The Nation Doesn’t Need a Short Term Solution to a Long Term Problem

Obama recently passed his job bill that includes many short term solutions to the nation’s job crisis. While this crisis poses a very urgent problem to the United States, putting duck tape over the leak is not going to fix the major problem. Many critics are currently picking Obama’s new job bill apart piece by piece. However, it’s not the content that worries most; it’s what the bill does not contain.

Short term solutions buy some peace for a little while, but without any long term plan, the nation will find itself back in this same position in a short time. This type of planning is difficult in the present political environment, but it is not something that Congress can overlook due to difficulties.

Several issues currently hinder any job creation. Three major issues seem to rise above the rest. These include regulation, job training and education.

Feeling overloaded with regulations is a popular complaint among business owners. It may seem that it is an overused excuse, but they each have legitimate arguments. Recent prominent bills passed in Congress recently, like the President’s healthcare plan and the Dodd-Frank bill that governs the financial world all hinder business leader’s abilities to forecast costs. With the ability to plan ahead financially, employers find it too risky to take on new workers.

Leaders in job creation feel that putting regulations on hold until a new system is created and Congress determines how all these regulations will impact job outlook is what should be done. It is also suggested that Congress add additional regulations for the benefit of employers. A regulation regarding issuing permits quicker will help aid in the job creation process. Currently, regulatory reviews for permits can postpone a project by 10 years due to the speed of the process. In comparison, China issues permits within an hour. While the States may not need to go to the Chinese extreme, something must be done in shifting regulations from hindering to helping job creation.

Another, and perhaps the largest, hinderance in jobs is the lack of education for United States citizens. Right now, the unemployment process isn’t necessarily a lack of jobs, but a lack of jobs that the average citizen can fill. Most manufacturing jobs within the United States have been lost to countries like China in years past. This has shifted America from a manufacturing country to a high-tech country. Dell plans to hire 100 software, network and storage engineers this year. However, finding qualified applicants takes a countrywide search for 100 needles in a haystack. Comparatively, if the United States opened a high-paying, low-skilled factory job for 100 people, you would have 10,000 waiting in line outside the factory to apply.

A short term fix to the problem would be to enlist foreigners to come fill the high-tech positions. However, in the long run, that only cripples our citizens even further, and paves the pathway for those high-tech jobs to leave the country as well. Instead, we need a homegrown solution. This will come by building an interest in our citizens in areas like math, science and engineering. Then, after more people pursue an education in these fields, the nation will see the crisis begin to fade for good.