The ‘Sweeping’ Effect of a $15-an-Hour Job Guarantee

The unemployment rate in the U.S. has now dropped to 3.7 percent—lower than it has been in 50 years. But that glowing report card obscures a complicated reality: Real wages are still stagnant; inequality is sky-high; racial gaps persist in the labor market, with unemployment for black workers almost double that of white counterparts; and many parts of the country are still locked out of prosperity. Many older, disabled, less educated, and formerly incarcerated people are not able to participate in the labor force at all. And for many employed at the lower end of the income distribution, wages are abysmally low and working conditions, very unstable.

In other words, many people around the country still desperately need good jobs. And among the fixes gaining traction at the moment, particularly on the left, is the idea of a federal jobs guarantee: that the government could provide work to every American who needs it, either in the public sector or by subsidizing it in private sector.