An Open Letter to the House Jobs Task Force

November 30, 2009

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HOUSE JOBS TASK FORCE:

Dear Members,

The economic crisis continues for thousands of families as job opportunities remain scarce, unemployment benefits run out, and experts talk of a jobless recovery — which we all know is no recovery at all. Ultimately, the measure of this crisis that hits home is the unemployment rate – how many jobs we’ve lost and how many people are unable to find jobs. And so whatever the recovery strategy – the ultimate end product has to be jobs.

We propose a Minnesota Emergency Jobs Act, a muscular three-part program that will increase employment levels and speed a job-based recovery in Minnesota.

First, we recommend a wage-subsidy program that entices nervous employers to go ahead and hire. We recommend revamping the MEED program successfully used in the early to mid-1990s. A majority of the jobs would be in the private sector. Workers will be encouraged to upgrade skills either through full-time training, part-time training or on-the-job training, and all participants will be required to have a plan to upgrade their skills while working. To make the Emergency Jobs program reality this time around will require a combination of federal and state funds and state expertise. One intriguing idea we urge you to explore is the use of tax payment vouchers as a means to subsidize hiring.

Second, we recommend that the state’s capital budget and bonding bill be historically large and emphasize rehabilitation, retrofitting, and remodeling which tend to be more labor intensive and employ more laborers and people in the finishing trades. We also urge the state to provide incentives, both encouragement and penalties, so that contractors using state money are hiring a much more diverse workforce. This is one important way we can address Minnesota’s extremely poor record regarding income disparity by race.

Third, we urge the task force to look at ways to reshape unemployment benefits so that they may be used as a reemployment subsidy. Minnesota should pursue a federal waiver in order to test a voluntary program wherein unemployment beneficiaries could opt to use their benefits as a wage subsidy in exchange for an employer’s promise to make the position permanent.

Finally, we urge the task force to always follow the principle that we do best by improving the general economic environment for hiring. We do not think we should be targeting particular industries or geographic zones. In fact we think some funds for the Emergency Jobs Act could be secured by diverting funds currently going to specialized grants, loans, tax breaks, and tax-free zones that have proven to be ineffective.

The economy will recover faster if the above programs are put in place to serve persons who want and need to work.

Let Minnesota lead the way. We’ve done it often before and we can do it again.

Sincerely,

JOINT RELIGIOUS LEGISLATIVE COALITION

Brian A. Rusche
Executive Director