The president, and probably the vice-president, too, need to take a page from the Congressional Black Caucus’s playbook and start doing combination townhall meetings/job fairs in some of the most economically distressed areas of the country. The CBC is doing these job fairs throughout August. So far, they’ve scheduled job fairs in Cleveland (today), Detroit (8/16), Atlanta (8/18), Miami (8/22-23), and Los Angeles (8/30-31).
This August, thousands will gather for town hall meetings, job fairs, job readiness workshops, and seminars as a part of the Congressional Black Caucus For the People Jobs Initiative. Last week we were happy to announce almost one hundred employers registered to participate with several job vacancies available to improve the dismal unemployment situation in our communities. This week, we are pleased to announce that number has grown to over 120 companies. The CBC looks forward to working with more partners as we work diligently to decrease the numbers of unemployed.
With congressional Republicans refusing to do anything to help create jobs, the administration needs to partner up with the business community (large and small) to reduce unemployment. They shouldn’t focus only on our inner cities. They should go wherever unemployment is highest, and they should match people up with companies that are hiring.
This would help the unemployment problem only marginally, but it would be important symbolically. It would highlight two things that need highlighting. First, it would show the administration is doing something about joblessness. Second, it would show that effective governmental action on joblessness is impossible with the Republicans in control of the House of Representatives.
