic stability are ideal for implementing the program 6/x
With permission, we’ve included another excellent resource: the @LivingNewDeal map, which to this day serves as a great model for a job guarantee and documents the rich legacy of public service projects in the US. 7/x
In Europe, the JG has been included in various legislative efforts. Last year MEP @AuroreLalucq and I wrote a proposal for a Job Guarantee for Europe. It informed the relevant sections of the European Resolution on Job Creation that include the JG. 8/x
Our proposal highlighted the French Zero Long Term Unemployment areas as a model for Europe. The JG map features @ZeroChomeurLD, whose success w/ 10 experimental areas led to its expansion to all areas in France. The program has been central to policy efforts across Europe 9/x
The Austrian Job Guarantee pilot is especially important for the European context. Thanks to the careful design and evaluation by @LukasLehner_ and @maxkasy, this program has shown superior results to previous jobs program in Austria (e.g., Aktion) 10/x
Our website includes surveys showing the overwhelming popularity of the Job Guarantee proposal (which we will continue to update) 11/x
And we have a vast collection of academic research and policy papers on the Job Guarantee. Over 50 books and 300+ articles and growing. 12/x
I am pleased to say that my own book The Case for a Job Guarantee has now been published in 9 languages, most recently in Chinese 13/x pavlina-tcherneva.net/the-case-for-a…
We are grateful to our many collaborators and partners who have made the Job Guarantee central to their work.
Please send us any JG-related scholarship, news, events, or legislative work for inclusion in this resource.
🧵The ballot measures last night say a few things about voters’ feelings about the economy.
Here is how they played out.
PAID SICK LEAVE
All three measures requiring employers to provide paid sick leave PASSED (AK, MO, NE)
All 3 states went to Trump
1/x
MINIMUM WAGES and TIPPED Worker Wages
4 states passed measures to increase the minimum wage (AK, MO, NE, AZ)
1 state rejected a measure to erode tipped worker wages (AZ).
All 5 states went to Trump
2/x
CA & MA: The 2 states where the proposed increases in the min wage/tipped worker wage FAILED
*(a note on AZ Prop 138 above; very convoluted framing but it basically would've made it more difficult for tipped worker wages to keep up w/ increases in the state minimum wage)
3/x
🧵 Labor flows have been softening to a degree normally associated with past recessions.
The slowdown could be bigger than currently discussed🧵
This is our "labor market absorption measure"
The labor market absorption measure shows the ratio of people who were Not in the Labor Force and moved into the Employment category VS those who were NLF and went into Unemployment. It is indicative of how hard it's getting to find a job
Looking at flows is useful b/c most people who get jobs/employment (E) in any given month come from not-in
-the labor force (N), rather than from the unemployed (U). The ratio N-to-E vs U-to-E is softening. Both categories ticked down, as moving into employment is getting harder
Appreciate the thread by @GeorgeSelgin. A note on MMTs view of 'fiscal discipline'.
For MMT at the macro level, prices are influenced by prices paid by govt and this has key implications for policy, esp for 'controlling' spending. We prefer to modulate fiscal policy not by...
...chasing debt/deficit to GDP ratios but by designing better automatic (esp employment) stabilizers. The JG/ELR is self limiting unlike pump priming and works with a fixed price-floating spending mechanism. The goal: full empl, better infl control, distribution, real outcomes
We see lots of waste in govt procurement or, say, the current healhtcare model. And let's not forget interest rates (another key price set by govt), which have balooned interest payments in the budget.
In almost everything I write, I prefer to look at the "way" govt spends
🧵I'm pleased to launch a new symposium on Post-Neoliberalism in collaboration with @AAzmanova.
We feature inaugural pieces by Ian Shapiro, @RBReich, @rodrikdani & James Galbraith.
Our project explores two forces that reproduce the neoliberal paradigm: 1/x postneoliberalism.org
1) We focus on precarity as a fundamental force that reproduces the neoliberal economy. We consider illiberalism to be a consolidation of neoliberalism (not evidence of its crisis), largely because liberal democracy has failed to address the question of economic insecurity
2/x
2) We explore the “whatever-it-takes” financing paradigm which uses public money to resuscitate financial markets, profits & investment (often of firms with predatory pricing & labor practices) but fail to secure full employment, the social safety-net, or the green transition
3/x
Despite impressive job growth, labor market slack remains.
The employment level continues to flatline (total and prime age) edi.bard.edu/research/notes/
Labor market flows indicate a slowdown.
We watch a few ratios that tell us the distribution of who gets jobs:
fewer people who were outside the labor force and slightly more who were officially unemployed (this ratio dipped for the first time in 2 years)