Shutdowns & the New Jobs Coalitions: The Philadelphia Experience

[Excerpt] Surely the bleeding of Philadelphia-area jobs — 140,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in 1980 than in 1970 — set the climate. Yet the plant closing ordinance could not have been passed without the skillful organizing efforts of the Delaware Valley Coalition for Jobs (DVCJ). Virtually all of the pro-ordinance testimony presented in City Council hearings was orchestrated by DVCJ. At the hearings, DVCJ arranged for statements from dozens of witnesses - unionists, unemployed activists, families of laid-off workers, community leaders, clergy, lawyers, and academics (like myself). The victory in the Philadelphia City Council was a major accomplishment for DVCJ and the plant closing fight in general. But the new law is not being enforced by the city, and the anti-plant-closing movement is stalled. Partly, this situation arose because DVCJ is a defensively-oriented direct action group and not primarily a legislative lobbying group. The coalition paid less attention to the details of legislative processes and enforcement mechanisms than to rallying support for the idea of a law. DVCJ\u27s strength has been in mobilizing mass actions against plant closings and in agitating for full employment policies. Jobs coalitions such as DVCJ have great potential for changing the public agenda on job loss and unemployment, but they also have some inherent stumbling blocks. The example of DVCJ, one of the more successful jobs coalitions, illustrates some of the strengths and weaknesses of the movement against plant closings in general

New Evidence for the Efficacy of Transitional Jobs

The Transitional Jobs (TJ) model is an employment strategy designed to help people with multiple barriers to employment make a successful transition into the workforce. The multiple barriers experienced by the "hardest to employ" often include prior incarceration and/or periods of time receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other public assistance

Many New Hampshire Jobs Do Not Pay a Livable Wage

Two forces are likely to have the greatest impact on the projected availability of livable wage jobs in coming years. The first is the course of the current economic downturn. Table 11 shows the New England Economic Partnership (NEE P) forecast for New Hampshire's unemployment rate from 2008 to 2012. As the table shows, unemployment is projected to increase from 3.7 percent in 2007 to 4.2 percent in 2009, after which it is projected to gradually fall. The latest NEE P forecast predicted a relatively mild economic contraction, which provides some reason for optimism among New Hampshire workers. However, any optimism should be tempered by the fact that the latest forecast was issued before the dramatic stock market decline and at the beginning of the financial crisis.The second major factor impacting the availability of livable wage jobs is the changing composition of New Hampshire's economic base. Between 2000 and 2007, New Hampshire lost 25,400 manufacturing jobs, representing a 25 percent decline in the industry.10 Over the same period, jobs in education, healthcare, retail trade, and leisure and hospitality grew by about the same number of jobs. To the extent New Hampshire continues in this transition from a production-based to a service-based economy, the proportion of livable wage jobs is expected to decline

Positive Points of Bernie\u27s Green New Deal

The Green New Deal will help will create jobs in the energy market. Many people fear that the workers in the coal mines or oil plants will be out of job but this is actually false. The Green New Deal will create jobs in the energy market, all while switching our infrastructure to 100% renewable energy. The Green New Deal is the best way for our country to become more sustainable, modernize our energy infrastructure, and do it without costing americans jobs. First off the Green New Deal will create 20 million new job openings according to Bernie Sanders campaign website. The Green New Deal plans to create enough jobs to not only cover all the fossil fuels workers but also have enough for new workers. Jobs in the renewable energy field also require more people than fossil fuels. According to the Energy Research Center, it takes twice as many humans to run renewable energy than it does for fossil fuels. On top of that, renewables offer a much safer environment than working in the fossil fuel industries. Coal miners that put their health on the line could be working in hydro power plants that require twice as many human positions and less health risks than the mines. The 2017 Energy and Employment report found that there was a sharp decrease in coal energy jobs since 2009, 57% decrease, while wind energy jobs increased by 37% in just two years from 2015 to 2017. This means is that in just a few years renewable energies are already on their way to being huge job creators. According to the 2017 US Energy and Jobs Report, there are approximately 86,000 coal extraction jobs, 12,000 oil extraction jobs, and 393,000 natural gas extraction jobs in the United States. Moving these workers to a safer renewable energy job will in total help almost half a million people live healthier lives. Historically, mass projects like this have been extremely successful. One obvious example would be the New Deal. The new deal introduced dozens of new social programs as well as work programs and reforms in our financial system. This was a massive project that to combat the effects of the Great Depression and it tested the resolve of every American. What the New Deal and Green New Deal have in common is the fact that it will take massive spending and investment. However, the costs tend to pay for themselves over time, usually at least a couple decades. But the New Deal is not the only point in history that took mass mobilization and cooperation. What many people tend to forget is that it created tons of new jobs. The Green New Deal creating 20 million jobs is no different, it creates plenty of new spots. On top of that, fossil fuel workers are guaranteed 5 years of their previous salary, assistance with housing, job training, health care, and retirement support according to Burnie Sanders campaign website. Moving to completely renewable energy is bold but it would finally modernize our system. For instance, France gets 76% of its energy from nuclear power according to the EIA. This is especially impressive because France is the second largest energy consumer per capita. Germany is already utilizing 31% of its total energy production from renewables and 15% from nuclear power in 2015. These two modern countries dwarf the United States. In 2018 the United States only 17% of our total energy came from renewable energy. It is blatantly obvious that it will take drastic measures of the Green New Deal to modernize our energy systems. While the Green New Deal is extremely drastic, it is necessary. History has shown that movements where incredible spending is necessary can work. On top of that, far more jobs will be created along with multiple benefits to fossil fuel workers. The Green New Deal will allow us to catch up to modern renewable energy producers like France and Germany. Most importantly, it will allow us to combat climate change

