 YouthBuild helps at-risk youth attain a GED and provides them with skills in a building trade. Many graduates use the income they earn from their construction jobs to pursue dreams like community college, a four-year degree, or apprenticeships in the construction trades. The program ensures that its graduates have a set of skills to fall back on as they work to expand their own opportunities. Some people have left their former neighborhoods never to return, but others have gone back to work with youth stuck in similarly troubled circumstances.
U.S. manufacturers remain among the most productive in the world. However, much of the competitiveness of U.S. firms hinges on policies beyond their control, chiefly health care policy and the value of the dollar relative to foreign currencies. Reform in both these areas is crucial not only to domestic manufacturers but to the viability of the U.S. economy as a whole.
 Stepping up efforts to renovate buildings to be energy efficient could lead to the creation of millions of new jobs, particularly for workers in entry-level and mid-level positions. Buildings consume 43 percent of the energy used in the United States, making them responsible for a comparable amount of carbon emissions. The emissions are primarily a result of heavy reliance on fossil fuels for power, half of which comes from coal. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the McKinsey Global Research Institute report that construction and renovation of buildings has one of the largest packages of potential environmental and economic benefits.
 Economists often talk about workers in terms of their “human capital.” This refers to the skills and knowledge workers have acquired through education and experience. Without a qualified workforce able to improve on old technologies, physical capital, like bridges and the electric grid, degrades or becomes unusable. Every country in the world will meet the challenges of the 21st century by investing in their human capital. The needed innovations must come, after all, from people.
 Mornings at DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) start at 6:00 a.m.—making the coffee, tea and sandwiches served to homeless people who live on the streets of the District of Columbia. The men and women who prepare the food and drive the vans and serve people are participants in DCCK’s 12-week Culinary Job Training Program. More than a few have been homeless themselves.
|
 In the 1950s, the U.S. manufacturing sector was the driving force of the economy, employing more than a third of the private sector workforce. The total number of U.S. manufacturing jobs peaked in 1979 at 19.5 million. By September 2009, there were only 11.7 millions jobs in the manufacturing sector, and manufacturing employed less than 10 percent of the U.S. workforce. Over the past decade, the manufacturing sector has been decimated as firms closed down or moved overseas.
 If it were ever really true that what’s good for the environment is bad for business and vice versa, the tradeoff has swiftly become an anachronism, largely because of the pressing need to address climate change. Climate change will be a huge challenge—and a tremendous economic opportunity. It’s possible to battle climate change and create jobs at the same time.
 For a large share of Americans, the U.S. labor market no longer works as a reliable way to build a stable career and support their families. This was true before the job losses of the current recession (as of October 2009, the country had 7.6 million fewer jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007). And unless there are structural changes in the economy, it will be true again once the recession has passed. Down on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, where too many people who once had middle-income careers now reside, the real value of wages when adjusted for inflation has been declining for years.
 But there is trouble on the farm—starting with the difficulty a younger generation of farmers faces in getting started and earning a living. Many young families are discouraged from pursuing a career in farming by the expense of purchasing or renting land coupled with the inherent risks associated with farming—volatile markets, expensive inputs, erratic weather. The average age of a U.S farmer is 55. As the baby-boom generation retires, the United States is less prepared in farming than in most other sectors for the approaching vacuum in experienced professionals.
|
