Over and over again economists, politicians, and business leaders tell
us that it doesn’t get any better than this. The U.S. economy, we are
told, is at ‘full employment,’ if not beyond full employment.
In fact, many have been cautioning for some time that, despite the
‘new economy,’ we may have hit the peak, need to watch out for
inflation, and should prepare for a ‘soft landing.’ The good news, we
are told, applies equally, or even especially, to the African American
community. Black unemployment rates are at record lows.
But not only is the African American unemployment rate still double
that of whites, at around 8%, that figure still remains at a rate that
would be considered evidence of a deep recession were it to hold for
society as a whole. Moreover, indisputable empirical evidence now
exists that links unemployment and financial insecurity to every major
social problem plaguing the inner cities, from drug addiction and
trafficking to teenage pregnancy to violent crime and incarceration.
Is economic depression and associated social crisis the ‘best’ African
Americans can expect from the ‘new economy’? How can we possibly
accept the idea that in the midst of the longest and strongest
peacetime economic expansion in history, there are people that are
ready, willing, and able to work—who are actively seeking
employment—and yet can find no job. What are we to tell these people:
‘tough luck’? ‘too bad’? How can we possibly accept the idea that in
the richest country in the world, there are individuals who are
unemployed due to lack of adequate transportation or lack of adequate
or affordable child-care? And how can we possibly accept the idea that
in the ‘best of economic times,’ with budgets in surplus, there
remains a tremendous shortage of community services, especially in
inner city neighborhoods?
In When Work Disappears, Harvard Sociologist William Julius
Wilson concludes that "the jobs problem for inner city workers
cannot be adequately addressed without considering a policy of
public-sector employment of last resort." Professor Wilson
supports a "WPA-style" program that would be open to all, in
other words, that is not limited to welfare recipients or poor
workers. Work performed would include both infrastructure maintenance
and labor-intensive public service employment, such as day-care aides
and playground assistants in school gyms and public parks. The
program would be coupled with government-funded day-care that would be
"integrated into a larger system of child-care…to avoid creating
a ‘day-care ghetto’ for low-income children." The program must
avoid any ‘fiscal substitution’ to both protect other public sector
workers from being displaced and to ensure that the aggregate number
of jobs is increased.
To ensure there is no displacement, as well as to prevent possible
objections, Professor Wilson proposes that such public sector services
not duplicate either present public sector or private sector services.
The program would also include health insurance.
There are two sides to the benefits of guaranteed Public Service
Employment. On the employment side, there is job and income
security for workers. On the public service side, the work
performed provides community services that are in short supply. In
addition, there are not only the initial benefits of job and income
security and more and better public and community services. There are
also the numerous indirect benefits—the economic and social
multipliers—that accompany these. On the economic side, the
initial job and income growth associated with Public Service
Employment translates into further increased spending and rising
incomes throughout the community. The social multipliers concern the
benefits to individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities of
decreased crime, drugs, and family disruption, and increased and
strengthened security, education, health, care for the infirm and the
elderly, and environmental protection.
There are a number of successful programs that may be viewed as
precedents for a Public Service Employment program. The Civil Works
Administration had no means tests and included the same health
insurance as regular federal jobs. CETA was also effective in
providing for direct job creation, despite isolated but highly
publicized incidents of abuse and corruption. The Youth Incentive
Entitlement Pilot Projects (YIEPP) was a hugely successful program,
providing quality jobs and meaningful work experience, and closing the
black-white unemployment gap in 11,000 work sites. All of these
programs demonstrated that the primary reason for unemployment,
especially youth unemployment, is the lack of jobs.
If the jobs created through public service employment assurance are to
truly serve the community, then the community and neighborhood
organizations must take the reins and administer the programs to the
fullest extent possible, rather than having the federal government
involved in the majority of administration. The federal government’s
job is to provide the wages and benefits. The initial attempt to
employ Public Service Employees must be through registered community
service organizations that already exist. In this way the program will
be able to employ individuals with minimal additional bureaucracy, and
will in addition supply labor to organizations that provide needed
public and social services that enhance the quality of life in that
region. Because the federal government pays the wage-benefits package,
community service organizations obtain additional workers at no extra
cost. Communities will experience an increase in a variety of public
services in their region, and this in turn will contribute to an
increased quality of life for all members of the community, especially
the less well-off. There are a wide variety of civil rights and
community based service organizations committed to serving society.
Public Service Employees themselves must also have the opportunity to
initiate and develop public and community service projects.
The potential benefits of a community-administered, federally funded
Public Service Employment program necessitate that Professor Wilson’s
bold proposal be seriously considered. We can never state that "this
is the best of times" as long as anyone is left
behind. 
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