On the Persistence of Firm Expansion. The survival of new jobs in Austrian firms

While the volatility of job creations has been studied extensively, the survival chances of new jobs are less researched. The question when and how to expand a firm is of importance, both from the firm’s and from a macro perspective. Adjustment cost theories and arguments about option values of investment in firm expansion make predictions about the timing, sequencing and form of firm expansions. When we analyze 21 years of job creation in Austria, we find that the survival of new jobs (and of new firms) depends upon the state of the business cycle at the time of job creation, on the number of jobs created, and on firm age. Jobs in new firms last longer than new jobs in continuing firms.Job creation, Business cycle, Reallocation, Persistence

On the Persistence of Job Creation in Old and New Firms

We suggest a new method to analyze the success of firm creation by looking at the persistence of new jobs created in old and in new firms. Compared to survival rates of new versus old firms, this measure has the advantage that the sustainability of job creation in different circumstances is investigated. We analyze 21 years of job creation in Austria and find that new jobs last significantly longer in new than in old firms. Moreover, the survival of new jobs depends upon the state of the business cycle at the time of job creation, on the number of jobs created, and, for existing firms, on firm age.job creation, new firms, reallocation, persistence

Dynamic weighted idle time heuristic for flowshop scheduling

The constructive heuristic of Nawaz, Enscore and Ham (NEH) has been introduced in 1983 to solve flowshop scheduling. Many researchers have continued to improve the NEH by adding new steps and procedures to the existing algorithm. Thus, this study has developed a new heuristic known as Dynamic Weighted Idle Time (DWIT) method by adding dynamic weight factors for solving the partial solution with purpose to obtain optimal makespan and improve the NEH heuristic. The objective of this study are to develop a DWIT heuristic to solve flowshop scheduling problem and to assess the performance of the new DWIT heuristic against the current best scheduling heuristic, ie the NEH. This research developed a computer programming in Microsoft Excel to measure the flowshop scheduling performance for every change of weight factors. The performance measure is done by using n jobs (n=6,10 and 20) and 4 machines. The weight factors were applied with numerical method within the range of zero to one. Different weight factors and machines idle time were used at different problem sizes. For 6 jobs and 4 machines, only idle time before and in between two jobs were used while for 10 jobs and 20 jobs the consideration of idle time was idle time before, in between two jobs and after completion of the last job. In 6 jobs problem, the result was compared between DWIT against Optimum and NEH against Optimum. While in 10 jobs and 20 jobs problem the result was compared between DWIT against the NEH. Overall result shows that the result on 6 and 10 jobs problem the DWIT heuristic obtained better results than NEH heuristic. However, in 20 jobs problem, the result shows that the NEH was better than DWIT. The result of this study can be used for further research in modifying the weight factors and idle time selections in order to improve the NEH heuristic

Employment Polarization and Job Quality in the Crisis

[Excerpt] European labour markets added nearly 30 million new jobs in a golden age of employment creation prior to the onset of the Great Recession in 2008. The markets have subsequently shed five million jobs and unemployment – rising rapidly once again – is at its highest since the late 1990s. This second annual European Jobs Monitor report looks in detail at recent shifts in employment at Member State and European level. The analysis covers three distinct periods: the pre-recession employment expansion (1995–2007); the Great Recession (2008–2010); the stalled recovery (2011–2012). A ‘jobs-based’ approach is applied to describe employment shifts quantitatively (how many jobs were created or destroyed) and qualitatively (what kinds of jobs)

Jobs from Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

According to research by Roger Bezdek for the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) industries created a total of 8.5 million jobs (direct and indirect) in 2006; 450,000 jobs in RE and 8 million jobs in EE throughout the United States. As many as 1 out of 4 workers in the United States will be working in RE or EE industries by 2030. The 40 million jobs are not just engineering?related, but also include millions of new jobs in manufacturing, construction, accounting, and management.  

