Since millions of Americans don’t have jobs, if I were the president of the United States, I would apply various strategies to create employment opportunities. The best approaches would be increasing taxes on the wealthy, enhancing the payoff of university degrees, assisting small companies in securing foreign customers, creating a national jobs database and luring American companies to return their investments home.
First, I would raise taxes on the wealthy. The richest people have more money than they need. Ideally, they have a lot of money idling in their bank accounts. Even the investments of these wealthy citizens are not enough to sustain the economy. According to Hanauer (n. p.), raising the tax levels of the rich would shift the burden from the middle class and low-income earners. This method would generate millions of dollars which we can invest in the economy. These investments would create jobs for the unemployed Americans. Additionally, the tax money would be sufficient to rebuild schools and introduce technological skills that are relevant to the current job market.
Additionally, I would enhance the payoff of university degrees. Most college students acquire degrees in art, literature and social science. Conversely, a few students graduate with degrees in mathematics, pure sciences and engineering. With this trend, there may be a shortage of labor in some industries in the future. Thus, I would encourage students to pursue courses which would lead to employment, and consequently enhance the payback for earning a degree would motivate more students to learn. I would also advise the colleges to offer 3-year programs, which would lower the cost of education.
Also, I would assist small companies in securing foreign clients. Evidently, large businesses have benefited from globalization while small businesses face challenges in entering international markets (Andrews 4). If these firms acquire international customers, there would be a need for more production, additional distribution channels to reach end consumers or retailers, marketing executives and managers to oversee these operations. All these departments would create new jobs for the United States citizens.
Importantly, I would advocate for the creation of an active national jobs database. There is an emerging issue whereby employee’s skills don’t match the current skills required in the job market. This issue causes most citizens to stay out of the workforce for long. An active national work database would show the types of employment opportunities that are open by county or city. Therefore, citizens would have an easy time when searching for employment, and the database can also guide students in choosing career paths.
The U.S. doesn’t get a substantial income from tourism as compared to other developed countries. The UNWTO Annual Report 2014 (27) notes that although international travel is on the peak, the number of foreign tourist in the U.S. doesn’t seem to increase. I would promote tourism by shortening the visa application procedure and encouraging people from other countries to visit the United States. These visitors would bring money to our nation, which would boost the economy leading to the creation of jobs.
In the past ten and fifteen years, many companies from the United States established production basis in other countries. That trend has affected the American workforce considerably, and it is one of the causes of the massive unemployment. I would use tax incentives to lure such companies to return their investments home.
I think these techniques would create many job opportunities for the citizens. However, some methods such as boosting tourism would create part-time jobs. Raising taxes on the wealthy and luring American companies to return their investments home would be the long-term solutions to curb unemployment.
Work Cited
Andrews, David. Business without Borders: Globalization. United Kingdom: Raintree, 2011. Print.
Hanauer, Nicolas J. “Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: Nick Hanauer.” Bloomberg View. 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. From http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2011-12-01/raise-taxes-on-the-rich-to-reward-job-creators-commentary-by-nick-hanauer
“UNWTO annual report 2014. (World Tourism Organization)” 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.from <http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/pdf/unwto_annual_report_2014.pdf>
