How Government Policies Can Promote Job Growth (Plus an Economic Update)

In December 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 131 million working Americans. Some 14.5 million Americans were counted as unemployed. Of those, 6.4 million had been without work for 27 weeks or more. Job prospects were, and remain, bleak. There was a small silver lining in the dark announcement: the BLS noted that some 1.1 million private-sector jobs were added in 2010.

Job availability, according to the Gallup organization, was the number one worry plaguing the U.S. population in January 2011. So where do jobs come from? Real jobs that can be sustained by normal economic activity? Is there a role for government in the process? How do government policies enhance or reduce the long-run pace of job creation?

Join the Mercatus Center and Dr. Bruce Yandle as he explores these questions, and gives an update on recent economic activity. He will disuss his recent paper "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Where do Jobs Come From?" and examine the decision making process made by employers engaged in adding workers to their payrolls and incentives faced by employers and employees. In every case, large and small, in a free society, jobs are ultimately created by consumers and citizens who are willing to pay for goods and services that they value, and what role legislators can play to help communities create and maintain quality jobs.

This Capitol Hill Campus course is free and open to all Congressional and federal agency staffers. Lunch will be provided. Due to space constraints, please no interns without prior approval. For more information, please contact Aaron Merrill at amerril2@gmu.edu or (703) 993-7729.