More than 42 million workers have filed unemployment claims during the coronavirus pandemic, the jobless rate is over 13% and minorities are bearing a disproportionate share of the economic pain, just as people have taken to the streets to protest racial injustice — but there’s a clear path forward for America. We must create millions of new jobs by investing in an infrastructure-led recovery through federal legislation.
Just as we did in the 1930s New Deal and the 1950s Interstate Highway System, in the 1960s through NASA and in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we can rebuild the foundation of America’s economic future while creating millions of jobs today.
To be most effective at helping workers, such economic recovery and infrastructure legislation should include large investments in clean manufacturing, which will be the fastest growing manufacturing sector in coming years, attracting $10 trillion in investment globally by 2050. A new report from the Progressive Policy Institute finds that means putting Americans to work building tens of millions of new electric vehicles, charging stations, and creating advanced electric grids, as well as upgrading our roads, bridges, high-speed internet, ports, and public transport.
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