IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1011 

Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Federal job 

guarantee. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2024 

Ms. PRESSLEY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create 

a Federal job guarantee. 

Whereas, 75 years ago, Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set forth the economic right to employment, recognizing that ‘‘everyone has the right to 

work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable 

conditions of work and to protection against unemployment’’; 

Whereas a job guarantee was a central demand and unfinished legacy of the civil rights movement, such that— 

(1) at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and 

Freedom, Martin Luther King, Jr., joined A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin in demanding a job guarantee; 

(2) in the subsequent decade, Coretta Scott King led 

a grassroots movement to enact a job guarantee; 


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(3) these leaders all built on and advanced the work 

of earlier pioneers like Sadie T.M. Alexander, the Nation’s first Black economist, who advocated a job guarantee to address racial discrimination against Black 

workers, while improving labor market conditions for all 

workers in the 1940s; and 

(4) throughout the past 100 years, activists and intellectuals like Ella Baker and the Mississippi Freedom 

Democratic Party have all seen a Federal job guarantee 

as a key element of racial justice; 

Whereas the right to a ‘‘useful and remunerative’’ job was 

the first and most fundamental right in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights and 

is a core plank of the Green New Deal movement and the 

People’s Justice Guarantee; 

Whereas a job guarantee is essential to any effort to close the 

racial and gender income and wealth gap; 

Whereas the United States has, on multiple occasions, including from 1945 to 1946, 1977 to 1978, and more recently, 

introduced legislation in an attempt to establish a full 

employment economy; 

Whereas the commitment to full employment has been embraced by Congress and is part of the statutory mandate 

of the Federal Reserve System; 

Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme 

Poverty and Human Rights recommended the enactment 

of a job guarantee as a ‘‘powerful tool’’ in the global 

fight against poverty and a way to contribute to a ‘‘just 

transition’’ toward a decarbonized economy in a 2023 report to the UN Human Rights Council; 


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Whereas a job guarantee has been recognized by key international allies as an important part of any green transition, including the European Union; 

Whereas the United States has experienced decades of increasing inequality, racial economic exclusion and inequity, stagnant wages, declining union membership, and 

deteriorating workplace protections and conditions; 

Whereas the United States has experienced decades of chronic underinvestment in its communities, workforce, infrastructure, public services, agricultural and industrial 

heartland, and natural environment; 

Whereas the United States has, for decades, perpetuated a 

punitive, racist, ineffective criminal legal system that has 

systematically excluded millions of individuals from the 

workforce, failed to effectively promote reentry for previously incarcerated individuals, and forced incarcerated 

individuals to work in oppressive and exploitative conditions for effectively no pay; 

Whereas the United States is experiencing a long-term economic crisis in which many workers are overworked, underpaid, and experience job and economic insecurity, with 

at least 100,000,000 Americans living in or near poverty, 

and 24 percent of full-time workers earning less than $15 

an hour according to the National Equity Atlas; 

Whereas even at the peak of a business cycle, with a relatively low unemployment rate, many workers remain job 

insecure, earn insufficient income, and experience unand underemployment; 

Whereas the United States presently fails to recognize, support, or adequately remunerate the household and care 


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work of millions of women, parents, and familial caregivers; 

Whereas economic prosperity in the United States has been 

highly unequal since its founding, largely falling on racial 

lines, with Black and indigenous Americans consistently 

earning less, owning less, and experiencing greater rates 

of economic precarity and poverty than White Americans; 

Whereas the United States has not increased the minimum 

wage for years, and maintains subminimum wage 

carveouts for incarcerated people, people with disabilities, 

and tipped workers; 

Whereas the United States presently exploits millions of undocumented workers, by forcing them to work in substandard conditions and below prevailing wages; 

Whereas the United States is presently experiencing a 

generational crisis, as millions of younger and older workers face structural barriers to meaningful participation in 

the workforce; 

