Going beyond jobs key to Biden success

Every day, thousands of Americans get new jobs and thousands of others get laid off, a constant churn in an economy with more than 160 million workers. But on Wednesday, government data showed something extraordinary: Last week, only 199,000 of us filed new unemployment claims.

That’s a quarter of what it was in the early part of the year, half of what it was in the summer, and the lowest weekly claims number since 1969. It’s a testament to the furious pace at which the U.S. economy is recovering from the pandemic-induced recession; while it took an entire decade after the Great Recession to return to pre-recession employment levels, this recovery may take around one-third the time.

But when this presidency is over, the more important measure of success will be whether Joe Biden succeeded in one of his central goals: To transform the lives of American workers.

It’s a hugely ambitious task, and one that won’t happen on its own no matter how good the job market is; it will require multiple pieces of legislation to accomplish. But President Biden could be on his way.

The president likes to say that “We’re experiencing the strongest economic recovery in the world,” and it’s true that we’re the only member of the Group of Seven whose economy is larger now than it was before the pandemic. Analysts are predicting absolutely explosive growth in the fourth quarter of this year.

We’ve already seen how policy choices can alter people’s expectations and demands, sometimes in unanticipated ways. Beginning when Donald Trump was still president and continuing with the American Rescue Plan early this year, Congress sent gigantic waves of financial assistance to help Americans through this crisis, more than any other country did.

With those relief bills, the calculation was fairly straightforward: The pandemic required us to shut down the economy, tens of millions of people had lost their jobs, so we did everything we could to get them through it. We gave loans to businesses that they wouldn’t have to repay, we sent everyone stimulus checks, we offered enhanced unemployment benefits, we boosted the Child Tax Credit — whatever it took.

Some ideas in those bills reflected longstanding liberal goals — like extending the Child Tax Credit even to people with very low incomes. But I seriously doubt any lawmakers said, “This could set off a ‘Great Resignation’ as unprecedented numbers of people feel empowered to quit their jobs and look for something where they can be paid more and treated better.”

But that’s what happened. We don’t know yet whether people’s expectations were permanently recalibrated, so that even when unemployment is higher — as it eventually will be — they still won’t be willing to put up with low wages, cruel bosses and surly customers.

Which is where the other legislation on the Democratic agenda comes in. While we may be growing faster and creating more jobs now than our peer countries, we still have a workplace and a social infrastructure built on creating and maintaining insecurity. Millions of people are perpetually stressed and disempowered, forced to lead lives where “getting ahead” is extraordinarily difficult and staying where they are is a source of constant anxiety.

If Biden could put into law every element of the economic agenda he ran on, things would be profoundly different. The minimum wage would be $15 an hour, not $7.25 as it is now. We’d have universal and affordable pre-K and child care, so people would go to work knowing their kids are cared for. Everyone would have guaranteed health coverage, so no one would fear leaving their job because they couldn’t give up their insurance — or struggle to afford the insurance they have.

There would be paid leave, so people could take time off to have children, care for a sick parent, or get through their own illness and not be bankrupted in the process. Housing would be more affordable. People could go to community college free of charge. Workers would be able to easily organize into unions, and get better wages and a measure of security.

All that would be not a “safety net” but a foundation that allows you to be not only productive but — and I almost hesitate to use this word — happy.

In a just society, there’s no reason why everyone — even a fast food worker or a home health aide or a janitor — shouldn’t be able to live a satisfying life free of the grip of constant anxiety. It’s simply impossible to be happy if you’re not only earning a low salary but you also can’t find a place to take your kids, you’re subject to the abomination that is just-in-time scheduling, or you can’t speak up when your boss sexually harasses you because if you lose even your terrible job your whole world will collapse.

One presidency may not be able to completely transform that situation. But the infrastructure and Build Back Better bills are a start (as Ron Brownstein notes, both bills are geared in large part toward creating jobs and improving conditions for people who don’t have college degrees). And if Democrats can keep their focus wide enough to encompass not just job creation but also the conditions of people’s lives, this presidency could be a lasting success.