The “Make It In America” Plan: A Review of the Past Five Years and a Look at What's Next
Five years ago, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and House Democrats created the Make It In America plan to encourage private sector job creation here in the US. This Summer and Fall, Whip Hoyer and House Democrats are hosting a series of hearings entitled “Make It In America: What’s Next?” Designed to explore how the economy has, and hasn’t, changed over the past five years, and what families and businesses need to succeed in today’s economy, the “Make It In America: What’s Next?” series will hear from Members of Congress, innovators, entrepreneurs, economists, and others about how the Make It In America plan needs to be updated to address the challenges we face in 2015. Take a look at an overview of the last five years of the Make It In America plan and a preview of what’s next:
Make It In America Over the Past Five Years
Launched on July 22, 2010, the Make It In America jobs plan was created when the U.S. economy was recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
- The unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, having more than doubled since the recession began in 2007. [BLS]
- Of those unemployed, nearly half – 45% – had gone without work for more than 6 months. [BLS]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10,322 – still down more than a quarter from its prerecession high. [Yahoo Finance, 7/22/15]
- Credit card delinquencies were peaking, with more than 13% of card balances over 90 days overdue. [New York Fed]
The Make It In America plan was centered on the goal of creating the best conditions for American businesses to manufacture their products, innovate, and create jobs right here at home. Each Congress, the Make It In America plan has been updated with new legislation and ideas to strengthen the economy.
Since 2010, sixteen Make It In America bills have been signed into law, including legislation to cut taxes and provide loans for small businesses, speed up the patent process, train skilled workers, and end tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas:
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A Look at Make It In America: What’s Next?
Today, the economy is very different than it was in 2010. A key part of the “Make It In America: What’s Next?” hearing series is to discuss bright spots in the economy and how to build on those successes, and to look at the new challenges facing the economy and explore ways to address them.
Signs of Recovery:
- The unemployment rate is 5.3 percent – the lowest point since May 2008. [BLS]
- June 2015 marked the sixty-fourth consecutive month of private-sector job growth.
- 2014 was America's best year of job growth since 1999.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,977. [Yahoo Finance, 7/13/15]
New Challenges:
- The benefits of recovery have not been felt equally. For example:
- The unemployment rate for African Americans remains at 9.5%, near the level the broader population experienced during the worst of the recession. [BLS]
- New business startups, booming in parts of the West and Southwest, has lagged in many Northern and Midwestern cities. [Kauffman Foundation]
- Real wages fell sharply during the recession, and for at least 70% of the workforce wages have yet to return to pre-recession levels. [EPI]
The “Make It In America: What’s Next?” hearing series started with a Member Day on July 9, where twenty-one House Democrats testified and shared their thoughts on how we can best address the new economic challenges we face since the Make It In America plan first launched, as well as introduce new ideas that can help keep our economy competitive. House Democrats participated in four separate panels addressing important topics: American Innovation, Skills Training for the Future, The Future of Manufacturing, and “Making It” Across the Economy. They shared the following ideas on ways to update the Make It In America plan to ensure that families and businesses across the country have what they need to get ahead:
- Support Fab labs: A set of digitally controlled machine tools, including 3D printers, laser cutters, routers, and computer-aided design tool, that enable participants to build just about anything
- Develop Maker spaces: Communal work spaces that operate on a gym membership type business model and provide members with access to millions of dollars’ worth of advanced manufacturing equipment
- Harness job opportunities created by Internet of Things: A concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet
- Examine economic opportunities generated by the Sharing Economy. Collaboration using 21st century technology to exchange information, sell goods and services, use equipment, find spaces for innovation, and develop capital
- Promote STEAM education: STEAM education that that incorporates arts to prepare workers who have advanced technical skills as well as an aptitude for problem solving and creative thinking
- Expand needed career training to address skills shortages: Support and expand efforts to provide needed skills training to meet the needs of employers in today's economy
- Focus on the “suburban office economy”: The middle class Americans who work for businesses in which their own economic success is linked to that of their employer
- Assist small agriculture: Help young farmers access land to farm, partner with organizations to provide beginning farmers with the training they need, and invest in developing local food infrastructure
Over the next few months, House Democrats will hear from more individuals on what families and businesses need to Make It In America today.
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