Good Jobs

Good jobs support families and communities, pay decent wages and provide good health care and retirement benefits. Good jobs enable employees to freely exercise their freedom to form unions and bargain collectively. They ensure fair and nondiscriminatory treatment, are safe and healthy, give workers the flexibility and resources they need to nurture their families and provide them with skills and opportunities for advancement.

Millions of jobs have been lost to the corporate-driven global economy and the failed trade policies of the Bush administration. But the problem is not just that we are losing good jobs; it is also that the jobs we are creating are not as good as those we have lost. The share of America’s jobs with higher pay and better benefits has been shrinking, while jobs in industries that are expanding their share of employment pay less and provide inferior benefits. According to the Economic Policy Institute, between November 2001 and June 2004, average wages were 41 percent less and benefits 52 percent less in expanding industries than in industries that are contracting within the economy. The Bush administration also has worked relentlessly to privatize government services, eliminating secure jobs with fair wages and benefits while undermining accountability in vital public programs.

The federal minimum wage has been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997. Its real buying power is at the lowest point in more than 50 years. A $2.10-an-hour raise finally passed the House and Senate this year, after Senate Republicans held it hostage to massive new corporate tax breaks. Even with this increase, the minimum wage brings a full-time worker just $290 a week, $15,080 a year—below the poverty line for even a small family.

What are the presidential candidates’ positions on good jobs?

John McCain (R)

McCain says America must adapt to changing jobs in a changing world.

"A commitment to the economic freedom of open and competitive markets and a lean, results-oriented government will lead to greater growth and opportunity. Over 4 million workers separate from their jobs each month. In the dynamic, flexible U.S. economy only a fraction require assistance in finding a new, better job.

"When John McCain thinks of workers' issues he thinks not only of today; he thinks of tomorrow's workers—the children of America. We honor today's workers when we bequeath a vibrant, dynamic economy to the workers of tomorrow.

"…Those who can compete in a changing economy should; those who cannot should be helped to acquire education and skills. Education and skill development must be a lifelong process. An educated worker is a worker who can adapt and can change…." (Economic Policy speech fact sheet, 4/16/07)

McCain has voted against raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. (S. Amdt. 44 to S. 256, vote number 2005-26, 3/7/05) McCain also voted to allow states to opt out of future federal minimum wage increases, which would effectively repeal the federal minimum wage requirement. (S.Amdt. 116 to S.Amdt. 100 to H.R. 2, vote number 24, 1/24/07)

 

Barack Obama (D)

Education, Obama says, is the key to evolving a competitive global workforce.

"Countries like India and China…understand that they no longer need to be just a source of cheap labor or cheap exports. They can compete with us on a global scale. The one resource they needed were skilled, educated workers. So they started schooling their kids earlier, longer, with a greater emphasis on math and science and technology, until their most talented students realized they don’t have to come to America to have a decent life—they can stay right where they are….The result? China is graduating four times the number of engineers that the United States is graduating. Not only are those Maytag employees competing with Chinese and Indian and Indonesian and Mexican workers, you are too. Today, accounting firms are e-mailing your tax returns to workers in India who will figure them out and send them back to you as fast as any worker in Illinois or Indiana could….If you’ve got the skills, you’ve got the education, and you have the opportunity to upgrade and improve both, you’ll be able to compete and win anywhere. If not, the fall will be further and harder than it ever was before.” (Knox College commencement, 6/4/05)

"The generation who's always thinking on the cutting edge, who's wondering how to create and keep the next wave of American jobs and American innovations, who's figuring out how to out-compete the Idea Generations of Indias and Chinas of the world. They're already sending drive-thru jobs across the country—what will you guys do? To figure this out, you'll need to graduate first. Then you'll need a college diploma—and we need to make sure that everyone in America is afforded the chance to get one of those." (Rockford Register Star Young American Awards, 5/7/05)

Obama has voted to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. (S. Amdt. 44 to S. 256, vote number 2005-26, 3/7/05)