Tips to Don on u.S. jobs

PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has pledged to restore good-paying jobs, lost decades ago, to the working class.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen, labor experts and economists say.

If he’s serious about making America great again for workers, here’s where he can start. l The Federal Minimum Wage

“He endorsed a $10-an-hour federal minimum wage during the election,” said Alan Krueger, economics and public policy professor at Princeton University. “He should make that his top labor priority. Nothing else that he proposed during the campaign would help less educated workers more.”

But Trump is unlikely to make a push to raise the wage from its current $7.25. To get House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to even bring it to House floor for a vote, Trump would have to exert intense pressure.

Given that he just picked Andy Puzder — the CEO of fast-food restaurants and a vocal opponent of efforts to raise the minimum wage — to head the Labor Department, experts aren’t holding out much hope. l Paid Family Leave

Trump promised to get legislation passed that would provide six weeks of paid maternity leave for new moms, tax deductions for child care and family savings accounts.

“This is an issue that has polled really well and has broad popularity,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis. “But I am not optimistic it will get done.”

In the past, GOP lawmakers — including former Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), now the Indiana governor and the vice president-elect — have opposed such legislation. And Ryan has refused to support a bill to guarantee seven paid sick days a year to employees in companies with 15 or more workers. l Infrastructure

Trump has said he is in agreement with congressional Democrats on the need to invest in shoring up America’s infrastructure. Repairing the nation’s roads, bridges and tunnels is a surefire way of creating construction jobs and boosting U.S. productivity.

But the funding for such a plan is still very much in doubt — even while its benefits are quite clear, said Harry Holzer, professor of public policy at Georgetown University.

“To do it seriously would require new spending, and House Republicans, I think, would block that,” said Holzer.

“I think something will happen on infrastructure, but whether it’s big enough to make a difference, that’s the big question.” l Overtime Pay

The Labor Department under President Obama moved to extend overtime eligibility to some 4 million Americans — but the effort was blocked by a federal judge in November.

The change would have required employers to pay time and a half to employees who work more than 40 hours a week and earn less than $47,000 annually.

The Labor Department said it was going to challenge the judge’s decision, but with Trump taking office and the GOP controlling both houses of Congress, the future of the overtime overhaul looks bleak, Rosenfeld said.

“You have millions of American workers who were counting on this,” Rosenfeld said. l Training and Education The biggest challenge facing the American economy right now is the loss of fairly highwage jobs to machines, said Linda Kaboolian, a professor at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program.

“What do you do when you have way more people who can work than there is work for people to do?” she asked.