The general consensus is that the recession is over.  There are signs of life in the credit markets and many businesses are seeing increased demand for their products. Stock markets are up a little for the year. Yet we wait for significant job growth with a noticeable decline in unemployment to materialize in order for our economy to be truly strengthened. 

While some signs of life in our labor market began to take hold last spring, recent months have been far from robust.  This lull would provide credence to the sad fact that our economic recovery is a jobless one.   Our country has a high unemployment & underemployment rate which has yet to be correctly resolved by policy. And so we go on to extend another 13 months of benefits to those unable to locate a suitable job.  Does this do more harm than good as we let those unemployed atrophy their skills along with their sense of worth?

If one can recall the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which was Roosevelt’s answer to getting people back to work.  History will tell you that during our country’s economic depression the WPA got people back to work and in doing so, we made a tangible difference to our country’s infrastructure.  Why not now?  Is it too demeaning for the chronically unemployed to work a trade and/or develop a new skill?  Are we unable as a country to organize such an effort?

Due to our countries great economic success over the past fifty years, we have created a class that is unwilling to apprentice in such trades as; butcher, arborists, carpentry, welding, electrical, masonry and plumbing.   These are all honorable jobs for which according to Manpower’s 2010 talent shortage survey, our country is in short supply.   Our teenagers don’t have the desire to learn the jobs, and our experienced workers are retiring without adequate replacements.

Spending our precious resources on helping the unemployed learn a meaningful trade would be a win-win for our country.  The newly trained could work on improving inner city neighborhoods, making older homes more energy efficient; and when our nation develops a real natural gas energy policy we would employ a large portion of the newly trained on assisting our country extract & distribute a clean source of energy that will keep wealth at home, employ real skilled labor and greatly reduce our national security risks.