Thoughtful Policy Paper #1 offered by the Financial Services Forum

A New Policy Agenda for the American Worker

Grant Aldonas, Robert Lawrence, and Matthew Slaughter offer a bevy of fair-minded and thoughtful policy proposals intended to make work in the global economy work better for people, firms, and communities in the US. While we could quibble with whether or not Congress is the most effective body through which to enact their proposed agenda, their ideas are important, and presented in a clear, cogent, and compelling manner.

I particularly welcome their ability to unpack the idea of “churn” (the simultaneous creation and destruction of jobs), explaining how it can affect people, firms, and communities in profoundly different ways that can be easily masked by national trend data.

Policy Recommendations

My abridged version of their policy recommendations follow (for the real thing, click the title above):

• Make FICA more progressive
• Combine Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) into a new progam that offers wage insurance, portable health insurance, relocation or small business start-up assistance, and training.
• Make all education and training expenses tax deductible.
• Create federal insurance to protect communities from economic shock.
• Create a national equivalent of enterprise zone programs.
• Make the cost of training to non-employees deductible for firms.
• Expand programs that help firms gain certification under international standards (ISO).
• Insure that US Trade Reps prioritize safeguards within the WTO.

More to come. They’ve also published a white paper on Adjustment Assistance. And I’ve posted a piece on it here.