Using Local and Economically-Targeted Hire to Promote Good Jobs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), was signed into law on November 15, 2021. This federal legislation will bring $1.2 trillion to states and cities over the next 5 years to repair and build roads and bridges, public transportation, the broadband network, and water infrastructure, among many other critical infrastructure projects. Each state will receive billions of dollars in funding over the next 5 years through mandatory and competitive grants, loans, and bonds.

Local and targeted hiring refers to policies attached to major economic development and construction projects that seek to ensure that a certain percentage of the jobs on the contract be set aside for local residents or for job seekers that share a particular set of demographic characteristics, such as being from communities historically underrepresented in an industry or experiencing barriers to employment. A range of community and labor advocates worked together with federal policymakers to include a provision in the BIL that allows policymakers to enact preferences for local and economically-targeted hiring on highway and transit construction projects receiving financial support from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). This is the first time local and economically-targeted hire on federally-funded projects is allowed after years of community advocacy.

This guide provides an overview of local and targeted hiring policies, answers key questions for states and cities looking to implement these policies, and offers success stories from around the country. The BIL represents an important organizing opportunity for community groups and unions to meet with state officials on incorporating local and economically-targeted hiring provisions in the highway and transit construction contracts that local agencies will be issuing over each of the next 5 years. Our hope is that this guide will be helpful not just for BIL implementation, but for other local initiatives and future legislation as well.

Building local solidarity with organizing workers: April EARN Worker Power Bulletin

EARN Worker Power Project Bulletin

State and local policy updates and resources for advancing racial, gender, and economic justice

We know EARN groups around the country are already contributing ideas, research, analysis, strong testimony, coalition building, and more to act in solidarity with workers who are organizing to build power in a wide array of state and local contexts.

Continue reading “Building local solidarity with organizing workers: April EARN Worker Power Bulletin”

4 Key Points on Inflation

  1. The main driver of inflation today is the pandemic, which has disrupted the whole economy. The main solution is ending the pandemic.
  2. While worker wages have grown during the pandemic, there is no reason to believe worker wage increases are what’s driving inflation.
  3. There is little reason to believe too-generous government relief spending is driving inflation. The weakened economy needed it to grow in 2021, and that spending is falling sharply in 2022.
  4. Hopes of closing the United States’ terrible racial wage and employment gaps would be dimmed if policymakers overreact and sacrifice growth for lower inflation.

Confronting the Labor Shortage Narrative and Protecting UI

Blogs, reports, and data to help describe current labor market conditions, address the labor shortage narrative, and discuss the need for continued UI:

Statements and blog posts responding to states pulling out of federal UI supplements:

Other potentially useful reports and data:

News Articles Mentioned: