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?