18 Million Jobs by 2012: How Obama Can Save His Presidency

In the March 8, 2010 issue of The Nation, Robert Pollin argues that the best way to address the nation’s continuing job losses is a “commitment from the Obama administration to create 18 million new jobs over the remaining three years of the presidential term. That would mean an average increase of about 500,000 jobs per month, or a bit more than 4 percent growth in job creation over the next three years.” Pollin makes the case that this goal may be ambitious, but it is not unrealistic. A careful combination of job-generating public investments, incentives to mobilize private investment, and policies that protect economically vulnerable populations could create the economic and policy environment to make this goal possible.