Get America Working!

Q. What is Get America Working?

A. Get America Working! is a national non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to create millions of jobs through structural changes in the U.S. economy.

With more good jobs available, many of the country’s most significant social ills will be greatly diminished. We will see less crime and violence, fewer disengaged young people, less drug use, and a healthier population overall. Furthermore, the country will experience sustained, substantial, and faster economic growth; the environment will benefit greatly; and a larger tax base, combined with lessened dependency and social dysfunction, will allow tax rates to fall. Beyond the "officially unemployed" there are tens of millions of Americans -- the "unseen"/uncounted unemployed who are not participating in the labor force -- a wasted and wasting resource for our economy.

Q. Who are these "unseen"/uncounted unemployed?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics only counts as unemployed those who have "actively looked for work" in the past 4 weeks. In addition to the "official unemployed" (BLS Employment Summary) there are many tens of millions of Americans who have given up looking and no longer expect to find work.  They include  seniors, people with disabilities, young people, people of color, women, legal immigrants, anyone who has been institutionalized, and other groups with disproportionately high rates of joblessness.  They also include discouraged and logistically challenged workers and those living in parts of the country where job opportunity is low.

These people  would be more independent and prosperous—and generally far happier and healthier—if they were working.

We know that for many reasons not all people who don’t have a job in this country want to work, and not all of them can work. Many others work at unpaid jobs (e.g., they are taking care of children, sick spouses, elders, or other family members, or they are full-time students or full-time homemakers).  

Taking those people into account, we believe between 80 and 85 million Americans want paid work but don’t have it, or want more work than they have.  That’s an untenably large portion of the civilian non-institutional population* (the BLS term for the potential workforce, estimated at around 264 million Americans).

*  BLS uses Census Bureau data to calculate the size of the civilian non-institutional population by subtracting those who are: under the age of 16; in the active-duty armed forces; in school; or institutionalized (i.e., in prison, hospitalized).

Q. If all these people are not working, why don't we hear more about them?

A. First, they aren’t counted in the official numbers. Second, people who do not believe they have a chance of getting a job typically accept their situation as inevitable, become resigned, and stop looking for gainful employment. Because people without jobs are dependent and without power—and keenly aware of that circumstance—they are unlikely to speak up for their own interests. Third, society has told the "non-employed" not to expect to work and has reinforced this message with institutionalized subsidies such as welfare and food stamps. And finally, the media typically uncritically accepts the prevailing framework and repeats the common statistics and supporting definitions in story after story, thereby reinforcing the "inevitability" of the situation in which so many people are not considered to be potential workers.

Get America Working!’s goal is to help Americans see that the only way the country can grow strongly is not only to restore the "officially unemployed" to work, but also to allow the large portion of the population that has consistently been shut out of the job market to enter it.  

Q.  What does GAW! propose to create the tens of millions of jobs Americans need?

A.   Our chief policy proposal is to reorient tax policy toward taxing things , not people.  The policy approach is known as payroll tax shifting, described in detail here.

Q. What else does GAW! propose to get more Americans working?

 A.  Payroll tax shifting is the most powerful tool for creating jobs at scale, but GAW! does have other proposals.  One is to encourage and facilitate adults to become allies who mentor children and young people.  Such a relationship is usually very powerful for kids.  Allies provide role modeling and help with everything from excelling in math or sports to practicing and mastering changemaking skills. The relationship is just as powerful for the older person who serves as the young person’s ally. 

 It’s a win-win.  What’s needed to leverage it is: 

 1). public advocacy to help everyone recognize it as an opportunity;

2). removing barriers such as unnecessary regulations and taxes on what allies of young people might earn by working with them in schools, the citizen sector, or faith communities; and

3). providing a few key supports, such as grants to pay people who organize a body of allies above a certain size.  This is commonly the biggest challenge for schools and others hosting such work.