Despite official unemployment figures standing at 3.8% or 6.4 million Americans, the actual scope of unemployment is much broader – potentially encompassing 80 million Americans or up to 45% of the potential workforce. This wider demographic includes long-term job seekers (those searching for over 27 weeks), individuals who have ceased actively looking for employment, and those who remain jobless due to the lack of opportunities.

“Get America Working addresses the millions [of] part-timers and those discouraged and dropped from the official US unemployment count and the shrinking labor force participation rate hovering in the 60% range. This non-partisan group points out how the official…unemployment figure masks the truth, and that over 100 million working-age Americans are not working – some by choice but the overwhelming majority for lack of job opportunities.

— Hazel Henderson, internationally syndicated columnist and author, founder of Ethical Markets Media, writing in CSRWire

A major cause of this hidden crisis has been increasing payroll taxes—now adding up to a 17 percent increase in the cost of hiring people.

Get America Working proposes a pivotal shift in our current policy framework that can lower structural barriers to employment – removing our heavy reliance on payroll taxation.  At the same time, we propose an entitlement-protecting, revenue-neutral shift toward nonlabor taxes on things we want to minimize, such as energy inefficiency, waste, pollution, and unsustainable land use and resource consumption. If this disincentive to full employment is removed and a revenue neutral shift of 12-13% tax on natural resources added (materials, energy, pollution, and land), we would create a roughly 30- percent price incentive to (1) hire more people and (2) reduce the use of natural resources. For the U.S., this is worth up 50 million full-time equivalent jobs.

This shift opens new streams of revenue to offset payroll taxes, shore up Social Security and Medicare, help balance the federal budget, create jobs, and support new sources of employment to offset coming job losses from automation.

These millions of new jobs would benefit marginalized populations excluded from the workforce - older people, women, racial minorities, those with disabilities, young people, immigrants.  

Shifting policy in this direction would create jobs and opportunity at scale for all Americans who want them, including marginalized communities.

It would enable many tens of millions who are now sidelined to make their contributions to society and the economy, unlocking economic, societal, and health benefits, and drastically lowering government dependency costs.   And it would realign taxation with the value of respecting everyone’s right to participate, to be relevant, to make their impact on the world felt. It’s a fundamental human need, indispensable for health and well-being.  Making sure everyone has the opportunity to work is a key to upholding this right.