For Young Americans, this is the worst job market in decades. Despite politicians claiming we are on the road to recovery, unemployment among Young Americans remains at its highest point in over thirty years. To make matters worse, the leadership in Washington plans to raise taxes and add new regulatory costs making it more difficult for companies to hire new workers. Without new job creation, Young Americans will continue to suffer during this “recovery”.

I graduated law school in the summer of 2009, in the midst of the recession. My law school had once boasted that an average 75% of graduates get quality jobs lined up by the time they graduate. After my graduation, I struggled to find a single classmate that had a job lined up. Government agencies and law firms had been laying off attorneys since late 2008. I sent resumes to over 400 law firms, government agencies, and private businesses but could not find job. As time passed some firms started to hire here and there but they only wanted experienced attorneys. It occurred to me that I was in a job market competing with recently laid off attorneys with far more experience than me.

My experience is similar to the experience of many Young Americans in other career fields. Young Americans are usually recent graduates of college or professional schools. They have little or no experience but are eager to get started. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible for them in this economy.

Young Americans need the economy to create new jobs otherwise they will be constantly competing for a very small pool of entry level positions. Every year there are more people entering the workforce than leaving. Without new jobs, the unemployment rate will continue to rise. The U.S. economy must create new jobs constantly in order to create opportunity for young workers and keep unemployment down.

The national unemployment rate is 9.9% but the unemployment rate among Young Americans is much higher:

Here are the unemployment rates over the past two years:

-Age GroupApril 2008April 2009April 2010

-Ages 18-19 (high school grads)13.4%21.7%24.1%

-Ages 20-24 (college grads)8.8%14.6%17.2%

-Ages 25-345.1%9.8%10.2%

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Government: If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions!

In 2009, President Obama and the Democratic Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the Stimulus Package. It cost taxpayers $800 billion but they claimed it would create millions of jobs and keep the unemployment rate below 8%. It failed miserably. When the Stimulus was passed, there were 134.5 million total jobs in the United States. Fourteen months later, there are a little over 130 million jobs, a loss of four million positions. Not only did it fail to create jobs, the Stimulus Package failed to save enough jobs to stop unemployment from rising to 10%!

Most of the spending went to government programs in healthcare, education, housing, unemployment benefits, and to state governments. None of these programs create jobs but only hand out money to various agencies, corporations, and individuals that claim they need it. In most cases the money was spent to save the jobs of government employees that might otherwise be laid off due to budget cuts. For example, $45 billion of the Stimulus went to prevent layoff and cutbacks in school districts and $8.8 billion to prevent general state budget cuts. In short, it saved government jobs.

The infamous bailouts of various banks, investment companies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, as well as GM and Chrysler were intended to do the same thing, save jobs from cutbacks. The jobs that were saved were mostly the more senior positions, which meant that those with the least experience with the company or agency were let go first, i.e. the youngest. In other words, Government policy over the past two years has been to protect older workers at the expense of younger ones.

Most private sector employers have spent the last fourteen months laying off workers or just waiting for economic conditions to improve. However, the future does not look promising. First, the cost of doing business is rising and will continue to rise for the next several years. President Obama and the Democratic Congress have raised taxes beginning 2011 and will raise them again 2013. American companies already pay a 35% corporate income tax, which is the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. By comparison, China has a corporate tax rate of 15%. The U.S. Government also has a massive debt that needs to be paid back somehow, which means there will probably be tax increases in the future. As a result, employers are “bracing for impact” rather than expanding or hiring new workers.

American companies also face strict and complicated regulations that make it difficult to operate in the United States. In the last year, the Federal Government has only made it worse. The new Healthcare Reform and the Climate Change Bill currently under consideration in the Senate will increase the cost of doing business with new health insurance and pollution regulations. AT&T has already announced the new Healthcare Reform will cost them as much as $100 million a year. With higher taxes and new regulatory costs, it is easy to understand why businesses are not hiring more workers. In a time when we should be making it easier for companies to hire, the government is making it harder.

The Solution

We must accept the fact that government cannot create jobs, only the private sector can. So, how can the government encourage the private sector to grow and create new jobs? For the answer all we need to do is look back fifteen years. In the 1990s a Democratic President and Republican Congress worked together to cut taxes, keep government regulation reasonable, and balanced the budget. These were free market solutions that had worked in the past. There were no expensive government stimulus projects or bailouts. These efforts helped spur the largest economic expansion in U.S. history.

The American people have shown incredible resilience during economic downturns. We possess the most productive and innovative workforce in the world and it is time we give it an opportunity to succeed rather than adding more hurdles. The U.S. Government must do what it can to lower the cost of doing business in the United States. The tax increases put in place by President Obama and the Democratic Congress must be eliminated. The destructive new government regulations enacted over the past couple years must be repealed. Finally, we must balance the federal budget and begin paying down the national debt.

Our situation is dire. Unemployment remains high, economic growth is low, taxes are increasing, and our national debt is $13 trillion and rising. The free market solutions that worked so well in the 1990s must be implemented as soon as possible. Until then, Young Americans will continue to suffer in this economy, struggling to begin their career and become financially independent. The current leadership in Washington will not implement these solutions, new leadership is needed. Restore America’s Legacy PAC supports new Republican candidates for Congress in 2010 that will promote free market solutions and defeat the misguided policies of President Obama and the Democratic Congress. The goal is to end the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and shrink the Democratic majority in Senate. By eliminating their majority in the House, a new Republican leadership can block the destructive Obama agenda and begin pressuring him to implement common sense solutions or face defeat in 2012.

Author Bio: J. Wesley Fox is the Chairman of Restore America’s Legacy PAC. He is a recent graduate of DePaul University College of Law and has been active in local and national politics for several years. He currently lives in New Jersey after growing up in the Chicago suburbs.www.restoreamericaslegacy.com

Category: Politics
Keywords: Unemployment,job creation,small businesses,private sector,taxes,healthcare reform,career,Obama