Labor & Employment Law

Bill in Congress Would Save or Create 675,000+ Local Jobs

By Mike Hall

If the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812) becomes law, it will create or save more than 675,000 local community jobs and more than 250,000 education jobs, according to the latest estimates from the House Education and Labor Committee.

In a letter from the coalition of more than 300 groups, including the AFL-CIO, that have endorsed the bill, the groups write:

We need bold congressional action in order to put Americans back to work and prevent more layoffs and cuts in crucial services. The Local Jobs for America Act will not only provide employment for hundreds of thousands of jobless workers, it will create and save jobs for workers who are providing services that our communities badly need.

Communities across the nation are dealing with serious budget shortfalls that are forcing layoffs and cuts in vital human services, actions which committee chairman Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) says “threaten to derail our nation’s economic recovery.”

We cannot afford these layoffs just as our schoolchildren cannot afford a missed year of education or the cutting of vital services families and communities rely upon.

The bill–developed with a bipartisan group of mayors, county officials and others–will provide $75 billion over two years to local communities to hold off planned cuts or to hire back workers for local services who have been laid-off because of tight budgets. (Click here for a community-by community estimate of the jobs they bill will create or save.)

B. Glen Whitely (R), the chief executive officer of Tarrant County Texas and incoming president of the National Association of Counties, says the jobs bill is “a bridge to get us to a healthy economy.”

It will help put people back to work and help local governments retain employees and avoid lay-offs.

Along with the $75 billion for local community jobs, the legislation also provides $24 billion to help states support 250,000 education jobs. Just this week, the media reported that hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country may not be back in the classroom this fall because of budget cuts. The bill also contains funding to put 5,500 law enforcement officers on the beat, and retain, rehire and hire firefighters. Says Rep Chellie Pingree (D-Me.):

In this tough economic climate, it’s important for us to keep local firefighters, police and teachers at work in the community while easing the burden on local taxpayers and creating new jobs.

The Local Jobs for America Act would also fund approximately 50,000 additional private-sector on-the-job training positions to help local businesses put people back to work. Workers would be able to acquire core job skills and important work experience for private employers.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on April 22, 2010 (boomark / email).