Primary tabs
Location
Highlights from President Obama’s American Jobs Act of 2011
Last month, President Obama introduced the American Jobs Act (AJA), a comprehensive bill that would invest $447 billion in various job creation proposals. The bill endorses three key provisions from the National Urban League’s 12-Point Jobs Plan, including summer jobs for youth, creation of an infrastructure bank, and direct job creation. NUL President Marc Morial called for building on these proposals and expanding them so that resources are distributed “directly to the communities that are hardest-hit by unemployment.” Other key proposals include:
- Extending Unemployment Benefits by one year to January 3, 2013 to prevent 6 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits at the end of this year.
- $30 billion for States and Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) to avoid further teacher layoffs, hire new employees and rehire former employees or retain existing employees.
- Invests $30 billion for improving, modernizing, renovating and repairing elementary and secondary schools, potentially having a very positive impact on urban school districts.
- A $5 billion fund to support various workforce training initiatives including: subsidized employment opportunities, summer and year-round youth employment - targeting out-of-school youth, and work-based training and education programs for unemployed, low-income adults and low-income youth – with priority to grant applicants from areas of high poverty and unemployment.
- A major investment in our transportation system including: $27 billion for highway restoration, repair, and construction projects, as well as passenger and freight rail transportation projects; $4 billion for improving the Nation’s existing intercity passenger rail network and developing new high speed rail corridors; and $5 billion competitive grants for projects across all surface transportation modes.
In the area of housing and jobs, the AJA would authorize $15 billion in investments to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Funds would target areas most impacted by the home foreclosure crisis and high unemployment. Emphasis would be placed on hiring residents in the vicinity of the project or contract with small businesses that are owned and operated by people living in or nearby the area where work is performed. Finally, the AJA includes major initiatives that are intended to support private sector job creation in technology/innovation which President Obama promotes as a sector for job creation by removing resource bottlenecks (spectrum) and facilitating access to capital.
For a detailed analysis of the American Jobs Act, as well as suggestions to improve and expand it, view the National Urban League Policy Institute’s just released Policy Brief on the various proposals as well as links to additional resources related to the bill.
