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The Era of Large
Numbers
With the American Rescue Plan now law, the Biden administration
is preparing a major, more permanent follow-up: $3
trillion in investments to create jobs,
tackle the climate crisis, and upgrade the nation’s physical and
social infrastructure in long-overdue ways.
It’s the “Era
of Large Numbers,”
as Roosevelt Director of Progressive Thought Mike Konczal calls it—a
moment in which spending at the scale of our problems is
popular, doable, and necessary.
And Roosevelt is ready.
From green transit and
energy-efficient housing retrofits to free community college and rural
broadband, the Biden administration’s proposals reflect policy ideas
and frameworks Roosevelt experts have recommended for
years.
Catch up:
Shared
Work
Over a year since COVID-19 struck,
employment and labor force participation rates are still well below
pre-pandemic levels—particularly for Black
people and women.
In a new issue brief, Roosevelt
Fellow Kitty Richards and Program Manager Emily DiVito explore one
underused solution: Short-Time Compensation (STC), also known as
“Shared Work.”
Shared Work programs allow
employers to avoid layoffs by temporarily reducing hours for all
workers, and then partnering with states to provide prorated
unemployment insurance benefits to replace lost wages.
"Because Shared Work programs can
help employers guard against dramatic layoffs, workers most vulnerable
to changing economic conditions—namely women and workers of color, who
continue to lose jobs at rates alarmingly higher than white men—are
primed to disproportionately benefit from such programs," Richards and
DiVito explain.
"Even under ordinary economic conditions, Shared Work
programs are beneficial. Now that federal relief and recovery
legislation has enhanced them, they’re an even more powerful tool, and
could help states prevent mass layoffs, direct federal dollars to
workers, and save state budgets billions in avoided unemployment
payments." Learn
more.
 2021 Distinguished Public Service
Awards
Earlier this week, Roosevelt hosted the first virtual
version of the Distinguished
Public Service Awards, which honor
individuals whose careers exemplify FDR's extraordinary dedication to
public service. This year’s recipients were Rep. Frank
Pallone (D-NJ)—Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee—and
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth
Shuler.
“With boldness of vision and
extraordinary courage, Franklin Roosevelt led our nation out of a
grave crisis and into a future of fairness, justice, and dignity for
all,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her introduction of Rep.
Pallone. “That is an example that we need today.”
Watch the ceremony—featuring musical
performances by Steve Earle—now.
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