The economy is bad. With the loss of three million jobs, President George W. Bush has the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression. Solutions to this problem have been highly debated amongst Republicans and Democrats alike, but Bush’s job retraining program is a solution that will work.
In his State of the Union address, Bush explained how his plan, Jobs for the 21st Century, would work. The program would give approximately $500 million to the Department of Labor to distribute for education initiatives. Approximately half would go to community colleges to promote the training of highly-skilled workers. The remaining funds would go toward increasing reading and math achievement in high schools. There would also be a $28 million increase in funding for advanced placement programs.
The program is Bush’s attempt to retrain the American workforce for jobs that actually exist. According to the American Council on Education, by putting the money in the Department of Labor as opposed to the Department of Education, “the signal is to focus on workforce training activities.” Many people who have been laid off due to the decline in certain fields need work elsewhere, and Bush is giving them the chance to find it.
Critics of Bush’s program may respond that while job training is important, job creation is more critical in helping to alleviate the country’s current economic woes. Although Bush’s program may not immediately create jobs, it can still help to decrease unemployment. CNN reports that the goal of this program is “on new, technology-based fields hungry for workers.” By retraining workers to better suit them for high-tech fields, Bush’s plan helps alleviate unemployment caused by the economic downturn.
Even if it doesn’t create jobs, giving new jobs to unemployed workers still benefits the economy. Furthermore, the technology companies’ productivity will increase as well, as they will no longer have to operate with the skilled workers. This will lead to further expansion in the technology industry, which, in the long-run, will lead to more jobs.
Jobs for the 21st Century also caters specifically to small businesses. Fox News reported that training workers in these critical areas will enable small businesses to “better provide for the needs of their workforce.”
Bush also wants tax cuts for small businesses, giving them greater capital with which to invest in their business and hire employees.
Helping small businesses is another key to economic productivity. Small Business Survival Committee Chairwoman Kare Kerrigan points out, “Small firms are responsible for the bulk of job creation and innovation in the U.S.” Every massive corporation that employs thousands of workers was once a small business. Small businesses have more room to expand than large corporations, and the expansion process will, of course, require more workers. Therefore, by helping small businesses, Bush’s proposal will create jobs in the long-run.
At a time when U.S. citizens are losing jobs to foreign workers, a program is needed to maintain the skill of American workers and prepare the economy for the next generation of workers. Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance said, “Support for these types of investments will be critical in maintaining the long term competition of America.”
The economy is a heated topic this election season. Both Republicans and Democrats are trying to convince the American public that they have the magical solution. While Bush’s solution is by no means perfect, it is a step in the right direction.