Establishing monthly employment targets would be a good idea.

The table derived from the Bureau of Labour statistics(see the previous post) which shows the monthly changes in the number of non farm employees in the U.S. clearly reveals the extent of the damage inflicted by the recession and the necessity of increasing by several hundred thousand the number of new jobs created monthly  in order to substantially lower the rate of unemployment over the next two years. Since the recession began there has been a net reduction in employment of over 8 million. The labour market participation rate has also fallen, reflecting the rise in discouraged workers who have given up searching for work because of the high jobless rate. The U.S.job creation machine needs revving up and the private sector needs to start doing its part by hiring workers, with the help of government where necessary. Corporations have plenty of money sitting on the sidelines to do this with. It is time that they began to spend it.

The public sector which has already done a fair bit through stimulus and public private partnerships (though the stimulus packages were unfortunately too small given the enormous size of the collapse) but now its time for the two sectors to work together to restore prosperity. State and local governments who lack the funds to hire and maintain employment should be helped by the federal government since it makes little sense, if the positive work done at the federal level is undone by layoffs at the state and local level.

But the idea of publicly announced targets is to create a climate and a strategic plan that can be acted upon and help deliver the results that are needed. It also will help analysts better explore and understand the inter industry connections that generate employment and how they can be better assisted  in their performance. The U.S.needs a minimum of 250-300,000 new jobs each month plus the elimination of as many job cuts as possible to achieve a substantial reduction in the rate of unemployment over the next two years. Even more per month, say 350,000 would be a good target to aim for.

One of the ways of helping people at very low income levels is to develop programs that are locally and community based that emphasize the arts, community assistance, helping the elderly, single parents and other in need of aid . The programs could be jointly sponsored by corporations, charitable foundations, and governments, paying stipends to individuals for periods of months to help them do good works and invigorate popular culture and the arts and to boost morale while the recovery grows. Artists and voluntary simplicity people who know how to thrive on low incomes should be brought in as advisors and organizers of such local programs.  Residential rehabilitation construction projects that paid small grants to home owners to repair their homes, improve insulation, install solar panels and so on  would also be helpful in improving conditions in the construction area.

Overcoming a slump is like fighting a war. It requires courage,energy, organization, commitment, good intelligence , good policy,logistics,  and a morale boosting vision. All of this is needed at the decision making centre.