Obama Employment Plan Targets Industry with 7th Highest Level of Unemployment

Since no one in Washington seems capable of being more creative than pulling page after page from the Great Depression playbook, the centerpiece of the Obama employment plan is reported to be a major infrastructure stimulus.  Aside from the fact that depression-era government policy was decidedly ineffective, the plan seems to totally neglect the fact that the US labor force is much, much different in composition than it was during the 1930s.

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In fact, of the 14 industries categorized by the BLS in reported unemployment data, the Obama infrastructure plan would most directly stimulate the industry with the 7th highest number of unemployed workers.  One would think that a multi-billion dollar plan to attack unemployment would target the industry with the highest number of unemployed first.

If the only goal of the administration is full employment (a goal of debatable value), then perhaps it would be well advised to focus on service industries, which employ the vast majority of Americans today.

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