NWSCDC

The term "jobless recovery" slips off the tongue so easily now, to be thought of as a permanent condition. That is, it is to be expected that with each severe recession, jobs lost, for the most part, will not return to the American economy. CNN/Money reports that in the current recession, we've lost over seven million jobs.

What generally happens now is that people move to new jobs and opportunities, get retrained, take different jobs, relocate, retire early (if they can) or just give up.

It does seem that after each downturn, the economy comes back more robust, more efficient, and companies that survive return to profitability, and so on. The overall economy readjusts with industries and markets moving from continent to continent, as easily as capital flows. Think electronics, steel, etc. Is it unthinkable that someday the US will produce no cars?  No, it's not. In fact, it very well could happen. Sometimes readjustments can be beneficial overall if for every job lost, there is a job gained.

That may be statistically true and good for most American workers, but it is not true or good for central city residents. Jobs that were here will not come back. Residents are locked out of new opportunities in the suburbs and locked-in to the 'hood. Low income, low skilled workers tend to lack mobility, education, resourcefulness, connectors and relationships that they used to get and keep jobs in the past. It's almost as if the economy in central cities just picked up and left.  Companies left for suburbs and exurbs, particularly manufacturing. Eastern Waukesha County, for example,has become a hub for thriving manufacturers.

None of this is new. What is new is the stark realization that this is permanent. With few decent jobs in the central city, people locked out of jobs in the suburbs, the compressional impact of millions of jobs lost forces high paid workers to take lesser paying jobs and push the next rung of workers into a downward spiral. There is not much to be hopeful about.

What to do? There are several alternatives.

The first alternative takes the longest amount of time. New business start ups in the inner city can be attractive, especially with various incentive packages. But like the NWSCDC's support of Paradigm Sensors, our bio-diesel tenant in the incubator, start ups are perilous and new businesses, even the best of them, fail at a rate of four out of five.

The second requires the creation of strategic partnerships like the one we have with DRS, who hired 31 people from the community for union, machinist jobs in 2009. The problem with this strategy is that there needs to be businesses that are committed to hiring, and a non-profit partner sophisticated enough to service the business and the community. This one takes time. We've been at it 25 years.

The last is the fastest, which are transition jobs, training jobs or flat out government jobs meant to hire off the street for what some might call a "make work" jobs. Frankly, I don't have a big problem with this. If asked nicely, we could put 25 people to work in the community and we'd administer the program for a modest admin fee. Every non-profit in town would. Last time I was in Washington, there was an "ambassador" or two at every intersection in the tourist areas. I saw hundreds of people doing something that needed to be done, was helpful for tourists, and put people to work.

Look, if this was China, we could give incentives for out of work citizens to migrate to areas of the country where jobs are. But this is not China. Even in Haiti, it took an earthquake to empty Port-Au-Prince to the country side in search of food, work, or shelter.

I don't know the answer. If we can't get health care for everyone, how will we get a jobs program that will transition an entire generation for years of employment until we cycle out of our current situation? We are willing to do whatever it takes. The country isn't.