FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Joseph Rendeiro
(202) 776-1566
jrendeiro@nclr.org
NCLR lays out additional steps needed to put Americans back to work
Washington, D.C.—Calling President Obama’s speech on jobs a “welcome and necessary charge to Congress to tackle the unemployment crisis head on,” Janet Murguía, President and CEO of NCLR (National Council of La Raza), urged leaders in Washington to enact policies that will directly create jobs in communities that are still reeling from the economic downturn.
“Working families with money in their pockets are the true economic stimulators,” Murguía said. “More than 11 million Americans—including 2.6 million Latinos—want the chance to provide for their families, give back to their communities, and help get our economy back on track. By providing good-paying jobs, they’ll generate the demand for goods and services that will allow businesses to grow and to create new employment opportunities.”
“Government simply cannot stand on the sidelines when so many are denied a chance at the American Dream,” added Murguía. “It’s clear that tax cuts alone have not generated new jobs, and it’s even more apparent that budget cuts have resulted in job losses. We commend President Obama for laying out the need for more aggressive policy action to stimulate job creation.”
President Obama outlined several measures that NCLR believes could help provide jobs and relief to the unemployed in the short term. Specifically, the president’s plan to put people to work on rehabilitating foreclosed properties in areas deeply affected by the foreclosure crisis is a concept that NCLR strongly supports.
NCLR also believes that additional investments targeting distressed communities are required to improve the economic security of Latino families in the long term, including:
• Tax credits aimed at boosting the paychecks of low- and middle-income workers, along the lines of the Making Work Pay Credit.
• An extension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to 2009 levels to help jobless adults feed their families and help low-income families with working adults have more generous work support.
• An infusion of resources for nonprofit community-based organizations to train low-skilled and limited-English-proficient workers for 21st-century jobs in renewable energy, health care, and other growing industries.
• Increased capacity for the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce basic laws that protect workers’ earnings and their right to a safe and healthy workplace. NCLR research has documented Latinos’ contributions to job growth in several low-wage industries where violations of basic worker protections are increasingly common.
“The president’s speech outlines some critical and achievable first steps toward reversing the economic crisis he inherited,” Murguía said. “But given the magnitude of the problem, especially among those who have been hardest hit by the downturn, such as Latino families, we agree with the vast majority of economists who believe that more aggressive and sustained action will be required to create jobs for the growing American workforce. We are committed to fighting for such policies in the coming weeks and months.”
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