The Cost-Efficiency of a Guaranteed Jobs Program: Really? A Response to Harvey
-
Eri Noguchi
Abstract
Responding to Harvey’s argument that a Guaranteed Jobs program would be more cost-efficient than a Guaranteed Income program, this paper points out several costs related to the latter that are not included in Harvey’s cost comparisons, mostly related to the administrative costs of operating a Guaranteed Jobs Program, which tends to be much more complex and high maintenance. This paper also points out that the unemployment rate would shift in response to the program, and that some unnecessary jobs would most likely need to be created if the program is to guarantee a job for everyone. However, the paper concludes that the public projects imagined as part of a guaranteed jobs program have merit on their own grounds, and should not be dismissed.
Appendix: American jobs act of 2011: policy components and estimated budgetary impact
| $, bn | |
| Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow | 70 |
| Cut employer payroll taxes in half & bonus payroll cut for new jobs/wages | 65 |
| Extend 100% expensing in 2012 | 5 |
| Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America | 140 |
| Teacher rehiring and first responders | 35 |
| Modernizing schools | 30 |
| Immediate surface transportation | 50 |
| Infrastructure bank | 10 |
| Rehabilitation/repurposing of vacant property (neighborhood stabilization) | 15 |
| National wireless initiative | 0* |
| Veterans hiring initiative | n.a. |
| Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs | 62 |
| UI Reform and Extension | 49 |
| Jobs tax credit for long term unemployed | 8 |
| Pathways back to work fund | 5 |
| More Money in the Pockets of Every American Worker and Family | 175 |
| Cutting employee payroll taxes in half in 2012 | 175 |
| TOTAL | 447 |
Source: White House Press Secretary (2011).
References
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- 1
Table A-15: Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization, in Employment (U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2012).
- 2
See Appendix for more detailed itemization of a cost estimate of American Jobs Act of 2011.
- 3
In fact, at the time of this writing, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that there had been a 16% decline since the prior year in the number of “discouraged workers” – individuals who were previously not counted among the unemployed who presented themselves for work.
© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin / Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- The Right to Work and Basic Income
- Introduction to the Special Issue on the? Right to Work and Basic Income
- More for Less: The Job Guarantee Strategy
- Why a Basic Income Is Necessary for a Right to Work
- Cost, Compensation, Freedom, and the Basic Income – Guaranteed Jobs Debate
- The Cost-Efficiency of a Guaranteed Jobs Program: Really? A Response to Harvey
- The Job Guarantee: Delivering the Benefits That Basic Income Only Promises – A Response to Guy Standing
Artikel in diesem Heft
- The Right to Work and Basic Income
- Introduction to the Special Issue on the? Right to Work and Basic Income
- More for Less: The Job Guarantee Strategy
- Why a Basic Income Is Necessary for a Right to Work
- Cost, Compensation, Freedom, and the Basic Income – Guaranteed Jobs Debate
- The Cost-Efficiency of a Guaranteed Jobs Program: Really? A Response to Harvey
- The Job Guarantee: Delivering the Benefits That Basic Income Only Promises – A Response to Guy Standing
