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One of the most important policies that could promote long termism in the business community would be adjusting the tax provision that allows businesses to deduct executive compensation above $1 million, if based on performance. This incentive should be restructured to encourage compensation that rewards long-term, rather than short-term, performance. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, should also increase transparency requirements for share buybacks in order rein in insider manipulation and develop a better understanding of the link between buybacks and executive compensation. A sliding capital gains tax rate and greater proxy access both can reward long-term asset holding and better align the interests of executive decision-makers and long-term shareholders. In addition, the SEC should enhance disclosure that would empower both investors and executives to focus on long-term results. For example—as proposed in a recent CAP report titled “Workers or Waste?”—enhancing disclosure of corporate investments in worker training could remove a disincentive to companies investing in their workforce while also better protecting investors who will want to reward productivity-enhancing workforce training. 57 Resilient employment solutions Because the human and economic costs of recessions and slow growth are high, smart policy means preparing for recessions before they happen. Government should become a more active stabilizing force in the face of recessions by making it easier for workers to find jobs when the economy is weak. This will raise wages and curb employment loss in the short term by providing countercyclical stimulus, as well as raise wages in the long term by preventing spells of unemployment from permanently depressing workers’ earnings. And policy should also focus on helping workers who want to re-enter the workforce after leaving for noneconomic reasons, such as raising a child or taking care of a parent. We should enact a suite of policies that will raise wages by making employment more resilient, enabling workers who are laid off or who exit the labor force to find a job as quickly as possible. For example, the United States should deploy a new mechanism to automatically fund additional temporary national service positions during periods of high long-term unemployment, in addition to fully funding the 250,000 national service positions authorized by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009. 58 The United States should also establish a national sub- 40 Center for American Progress | Raising Wages and Rebuilding Wealth
sidized jobs program that would help certain groups at the margins of the labor market—such as the long-term unemployed and persons with criminal records— find employment by providing incentives for local small businesses to invest in training employees whom they would not otherwise hire. We should strengthen unemployment insurance, or UI, as a tool for fighting recessions and to help working families persevere through spells of unemployment. The Center for American Progress, the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, and the National Employment Law Project recently released a report, entitled “Strengthening Unemployment Protections in America,” that spells out ways to do just that. 59 The report suggests that UI must be better funded so that it can reach a greater share of the unemployed, including giving job seekers access to tools for successful re-employment and training. Eligibility criteria should be reformed to include part-time, lower-wage, and temporary workers. And UI must be made ready to respond to the next recession by modernizing its financing system and improving its solvency. To support people who are searching for jobs but do not qualify for UI—such as recent graduates and individuals returning from unpaid caregiving—the United States should also create a Jobseeker’s Allowance that provides a modest, shortterm weekly allowance, conditional on ongoing work search efforts. Execute monetary policy with the middle class in mind The policy stance adopted by the Federal Reserve is key to allowing employment and wages to grow and the economy to reach its potential. Given the current economic environment of low inflation, very low long-term interest rates, and economic slack, monetary policy should resist calls to raise interest rates when circumstances do not require it. Premature rate increases could cut off economic recovery; with any challenge from inflation yet to materialize, this ought to be avoided. Instead, the Federal Reserve should focus on sustaining demand adequate to enable the economy to operate at full potential. Jobs and Wages | www.americanprogress.org 41
Page 1: AGENCY/PHOTOGRAPHER Raising Wages a
Page 5 and 6: Contents 1 Introduction and summary
Page 7 and 8: CHAPTER 1 Introduction and summary
Page 9 and 10: Nevertheless, public policy can and
Page 11 and 12: of growth came to an end. Middle-cl
Page 13 and 14: The main reason middle-class income
Page 15 and 16: The above analysis of incomes focus
Page 17 and 18: TABLE 1.2 Wealth across demographic
Page 19 and 20: FIGURE 1.6 The cost of education, h
Page 21 and 22: Policy response and recommendations
Page 23 and 24: • Address the labor market effect
Page 25 and 26: Health care • Address cost shifti
Page 27 and 28: Endnotes 1 Authors’ analysis of M
Page 29 and 30: Introduction and summary | www.amer
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER 2 Jobs and Wages By Michael
Page 33 and 34: One of the most striking aspects of
Page 35 and 36: In sum, these five factors leave ma
Page 37 and 38: ments to open production sites in l
Page 39 and 40: The deterioration of other regulato
Page 41 and 42: ate returned to its 2001 level. The
Page 43 and 44: This speaks to a larger challenge t
Page 45: Underinvestment produces chronic ro
Page 49 and 50: Restore worker bargaining power We
Page 51 and 52: Rebuild labor standards and the bro
Page 53 and 54: Additional steps should also be tak
Page 55 and 56: Policymakers should work with stake
Page 57 and 58: At the same time, we can take actio
Page 59 and 60: Endnotes 1 Authors’ analysis of C
Page 61 and 62: 52 Charles Whalen and Felix Reichli
Page 63 and 64: 96 Julia Gordon, “Inequality, Opp
Page 65 and 66: prehensive immigration reform. Pass
Page 67 and 68: An Immigration Policy that Works fo
Page 69 and 70: CHAPTER 3 Early Childhood By Katie
Page 71 and 72: Due to these high costs, parents ar
Page 73 and 74: information available to parents. 2
Page 75 and 76: Policy recommendations Two new poli
Page 77 and 78: Endnotes 1 Annie E. Casey Foundatio
Page 79 and 80: Early Childhood | www.americanprogr
Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER 4 Higher Education By Ben M
Page 83 and 84: FIGURE 4.1 Average tuition and requ
Page 85 and 86: FIGURE 4.3 Net price of public four
Page 87 and 88: Policy recommendations Increasing h
Page 89 and 90: Endnotes 1 Bureau of Labor Statisti
Page 91 and 92: for the same home. 9 Furthermore, t
Page 93 and 94: LGBT People Face Significant Barrie
Page 95 and 96: CHAPTER 5 Health Care By Maura Cals
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Health care benefits are part of a
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When combined, these trends meant t
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Policy recommendations The ACA made
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The notice should outline how much
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Require drug companies to justify p
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Endnotes 1 Mark W. Stanton, “Empl
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Health Care | www.americanprogress.
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Workers with disabilities are also
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with disabilities, child care provi
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23 Faye Ong, ed., Inclusion Works!
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CHAPTER 6 Housing By Sarah Edelman
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FIGURE 6.1 Homeownership rate 75% 7
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middle-class households: The share
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Homebuyers in the coming decade may
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Support and expand low down payment
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Changes such as these have faced pu
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for lots and rules against construc
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20 Ibid. 21 Joint Center for Housin
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63 CAP published a report in Decemb
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African American and Latino workers
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Endnotes 1 Due to a lack of disaggr
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CHAPTER 7 Retirement By David Madla
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FIGURE 7.1 Households are not build
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FIGURE 7.3 Middle class households
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The federal government plays a larg
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Modernize survivorship and divorce
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Fully implement the conflict of int
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27 Christian E. Weller and David Ma
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Retirement | www.americanprogress.o
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CHAPTER 8 Conclusion By Brendan Duk
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The country will elect a new presid
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Conclusion | www.americanprogress.o
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Thomas Huelskoetter is the Research
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Acknowledgements The authors would
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