Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act of 2019
A BILL
To establish a National Full Employment Trust Fund to create employment opportunities for the unemployed, and for other purposes.
2. Findings and purposes
Findings— Congress finds the following:
The Federal Government has established the achievement of full employment as a national goal in the Employment Act of 1946 and the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978.
Consistent with this goal and pursuant to these Acts, the Congress has declared it to be the continuing policy and responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means to create and maintain conditions which promote useful employment opportunities for all who seek them, including the self-employed.
Consistent with this goal and pursuant to these Acts, the Congress has also declared and established as a national goal the fulfillment of the right to full opportunities for useful paid employment at fair rates of compensation of all individuals able, willing, and seeking to work.
The United States also has a duty under Articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter to promote “full employment” and the “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”.
The human rights the United States has a duty to promote pursuant to this obligation are set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to work” and to “just and favorable remuneration” that insures for his or her family “an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection”.
Consistent with the purpose and intent of the Employment Act of 1946, the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, Articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter, and Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Congress recognizes and declares that the meaning of full employment under both United States and international law is synonymous with the realization of the right to work.
Consistent with this understanding of the meaning of full employment, the stated policy of the United States with respect to the achievement of full employment and the realization of the right to work, and the obligations of the United States under international law, the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 established an interim 5-year target of 3 percent unemployment for individuals 20 years of age and older, and 4 percent for individuals age 16 and over within 5 years, with full employment to be achieved “as soon as practicable” thereafter.
Notwithstanding the targets set forth in the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, the United States continues to suffer substantial unemployment and underemployment across all phases of the business cycle, including periods when the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is pursuing policies that may be useful in controlling inflation but whose necessary consequence is the continuation of a level of unemployment and underemployment that is inconsistent with the achievement of full employment and the realization of the right to work.
The Federal Government’s failure to develop and implement policies capable of reconciling the need to control inflation with its obligation to achieve full employment and secure the right to work imposes numerous economic and social costs on the Nation, the following among them:
The Nation is deprived of the full supply of goods and services and related increases in economic well-being that would occur under conditions of genuine full employment.
The Nation’s depressed output of goods and services, especially in the public sector, is insufficient to meet pressing national needs for infrastructure investment and maintenance, public transportation, clean energy production, low and moderate income housing, education, health care, child and elder care, and many other public goods and human services.
Unemployment and underemployment expose many workers and families to significant, social, psychological, and physiological costs, including disruption of family life, the loss of individual dignity and self-respect, and the aggravation of physical and mental illnesses.
Persisting unemployment and underemployment have devastating financial consequences for its victims, resulting in the loss of income and spending power for families, and interfering with their ability to save and accumulate assets for a secure family life and retirement.
Because disadvantaged population groups suffer the burdens and harmful consequences of unemployment with greater frequency and at higher levels than nondisadvantaged population groups, unemployment presents a virtually insurmountable barrier to the achievement of equal opportunity for all Americans.
Exceptionally high levels of unemployment among the Nation’s youth are particularly harmful because of their long-term negative effects.
High levels of unemployment and inadequate consumer demand also contribute to poor conditions for retail businesses, manufacturers, and many other firms to grow and prosper.
In the real estate sector, the Congress finds that high levels of unemployment contribute to foreclosures, evictions, and commercial vacancies, thereby undermining the quality of neighborhood and community life, and hampering prospects for the economic development of all the Nation’s neighborhoods and communities.
Since the historic promise of the Employment Act of 1946 and the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 has not been realized, the Congress declares and reaffirms the Federal Government’s obligation to insure the availability of decent jobs for all at living wages.
The Congress further declares and reaffirms that the elimination of job disparities among groups of workers who experience chronically higher rates of unemployment and underemployment is an essential component of the Federal Government’s commitment to the achievement of full employment and the realization of the right to work.
The Congress also finds that both job vacancy surveys and historic experience shows that even at the top of the business cycle, when the national unemployment rate drops to the 4 percent or below, the economy fails to provide enough jobs to employ everyone who wants to work. Consequently, the need for direct job creation by the Federal Government is especially important at such times to close the economy’s job gap without adding significantly to inflationary pressures, a goal it is virtually impossible to achieve with economic policies directed at boosting production in the private sector of the economy.
