A Positive Jobs Report
June 3, 2022
Strong Job Growth in May
Job growth remained strong in May, with the US adding 390,000 jobs and, as Roosevelt Fellow Aaron Sojourner points out, demonstrating just how fast this recovery has been in comparison to the recovery from the Great Depression.
Roosevelt Deputy Director of Worker Power and Economic Security Alí Bustamante tweeted a few additional takeaways: “1) ARPA(+ related policies) is driving a speedy recovery; 2) job growth in 2022 comes from industries relieving price and supply chain pressures; 3) recession-based jobs deficit remains; and 4) need to address labor market inequities and increase worker power.”
A Just Energy Transition
As Bustamante explains in a new issue brief, in addition to being essential for our economy and society, the transition to a green economy presents an opportunity to create jobs and industries that build worker power.
“Workforce development [policies can provide] education and training infrastructure to design and implement economic opportunities that represent the interests of workers and frontline communities instead of fossil fuel corporations,” Bustamante writes.
Read more in “Workforce Policy for a Just Transition,” and catch up on the rest of the “All Economic Policy is Climate Policy” series.
The Biden Administration’s New Rules for the 21st Century Economy
“The risk of another lost decade was real, and the robust fiscal governmental response that we saw prevented permanent and sustained job loss and the scarring that comes from it,” Roosevelt President and CEO Felicia Wong said this week at a virtual event that convened Roosevelt experts and a panel of President Biden’s economic advisors.
Wong was joined by Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti, Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Department of the Treasury Ben Harris, and Roosevelt Director of Macroeconomic Analysis Mike Konczal for a discussion of the worldview that has shaped the Biden administration’s policy choices and led to today’s recovery, as well as the work that remains to lay the foundation for a more inclusive, resilient economy.
Watch a recording of the event.
What We’re Reading
Getting Deglobalization Right [by Roosevelt Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz]
Energy Tax Credits Risk an Unjust Climate Transition [co-authored by Roosevelt’s Lew Daly] – Democracy Journal
For 50 Years, Governments Have Failed to Act on Climate Change. No More Excuses – The Guardian
The Fight for Student Debt Relief Started a Decade Ago—at Occupy Wall Street – Mother Jones
The Death of Nonpartisan Presidential History – The Atlantic