Meanwhile, Robert Fellner argues against a guaranteed jobs program:
While a government job would certainly benefit those currently unemployed in the short term, they too stand to lose in the long run.
The longer these workers stay in make-shift jobs, the less opportunity they have to develop skills that have actual value, a harm that compounds over time.
The best thing the government can do to help those struggling to find work is to get out of the way. Repeal cronyist occupational licensing laws that lower wages and reduce employment. Stop imposing a one-size fits all monopoly form of education that is poorly suited for preparing students for today’s rapidly changing and dynamic job market. Repeal and reduce anti-business taxes and regulations so that entrepreneurs can get back to their work of making us all richer.
A government-jobs program would only make worse a problem that is, for the most part, the result of government intervention.
Unmentioned are the distortions caused by intellectual property laws, trading policies, and monetary policies which result in fewer jobs being created than would otherwise be the case and immigration policies which result in wages being lower than would otherwise be the case.
So, if a universal basic income isn’t a viable solution and neither is a guaranteed jobs program, what is?
Let’s make Mr Fellner happy, since nothing is going to happen until Mr Fellner and his ideological soul mates are happy. Let’s do away with occupational licensing (and watch as wages of doctors and beauticians and barbers suddenly leap!). Let’s abolish school leaving requirements and cut taxes and eliminate regulations.
There still will be some people without jobs — 5 or 6 dozen perhaps. Maybe a few more. We certainly don’t want to waste taxpayers’ money on them, so here are some sure ideas which occur to me.
1. Make the Army bigger, without the educational and fitness requirements currently imposed on recruits. Something like a Foreign Legion, with a lot of guys toting rifles and marching about, but no tanks and no airplanes, would be dandy.
2. Send a lot of Americans overseas. Encourage old folks to retire in Mexico, where the living is cheap. Persuade young folk to look for jobs in Ireland and France and Brazil and Denmark and other places looking for non-Moslem immigrants. Deport a batch of Moslems and other folks who just “don’t fit” into American society. Take their passports away as they embark, so they don’t come back again,
3. Encourage a lot of machismo. Guys fighting in bars, drinking while driving, bungee jumping, etc. Taking drugs — we can’t overlook that these days. Accept a certain amount of big-city violence that the cops never eradicate. Encourage mortality, in other words.
4. Look the other way while the homeless and other losers starve.
5. And if there’s still a problem, maybe keep looking away while active 2nd amendment proponents do their thing. Steer them toward old age homes and retirement communities.
Unemployment will go away in no time at all!