The Congress further finds that in addition to providing a non-inflationary pathway for the achievement of full employment and the realization of the right to work, the direct job-creation strategy, conceived and tested by the Federal Government during the New Deal era, would also reduce the severity of recessions while enriching the Nation with a substantial increase in the production of badly needed public goods and services.
The Congress further finds that because of the broad range of social costs the problem of unemployment imposes on society, including in particular reduced tax collections and increased social welfare expenditures by all levels of government, the achievement of full employment and the realization of the right to work by means of the New Deal’s direct job creation strategy would cost far less than other major social welfare benefits provided by government and might even end up saving the public money.
Therefore, while the Congress fully supports efforts to maximize the creation of private, public, and nonprofit sector jobs through improved use of general economic and structural policies, it recognizes and affirms the need to supplement those policies with a well-designed direct job creation program committed to and capable of closing the economy’s job gap across all phases of the business cycle.
Purpose— It is the purpose of the Jobs for All Act to achieve genuine full employment and fulfill the right to useful work at living wages for all persons able, willing and seeking employment by establishing a National Full Employment Trust Fund to pay for a national program of public service employment capable of achieving these goals by supplementing the employment opportunities furnished by the existing private, public, and nonprofit sectors of the economy under existing law.
3. Definitions
In this Act, the following definitions apply:
ACA— The term ACA means the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended.
Disadvantaged individual or population group— The term disadvantaged individual or disadvantaged population group means an individual or population group that the Secretary has identified as suffering from disabilities or socio-economic disadvantages that significantly interfere with the individual’s or group’s access to equal employment opportunity.
Comparable worth— The term comparable worth, used with respect to work, means work that includes the composite of the skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions normally required in the performance of a particular job as determined pursuant to standards established by the Secretary following consultations with experts in the field of comparable worth wage assessments.
Equal Opportunity Grant— The terms Equal Opportunity Grant and grant mean an Employment Opportunity Grant authorized in title III of this Act.
Grant recipient— The term grant recipient means an entity awarded an Employment Opportunity Grant under section 6 of this Act.
Health exchange— the term Health Exchange or State Health Exchange means an American Health Benefit Exchange established under section 1311(b) or 1321(c) of the ACA.
Indian Tribe— The term Indian Tribe has the meaning given such term in section 102(17) of the Housing and Community Development Act (42 U.S.C. 5302(17)).
One-stop center— The term one-stop center means a site described in section 121(e)(2) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3151(e)(2)).
Program— The term Program whether used as a noun or an adjective, shall refer to the program established under this Act.
Program employee— The term Program employee means a person certified as eligible for Program Employment under section 306 of this Act and who is employed in a job funded by the Trust Fund.
Program employment— The term Program employment means employment of a Program Employee in a job funded by the Trust Fund.
Program trainee— The term Program trainee means a person enrolled in a training program funded under this Act.
Program training— The term Program training means training provide by a grant recipient in a training program authorized under title III of this Act.
Reasonable needs— The term reasonable needs shall mean those needs reasonably required for a household to enjoy a modest but adequate standard of living, taking into consideration the size and composition of the household, the local cost of living, and any cash or in-kind transfer benefits available to the household.
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Labor.
Small business— The term small business has the meaning given the term small business concern under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
State— The term State has the meaning given such term in section 102(2) of the Housing and Community Development Act (42 U.S.C. 5302(2)).
State health subsidy program— The term State health subsidy program means a program qualifying as an applicable State health subsidy program under section 1413(e) of the ACA.
Trust fund— The term Trust Fund refers to the National Full Employment Trust Fund established under section 101.
Unit of general local government— The term unit of general local government has the meaning given such term in section 102(1) of the Housing and Community Development Act (42 U.S.C. 5302(1)).
Urban county— The term urban county has the meaning given such term in section 102(6) of the Housing and Community Development Act (42 U.S.C. 5302(6)).
WIOA— The term WIOA means the “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 as amended” (29 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.).