Benefits of the Southcentral Rail Extension to the Municipality of Anchorage

The proposed Southcentral rail extension to Port MacKenzie is likely to generate significant economic benefits for the residents of Anchorage. These benefits are due to a combination of reduced transport costs, the ability to ship bulk commodities over shorter distances, and economical access to industrial land. We considered and analyzed these benefits under a set of assumptions about job creation, transportation costs, land use considerations and future mineral development. Our major findings include the following: Jobs • Port MacKenzie. The rail extension will generate new jobs for Anchorage workers by stimulating industrial development and jobs at Port MacKenzie. Under a base case scenario with a rail extension and ferry service, Anchorage residents would gain 730 average annual jobs and $50 million of annual income during the period of 2013 -2017 from industrial development at Port MacKenzie. Hundreds more jobs would be gained after 2017. The rail extension will play an important role in this process. For example, it will allow coal exports through the port as early as 2013, generating more than 100 jobs. • New Mines. Major new mines shipping concentrate via the rail extension would generate thousands of new jobs, and a significant fraction of these jobs would be held by Anchorage residents. Our detailed analysis of the potential employment from five specific mining projects indicates that more than 2,000 average annual jobs would be created in Anchorage or held by Anchorage residents once the mines are fully developed. Most of these jobs would be in mining and in professional sectors that pay good wages. Also, during initial mine development, many of the jobs would be in construction and fabrication. • Rail Construction. The construction of the rail extension would generate up to 3,000 total jobs, and ongoing operations would generate up to 150 total jobs. It is likely that many of these jobs would be held by Anchorage residents. • State Revenues. State mining taxes generated from new mines will boost the Anchorage economy. Estimated tax revenues and royalties would grow steadily, reaching$267 million per year by 2040. A large share of these potential tax revenues, roughly proportional to Anchorage’s share of state population, would likely flow into the Anchorage economy, sustaining hundreds of direct jobs and reducing property tax burdens that would otherwise stifle private sector job creation. Regional Competitiveness • New Economic Opportunities. Port MacKenzie and the rail extension, operating together, are a significant new strategic asset for the entire regional economy. This infrastructure will create expanded opportunities for mineral, timber, and energy resource development, and the export of bulk commodities by rail through Port MacKenzie constitutes a new economic sector for the Southcentral regional economy. As the region’s commercial and financial hub, Anchorage will gain jobs and income from all of this activity. • More Efficient Land Use. The rail extension allows for higher-valued use of land in Anchorage. The rail extension will allow for railroad-dependent industrial development to take place at Port MacKenzie. This development would allow limited existing industrialzoned land throughout Anchorage to be used for other, higher-value uses such as commercial development, while still meeting the regional economy’s need for industrial land. Fiscal Benefits • New State Revenues. As noted above, revenues to the State of Alaska from new resource development would grow steadily, reaching $267 million per year by 2040. These revenues will reduce the need for other taxes, stimulating capital formation and job creation by the private sector. • Higher Local Tax Base. Local governments will also see higher tax revenues from a higher-valued property tax base. The stimulated new development will increase the tax base and reduce the need to raise taxes on homeowners or existing businesses. Other Benefits • Port of Anchorage. The industrial and mineral development stimulated by the rail extension to Port MacKenzie will likely increase both the volume and the value of cargo going through the Port of Anchorage. For example, if large mines are developed, the goods and equipment used by the mines for development and operations will flow through Anchorage. • Rail Shipping Costs. The unit cost of shipping on the Alaska Railroad is likely to fall as fixed costs of roadbed maintenance and administration are spread over a higher volume of shipments.Matanuska - Susitna Borough Economic Development DepartmentIntroduction / Two Municipalities, One Regional Economy / Overview of Potential Benefits to Anchorage from the Rail Extension / Benefits from Construction and Operation of the Rail Extension / Benefits from Industrial Development at Port MacKenzie / Benefits from Employment of Anchorage Residents due to Railroad-Dependent Mineral Development / Appendix: Notes on Methodolog