The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected record-breaking growth in 2021. However, it is premature to celebrate this rosy macroeconomic picture as the CBO also made an alarming prediction: the U.S. labor market will not fully recover until 2024. Workers suffering the greatest economic harm in the current crisis include people of color, low-wage earners in the service sector, women, and individuals with lower educational levels. The federal government should take action to avoid repeating the tragic experiences of the Great Recession era when millions of people remained jobless for years, defaulted on loans, lost their homes, and fell into poverty. 

To help policymakers, the Center on Education & Labor at New America, the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, and the Better Employment and Training Strategies Taskforce prepared a new publication titled, Building Back Better: A Job-Centered Infrastructure Plan. It offers recommendations for using job-generating infrastructure spending to advance President Biden’s plan for a more equitable and inclusive economy. Read the report.

The report was written by Carl Van Horn, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Heldrich Center, and Mary Alice McCarthy, Director of the Center on Education & Labor and a member of the Heldrich Center’s National Advisory Board.