This paper explores the role of public jobs programs in the U.S. economy from the 1930s to the present. It postulates that jobs programs are necessary because they serve four separate but overlapping needs: alleviating joblessness, hardship, and poverty; helping the economy emerge from recession; providing jobs to able-bodied welfare recipients;…

The feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job-creation was assessed. Focus was on how many job-creating activities could be undertaken as well as the job-creation potential and costs of these activities. Data was collected through field visits made to Washington-based federal government and national organizations and to twenty-four…

This second of a three-volume report of a study done to assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation contains chapter 2 of the report on the methods and findings with respect to job-creating activities, their job-creation potential, and related characteristics. (Volume 1, comprised of the report's first chapter,…

This last of a three-volume report of a study done to assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation covers the findings regarding the priorities among projects, indirect employment effects, skill imbalances, and administrative issues; and summarizes the overall findings, conclusions, and recommendations. (Volume 1,…

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) used its $105 million appropriation for fiscal year 1987 to support three major program areas in the 13 state region: (1) creating and retaining regional jobs; (2) assisting in construction of basic facilities, particularly water and sewer systems, in the region's 90 poorest counties; and (3) working…

Alaska's State Training and Employment Program (STEP) was designed with the primary objective of reducing current and future claims against Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits by providing training to those who are unemployed or facing unemployment. STEP is also charged with fostering growth of existing businesses and attracting new businesses to…

In this anthology of papers by academic and other experts, the job creation potential of a major public jobs program is explored. The authors were encouraged to develop new ideas and to estimate the impact of their approach. In general the ideas reported relate to jobs created as the result of responses to social and environmental concerns.…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects (YIEPP) demonstration was a large-scale test of a school-conditioning guaranteed jobs program for teenagers from low-income families. Unlike previous youth employment programs, the YIEPP linked school and work by offering jobs to all youth who met the eligibility criteria and who also agreed to remain…

This volume consists of four articles dealing with strategies for combatting unemployment in the 1980s. In the first article, entitled "The Problem of Unemployment in the United States," Martin Neil Baily examines the nature of unemployment, the inflation trade-off and the natural rate of unemployment, indicators of structural change,…

The performance of Alaska's State Training and Employment Program (STEP) in fiscal 2000 was evaluated by matching the records of participants of the following STEP subprograms with Alaska and Washington state unemployment insurance (UI) wage records and federal military and federal civilian payroll records. Data were collected for participants of…

Project QUEST (Quality Employment through Skills Training) was begun in 1992 to provide unemployed and working poor residents of San Antonio, Texas, with employment training and job placement services. The program provides tuition subsidies and ancillary support services to low-income San Antonio residents enrolled in two-year associate's degree…