The following article by Karla Walter was posted on the Center for American Progress Action Fund website January 29, 2018:
Overview
Pro-worker policymakers should harness the power of federal contracts, grants, loans, and tax expenditures to create good jobs.
Introduction and summary
The federal government spends more than $1 trillion every year though contracts, grants, and other funding vehicles to deliver essential goods and services. It funds everything from the design and manufacture of sophisticated weapons systems to the construction of roads, bridges, and dams; from in-home care for aging Americans and those with disabilities to financial assistance programs that allow veterans and working families to access higher education. This spending creates tens of millions of jobs throughout the economy.1
American policymakers have long harnessed the power of this spending by requiring recipients to create decent jobs. Yet today, these protections cover less than half of all spending, and too often, even the jobs covered by existing protections pay poverty wages.2 Moreover, some anti-worker lawmakers are threatening to dismantle even these standards.3
Continue reading “Ensuring Government Spending Creates Decent Jobs for Workers”