To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Congress: Enact a Job Guarantee
Congress needs to enact a "Job Guarantee", so that everyone in the United States who wants a job can get one. Currently there are not enough jobs in the US for everyone who wants one; the Economic Policy Institute estimates that there are only four jobs for every 10 people actively looking for work. There are likely millions more people who would be actively looking for work if they had any reason to believe there were jobs to be had.
Why is this important?
Millions of people cannot find work through no fault of their own; they are falling into poverty and losing their personal savings, homes, and retirement plans. It is absurd that we would let people fall into poverty because our economy cannot create enough jobs for everyone, when we have the resources to prevent it. It's time to enact MLK's vision of a society where everyone has the right to a job that can support themselves, and enact a federal Job Guarantee.
Article by L. Randall Wray in The Nation, 6/27/2011: http://www.thenation.com/article/161249/job-guarantee-government-plan-full-employment
Interview with Pavlina Tcherneva on job guarantee programs, 1/21/2014: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2014/01/guaranteed-income-guaranteed-job.html
This petition is part of the Unemployment Project, building a movement to make unemployment obsolete: http://oaklandwiki.org/Unemployment_and_Underemployment_Project