A Savior for Jobs in America?

By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News

The Council on Economic Advisers reports that they will be monitoring the saving and changing of jobs in the United States on individual state basis.
 
The CEA this year will report to Congress on all estimates of jobs saved and created. The estimates will be combined with numbers from state by state reports.

An unnamed senior administration official said they are going to “be monitoring every state, every county, finding out what’s happening in terms of the actual reporting of where the jobs are being created and how things are going.”

A January report said that 3.5 million jobs would be saved as a result of the program under the Recovery Act. The official said those estimates have not changed “in terms of what the program is going to do.”

The program is expected to fulfill its original promises, the official said. “We are seeing unemployment interestingly throughout the spectrum,” the official said. The effects have crossed over into a variety of industries and geographic groups. The CEA hopes to receive description of exactly what types of jobs are being created when they receive the individual state reports.

The report spells out the general principles of how the states will be asked to report on the specifics of their progress. The official said it is important to see how each state’s projects and progress compares across the country. That is the type of information the CEA hopes to gain with the direct reports.

Giving Power Back To The People

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Senator Tom Harkins (D-Iowa) and Congressman George Miller (D-Ca) held a press conference to discuss the progress of the “Employment Free Choice Act: Strengthening the Middle Class.”

Senator Harkin’s said: “We are introducing legislation that puts the power back into the hands of the people who are truly the backbone of our country. Today, Congressman Miller and I along with our co-sponsors are introducing the Employment Free Choice Act and we intend to pass this act not in a matter of years, but in weeks or months.”

Senator Harkin’s added: “In 2004 the average CEO made 431 times that of the average worker.

Congressman Miller said: “Under this bill the employees can choose to organize either through the National Labor Relations Board Election Process or through a majority sign up. Under the current law the CEO can veto employees choice when they use majority sign up. Under this bill the employee’s choice will be respected.”

The two said that from discussions they anticipated that the Senate would be first to vote on the Act and Senator Harkin’s said that by the time the vote comes he “believes” that there will be the 60 votes required for the legislation to pass.

The vote in the Senate is expected to take place after Easter recess.

The Economic Outlook and Budget Challenges

The U.S House Budget Committee held a full committee hearing on the economical outlook and budget challenges.

The discussion focused on the economical problems that are facing America today and the crucial issue of unemployment. The need to create more jobs was discussed and a solution that was presented favored lowering taxes on private business. This solution will could lead to an increase in employment.

A key point that was stressed involved investing in a long term economic strategy, to be able to increase the employment and create sustainable jobs.

Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, presented testimony regarding the state of the economy and issues in developing an effective policy response.
Elmendorf said that America must change its economical policies and make them more efficient to recover from the economical downturn it has suffered.

" The expected severity and persistence of economic weakness have led the great majority of economists to think that both large-scale fiscal stimulus and significant new financial and monetary policies are needed to generate a strong recovery in the next few years. Fiscal policies are most effective if they are timely, are cost effective and do not exacerbate the nation's long-run fiscal imbalance," Elmendorf stated.

He also referred to the difficulties in constructing a stimulus package that is economically effecient and statisfying the broader objectives. Policymakers want to know which people benefit from a policy and what society will receive in return.

Kevin Hasset, Senior Fellow and Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, presented testimony that America's economy has been through bad times before and that the economy recoverd. Hasset also highlights the importance debt could have.

" We have not yet reached the point where skyrocketing debt levels have caused heightened concerns among investors in U.S. Treasuries. If this Committee wishes to avoid testing those waters, it should consider stimulus efforts with genuine steps toward run deficit reduction," Hasset stated.

Think tank experts argue economic implications of immigration

The Woodrow Wilson Center hosted a colloquium on “The Economic Effect of Immigration: Implications for Income and Employment of Low-Skill Labor in the United States.” Speakers at the colloquium included Tamar Jacoby, president and CEO of Immigration Works USA, and Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Jacoby said the only cost of immigration is a one to four percent wage decrease for low-skilled American workers. She argued that this cost is negated by the economic growth caused by immigration. Jacoby offered the example that immigration in North Carolina bears a $61 million cost compared to $11 billion of economic growth. Jacoby contended that due to the way immigrant workers complement American workers, every one agricultural worker creates three local jobs.

Conversely, Krikorian said that mass immigration is not economically sustainable. Krikorian admitted that although immigration helps our economy grow, the growth may decrease quality of life and per capita income for Americans in general.