Despite hopeful signs that the worst of our nation's economic crisis is behind us, unemployment rates across the nation remain stubbornly high. In California, December payrolls were down another 40,000 jobs and at 12.4%, our joblessness rate remains among the highest in the country. For the millions of Californians who seek the dignity of work and pride of a paycheck, a jobless economic recovery is no recovery at all. As local elected leaders, we see the human face of this lingering recession every day - the families and small business owners struggling to make ends meet.
That's why we're heartened by the renewed focus demonstrated by President Obama and Congressional leaders from both parties in Washington on helping local communities and our small and medium-sized businesses create jobs. There's been much discussion lately about how many jobs have actually been created since last year's passage of the $800billion stimulus package. And in his State of the Union recently, President Obama called on Congress to pass a new federal jobs bill to help put people back to work. The new jobs bill is an enormous opportunity for lawmakers to give a boost to a little-noticed program from last year's federal stimulus package that Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties are using right now to create thousands of private, nonprofit and public sector jobs.
The 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) set aside $5 billion nationwide - and $1.8 billion for California alone - to create what is called the "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund (TANF-ECF)." That's federal stimulus jargon for a work-subsidy program that provides federal funds to pay 80% of the wages for unemployed workers with a dependent child, including subsidizing wages for private sector and non-profit employers. By combining this program with funding for youth employment, Los Angeles County has already placed more than 10,000 County residents in jobs. In San Francisco, we call the program JobsNow, and we've put more than 1,700 people back to work for more than 800 local companies and nonprofit organizations.
Sound too good to be true? Thousands of people now working under this program in San Francisco and Los Angeles Counties and other California counties prove otherwise. As a result of this federal stimulus funding, thousands of Californians who would otherwise join the unemployment rolls are supporting their families and local businesses are continuing to thrive.
This JobsNow program is exactly in line with the Obama Administration and Congressional leaders of both parties' priorities when it comes to incentivizing job creation. But our success locally in putting people back to work could come to a screeching halt - and throw thousands out of work again - when the program expires this year on September 30. Amidst a jobless recovery, it simply makes no sense to end this program.
Fortunately, in his proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget, President Obama is supporting an extension of the program for one year, to September 30, 2011. California's own Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are also supporting amendments to extend the program in the federal jobs bill. Representatives Judy Chu and Peter Stark are sponsoring a similar proposal in the House of Representatives.
California is America's largest economy. Economic recovery and job creation here will help drive economic and job growth across the country. We strongly urge members of Congress from both political parties to support an extension of this program in the new federal jobs bill. Let's continue a federal stimulus program that's working exactly as it was intended - putting thousands of people back to work in private, public and nonprofit sector jobs now.
Gavin Newsom is the Democratic Mayor of San Francisco
Don Knabe is a Republican Los Angeles County Supervisor
Follow Gavin Newsom on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GavinNewsom
No, there is need for government services (which require jobs) and private industry. What needs to happen is transparency so wonderful organizations in this country that expose fraud and corruption can do their jobs more effectively.
BTW, what state were you working in?
You surprised me. I want to see you in the US Senate.
BTW, according to the jobsnow.com site: I assume this needs to be updated, since it doesn't jibe with the figures you've given here (1700 residents/800 employers)
Two things:
1) Compare paying unemployment to people while they are seeking employment with reimbursing an employer for 80% of wages in jobs that weren't economically viable without the subsidies, thus when the subsidies go, so go the jobs; mean time, they aren't looking for a job created through market means. The latter possibly gives workers new skills, but, lack of skills isn't what ails the economy presently. Federally paid wages would help stimulate consumer spending, but so would any unemployment benefits.
2) Which federal agency will monitor each business to prevent them from simply replacing an existing employee with one that the government will pick up 80% of the tab on? Similar legislation has mandated a new hire under it could not replace a worker who had not left voluntarily. That's hardly sufficient, as there's much routine hiring to replace voluntary departures. A business could fill existing jobs while getting a nice subsidy from the government. Or, 'let go' another worker sometime after hiring one under this legislation. It just seems way too much of a business subsidy here for increasing the owners' net profit.
The program isn't well thought out. Go back to the drawing board. If you look where the economy started to fall apart, you'll better know how to fix it. Please read "The Great Recession: Have You Paid Attention?" at my blogspot.
-RLee
http://therleepost.blogspot.com
1. People who manage to get jobs know better than to trust their tenure in them. Temp jobs are what's on offer; permanent jobs--ha. If you're a nurse, you'll work if you want to; phlebotomist, ditto; otherwise, even if people are working, they're surreptitiously watching for the replacement job they'll have to get to replace the job they're in.
2. A lot of the hiring going on does depend upon partially subsidized labor costs borne by the state or the federal government. The expectation is that as business picks up, profits will increase and businesses can assume the full load.
Not being able to replace a worker who didn't leave of his or her own accord doesn't sound like a valid constraint. That kind of thinking works when you have managers trying to staff their groups with their friends by firing the people already there. However, it should be harder to dismiss people without cause on a corporate level. I feel it is both necessary and helpful to be able to fire for cause and replace a person. In that respect, the legislation you mentioned is definitely in need of improvement, but otherwise the JobsNow program does appear to have very good points.
I lived in San Francisco (Jordan Park area) before moving to France. I moved to France in 2000 because I could no longer compete against cheap labor.
It's good to know that with your program JobsNow that you've been able to place more than 1,700 people back to work for more than 800 local companies and nonprofit organizations. But as you write about this, I want to tell you that I received news from people that I used to work with in the Bay Area. The news is that 3 years ago, a staff of 500 employees for a Utility company were absorbed by AMDOCS, which in turn have classified them as temporary contract employees. The news is that layoffs and resignations have been constant. These american workers days are numbered as they train indian replacements.
It would be courageous of you to comment.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Small-Business-Office-doing-little-to-help-employers-84202352.html
Even they say the government can create jobs.
So don't be fooled by all this nonsense about how only wall street geniuses create jobs, and how the government cant do anything right. We have clear and incontrovertible evidence that this theory is an outright lie.
It's called the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act, sponsored by Hank Johnson of Georgia, written by Lloyd Chapman. The bill would go miles to reinvigorate the small business community and end publicly traded companies from receiving small business set aside funds. There is conservatively 100 billion dollars a year ear marked for small business that finds it's way into large corporations.
The bill has 20 co sponsors, and since small business has created every net new job in this country since 1977, putting 100 billion into the middle class economy would create 4 million new jobs using the math of the Obama administration. If we use the math of Senator Landrieu, chair of the Senate small business committee, we would create 1.8 million jobs by raising the % of money going to small businesses to the Federally mandated level of 23% from the 5% that it actually is.
Free and easy, costs us nothing.