Great conservative ideas for helping the middle class
Labor Force Participation. Eli Lehrer and Catherine Moyer point out that while men drop out of the labor force at alarming rates, most of the fast-growing job sectors are dominated by women, like nurses, elementary school teachers and, yes, statisticians. They propose grants and other programs to induce men to get over cultural stereotypes and apply for these jobs.
They also point out that if you prevent employers from checking credit scores as part of the job application process, you can significantly boost work-force levels in poor credit areas.
Ex-Offender Policies. Robert Cherry touts municipalities that delay asking about job applicants’ criminal records until the final stages of the hiring process. In one Minneapolis study, only 6 percent of the ex-offenders were hired when they had to announce their criminal record up front. When a new application form without that requirement was used, Minneapolis hired 60 percent of those with records.
Mobility vouchers. A great mobility divide has opened up in America. Since 2010, those with college degrees have increasingly been moving across state lines to get jobs. Those with a high school education or less have seen their mobility rates decline. Eli Lehrer and Lori Sanders recommend mobility grants, so the unemployed can move to where the jobs are. Migration zones would use federal and state tax credits to fund apprenticeship programs to ease the way for newcomers.
