A job-creation bill must respect the talents of people who are "self-taught" in some field. While these people know their limitations, and the need for teamwork, many employers think applicants can't possibly be competent, let alone superior, at anything, unless they have a lot of formal education in the field.
This bill must recognize the fact that a person might not have all the technical skills typically used in a job, but, as part of a team including others who do have the skills, can make significant contributions right now in order to be employed.
Supporting Demand
Every good job created requires a legitimate source of money to pay for the salary of the worker. Economists have a tradition of not recognizing "demand" unless it's backed up with the money to pay for the product or service. This has created a distorted view of what work needs to be done, and what products need to be made. When you have information on the real need for something without regard to the money the consumers need to pay for it, the next step is how to fund the demand. This is the place where macroeconomic policy changes and new programs can be most needed and effective. Health-insurance reform, tax reform, financial-industry reform, and support for "green" technology are examples of macroeconomic tools. The problem is that they don't earmark existing or new jobs for unemployed and underemployed people who want to step forward and tell the government agencies they need a good job now.
Misallocation of Productive Resources
There is a huge misconception now about the level of superfluity of American workers. Many observers, noting the number of jobs that seem to have permanently disappeared, think that many people will be "permanently" unemployed and that the economy obviously doesn't need as high a percentage of the workforce employed at any one time, as it did in the past. I believe there is a misallocation of the factors of production of monumental proportions. Much of this is fueled by too much money going to one place, and too little money to another. Solving this misallocation can restore employment levels to what works for workers, as well as providing the goods and services that are needed more than supplied. This is a complex challenge and crowd-sourcing would help tremendously. Ask Americans: What goods and services does this country have too much of? What goods and services does this country have too little of? What could be done to get us "about the right amounts" of these goods and services? Reallocation of the factors of production can minimize unemployment, underemployment, and poverty without requiring unsustainable economic growth for recovery.
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