By Molly Bashay

After the most economically devastating year since the Great Depression, workers and families are still far from a pre-pandemic normal. The U.S. is in the midst of a 6.8 million jobs shortfall. If left unchecked, it could take more than a year to reverse. Good jobs—those with decent wages and basic dignities like fair and advanced scheduling, benefits, and advancement opportunities—are even more scarce. To help resolve this crisis, more than 9 in 10 Americans (93%) favor a national initiative that creates paid work and job training opportunities as part of recovery efforts. This policy solution—a federal investment in subsidized employment—is the only workforce intervention proven to put large numbers of unemployed people to work rapidly and put income in the pockets of those who need it most.