National Urban League's Job Creation Plan Could Reduce Budget Deficit As Much As $5 billion

A cost-benefit analysis of the National Urban League’s Plan for Job Creation shows that a $150 billion investment  could create as much as  $375 billion in economic activity - equivalent to a 2.6% increase in 2009 gross domestic product

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“When people are back at work, tax revenues rise as incomes and other tax bases grow,” said Marc H. Morial, National Urban League President and CEO.  Similarly, spending declines as payments for unemployment benefits and other income support falls. The result is a reduction in the budget deficit.”

The National Urban League has endorsed the Local Jobs for America Act, currently pending in Congress.  The bill addresses one aspect of the League’s job creation plan by investing $75 billion over two years ($37.5 billion in year one, and $37.5 billion in year two) to local governments, community based organizations, and states to save and create local jobs.

“The investment would have a two-fold impact on communities, by providing family-sustaining jobs while at the same time preventing a reduction in essential municipal services ,” Morial said.

Valerie Rawlston Wilson of the National Urban League’s Policy Institute, which conducted the analysis, said, “Solutions targeted at the chronically unemployed, like those proposed in the National Urban League’s direct job creation plan, are essential to ensuring a recovery that is even and sustainable over the long run.”

According to the analysis, the $375 billion in economic activity would generate $65.6 billion in federal tax revenue, and $89.4 billion in savings from income security payments for the 3 million people who found jobs.

The analysis can be found at the National Urban League’s new “State of Urban Jobs” website, launched today, on www.iamempowered.com

The National Urban League’s “Six-Point Plan for Job Creation” can be found at www.nul.org.