I see the $6 trillion price tag on the Biden legislation as more of an investment than simple spending. A better-educated workforce earns more money, pays more taxes. A healthier workforce means less absenteeism, more efficiency, and productivity. Quality childcare means more women in the workforce —millions of women left in the wake of COVID. The investment makes sense to build our labor force back better.
While President Franklin Roosevelt and a Democratic-led Congress were crafting the New Deal in the 1930s, and defending its Depression-era social programs against Republican opposition, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt amplified the voices of America’s youth when she expressed that she was terrified of losing an entire generation. America’s youngest workers, predominately in low-wage, low-skilled jobs, were most severely impacted then and during every major economic downturn since. The New Deal operationalized the most comprehensive relief, reform and recovery effort in U.S. history. It was inclusive of youth, providing young men and women with access to employment opportunities and financial assistance, though not equitably. Because of segregation, African Americans received less financial support than their white counterparts, even when they applied for it.
Councilman Herb Wesson has called for the City of Los Angeles to launch a transitional public/private collaborative “New Deal” style jobs program – titled the People’s Bailout Los Angeles – designed to train and hire out-of-work Angelenos as community health workers and contact tracers in order to fill gaps in our inadequate health care system and provide meaningful employment to Angelenos who desperately need it during this economic recession.