Issue Position: Jobs

Issue Position

"We must reinvigorate the American economy and renew the American dream for people of all backgrounds: the promise that if you are willing to work hard, you'll have the opportunity to achieve prosperity for you and your family."
- Bryan Townsend
Any Delawarean who wants to work hard should have an opportunity to do so. There should be no barriers between effort and prosperity.

Combining private-sector job openings and consistent public-sector tasks, there is no shortage of work to be done. The challenge is matching workers' skills with available job openings, tailoring our laws and policies to encourage job and wage growth, and committing necessary public monies to fund critical long-term work that might otherwise be too uncertain or beyond the role of the private sector.

By some measures, the American economy has been resilient since the Great Recession struck. After unemployment peaked in 2009, we have seen the longest streak of private-sector job growth on record and the unemployment rate has dropped from 10.2 percent to 5 percent. Over the last year, more than one million new American jobs have been created. Despite all these encouraging statistics, too many Americans are still hurting. Metrics of overall growth are of no consolation to the autoworker whose plant has been shuttered, the manufacturer who has seen her job shipped overseas, or the service employee whose wages will not rise. Many who have returned to work are earning lower wages than before the recession, even as corporate profits soar.

This is why Bryan has supported and will continue to support building an economy that works for everyone and consistently drives job creation. In the Delaware State Senate, Bryan has advocated for training and re-training opportunities for people of all skill levels and ages. On a monthly and yearly basis, skills programs should be developed and coordinated to help move workers into in-demand fields. These should be supplemented by consistent, long-term investments in infrastructure. To address chronic poverty and wage stagnation, Bryan has consistently and unwaveringly supported increasing the minimum wage to a livable wage.

Individuals' skills and infrastructure investment are not the only aspects of job creation. It is important to encourage business development and entrepreneurship. In the Senate, Bryan has supported tax and regulatory reform designed to remove barriers to commerce and innovation. Yet he also has insisted on corporate accountability and effective policymaking. As a member of the Joint Sunset Committee, Bryan ensured the Delaware Economic Development Office had developed a policy of tying economic development grants to actual job creation. He also championed legislation to enhance transparency and coordination in state economic policymaking.

In Congress, Bryan will support raising the federal minimum wage but will also make sure America is doing more to train our workforce. He will work hard to end tax breaks for companies that ship American jobs oversees while also supporting tax reforms that encourage job growth and investment in Delaware and America. While focusing on workforce development, Bryan also will insist on public infrastructure investment. He will be a strong voice on the kinds of broad, coordinated policies that bring together the private and public sectors in a more dynamic economy that provides opportunity for all.

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