Work is an essential piece of this puzzle. 1787’s jobs program, U.S. Works, will create near-term jobs, plus help secure our long-term economic future by appropriately developing our nation’s human capital. The program is a practical, straightforward way to leverage our already massive spending by not only providing Americans who face barriers work today, but also valuable training for tomorrow.
U.S. Works requires anyone who is capable of work, receives federal assistance in any way, and is unemployed to register with an Empower Society to actively look for a job OR be engaged in the specialized education/training programs provided there for at least 20 hours every week. The clients will be paid the federal minimum hourly wage, and the first funds earned will go toward the total amount of money the participant receives in federal government assistance. Any remaining funds go directly to the client.
We believe deeply that not having a work requirement attached to social service benefits does a tremendous disservice to the very people they are designed to help and perpetuates devastating cycles that we already know set people up to fail.
It’s important to note that the design of U.S. Works ensures we don’t make the miscalculation that President Bill Clinton’s Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 did when the legislation called for a work requirement for those who received federal assistance but then didn’t have the government act as employer of last resort.
There are many obvious benefits to people having well-paying, rewarding jobs – earning money and enjoying personal satisfaction being at the top of the list – but not so obvious are the real-world consequences and negative psychological impact of being unemployed. The longer a person is out of work, for example, the more unemployable they are… and it’s well documented that there is a direct correlation between how long a person is out of work to a dramatic increase in depression, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and suicide.
That means we need to get started on this right away. The COVID era was a major shock to the system, and in many ways our economy made a remarkable recovery. But for those trapped at the bottom, we still have a way to go. The official U.S. unemployment rate in May 2025 was 4.2 percent. That’s still 6 million people. A more accurate measure of our employment situation is the U-6 unemployment rate, which includes the unemployed, people working part-time because they can’t find full-time work, and those who have just given up. In May 2025, that number was 7.9 percent.
Another instructive number is the labor force participation rate, a measure of the economy’s active workforce that adds the number of all workers who are employed or actively seeking employment, then divides that number by the total number of the civilian working-age population. In May 2025, the labor force participation rate was 62.4 percent. Compare that to 2000, when that number was 81.9 percent. The labor force participation rate is an interesting number because it signals that there are possibly millions of people who still are in prime working years who may be enticed back into the work force if it was worth their while.
Although COVID put a spotlight on our jobs and wage situation, the need for a new paradigm began long before. Going forward, we need to not only create 21st century jobs, but we also need to create ones that pay better. Plus, we need to make certain that the new jobs we create don’t replace middle-class jobs with low-paying ones.
The great news is that 1787’s timing couldn’t be better! Fact: We have a stubbornly high U-6 unemployment rate. Fact: We need to get serious about moving people from any sort of dependency to self-sufficiency. Fact: We essentially need an entirely new infrastructure. Do we not have the perfect opportunity here? 1 + 1 + 1 = Progress. < Note: Even though Congress passed what was meant to be a comprehensive infrastructure deal in November 2021, it’s an imperfect effort to say the least. Our leaders should have incorporated something like this in that legislation, but it’s never too late! >