Little Time Left to Save Jobs for Low-Income Parents and Youth

"Without my job me and my kids would be on the street homeless."

"This program has given people a chance to prove they do want to work."

"It gives us a chance to take responsibility, to raise our families and learn new skills that we can carry on to other job opportunities."

"This program has helped so many of us stand on our feet again."

These are a few of the responses to questions Internet Archive asked the employees it had hired through San Francisco's Jobs Now! program. They're all formerly unemployed low-income  parents whose jobs are subsidized by the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund.

All told, the program has placed 4,000 residents in public and private-sector jobs. It will reimburse employers for their wages through September 30 — unless Congress extends the Emergency Contingency Fund. Otherwise, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, all but a few hundred of the subsidized jobs will end. Tell Congress to extend the emergency fund and save jobs now!

This is a window into an impending human crisis with broad implications for our struggling economy.

Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have tapped the Emergency Contingency Fund for subsidized summer and year-round jobs. By now, they'll probably have placed more than 240,000 low-income parents and teens.

CBPP says the number would grow substantially if the Emergency Contingency Fund is extended. If Congress lets it die, 14 states will immediately terminate their year-round programs. Three states will continue operations, but only until their current funding allocation runs out. Seven other states will scale back their programs significantly.

So many thousands of now-employed people will be back on the unemployment rolls — and in many cases, again dependent on TANF cash benefits. But states will have less money for them because all but four states with approved Emergency Contingency Fund claims for subsidized employment also have approvals for basic assistance. No extension means no opportunity for further federal help with rising caseloads.

All experts expect the overall unemployment rate to remain extraordinarily high through at least next year, probably longer. For adults, the rates have consistently been highest for those with the least formal education. These are people for whom the hands-on training and work experience of a subsidized job can make a big difference.

In July, the teen unemployment rate (pdf) hit 26.1 percent. This was the worst summer for job-seeking teens in more than 60 years. And, as fellow blogger Derrick Braziel recently wrote, low-income teens in particular are likely to suffer long-term consequences that will affect not only them, but their families, their communities and our nation as a whole. For them too, a subsidized job can open a path out of poverty.

We're told that consumer spending is a key to economic recovery. Businesses will start hiring when — and only when — demand increases. Putting many more thousands of people out of work will put a further damper on spending and possibly overall consumer confidence as well.

Inaction on the Emergency Contingency Fund will also pull the rug out from under some small businesses, which have used subsidized jobs to expand — and thus create more permanent jobs.

This is one reason some conservative economists like the American Enterprise Institute's Kevin Hassett and the very conservative Republican governor of Mississippi have come out in favor of an extension of the Fund. So have the bipartisan associations (pdf) for governors, state legislators and county officials. In short, this is not a Democrats versus Republicans issue outside Washington, D.C.

The House of Representatives has twice passed an extension as part of broader jobs bills. The Senate has twice failed to pass it — most recently when it stripped down the multi-pronged American Jobs and Tax Loopholes Closing Act (pdf) to get an extension of unemployment benefits through.

Now time in running out. But Congress could still save this low-cost program that does so much good for jobless people, their families, businesses and our economy as a whole.

So let's tell our members of Congress to extend the Emergency Contingency Fund NOW!

Photo credit: Tijs Zwinkels