Whereas the United States is underinvesting in critical 

human and physical infrastructure, including care and 

the environment, as well as underinvesting in creative, 

cultural, scientific, and knowledge industries, including 

higher education, libraries, public art, and journalism; 

Whereas the United States is facing three overlapping and 

compounding crises, namely climate change, systemic racism, and extreme economic inequality, that together require a large-scale mobilization on the scale of World 

War II to address; 

Whereas low-wage workers, and Black, Latinx, Native American, and other communities of color, as well as women 


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and people with disabilities are experiencing sustained 

economic distress and face mounting debts; 

Whereas the United States is facing growing demand for care 

work and social services as the baby boomer generation 

retires from the workforce, and the senior population is 

expected to nearly double between 2018 and 2060; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic revealed vast inequities in 

community conditions by race, ethnicity, and income in 

the United States as well as the need to strengthen community infrastructure and services in the communities 

most vulnerable to disasters; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic demonstrated both the 

critical importance of individual job security and resilient 

production and distribution systems in the face of external ecological and social crises; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic, as well as the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, demonstrated that the United States 

Government is not financially constrained in its ability to 

respond to economic crises, and underscored the unique 

and broad capacity of Federal deficit spending and public 

investment to counteract and reduce the disruptive impact of economic shocks and recessions; 

Whereas the historically low rates of unemployment during 

the recent economic recovery have failed to adequately 

provide sufficient or quality employment for people who 

face discrimination, including but not exclusively based 

on race, gender identity and expression, past record of 

criminal legal system involvement, and areas where economic investment is inadequate; 

Whereas the historically low rates of unemployment during 

the recent economic recovery have failed to employ people 


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in jobs that prioritize social needs, such as mitigating climate change and addressing the care crisis, beyond the 

level that private investors and business owners determine will be sufficiently profitable for them; 

Whereas the United States is facing new workforce challenges 

relating to privacy, worker autonomy, data gathering and 

surveillance, and automation, as a result of new technologies and the rapidly changing nature of industry, and 

these challenges have been accelerated by the COVID–19 

pandemic; 

Whereas the United States regularly suffers from high levels 

of underemployment, persistent joblessness among 

marginalized populations, and the growth of primarily 

low-quality jobs, resulting in— 

(1) the loss of millions of hours of potential output, 

as well as deterioration of skills and productive capacity; 

(2) lower community living standards, increased levels of working poverty and homelessness, and higher 

rates of individual and family suffering, including physical and mental health problems; 

(3) higher rates of workplace discrimination, harassment, and a ‘‘last hired, first fired’’ approach that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including 

Black workers, women, LGTBQIA workers, workers with 

disabilities, formerly incarcerated workers, and young 

and elderly workers; 

(4) an effective minimum wage of zero for those who 

cannot obtain employment; and 

(5) an increasing fraction of the workforce forced to 

undertake multiple jobs, or engage in dangerous work 

with insufficient labor protections; 


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Whereas reliance on private investment alone has never historically succeeded in establishing a true full employment 

economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake 

paid work can do so; 

Whereas reliance on education, skill development, job training, and other ‘‘indirect’’ policies alone have never historically succeeded in establishing a true full employment 

economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake 

paid work can do so; 

Whereas untargeted, demand-increasing stimulus alone has 

never historically succeeded in establishing a true full employment economy, in which every individual wishing to 

undertake paid work can do so; 

Whereas the Federal Government has the unique legal and financial capacity, relative to the local and State governments and the private sector, to credibly commit to funding the programs and institutions necessary to establish 

a true full employment economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake paid work can do so; 

Whereas the Federal Reserve, on its own, has never historically succeeded in establishing a true full employment 

economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake 

paid work can do so, and by its own admission, lacks the 

necessary tools and capacity to do so; 

Whereas Congress and the Department of the Treasury have 

a demonstrated track record of successfully funding and 

administering direct job creation programs, including the 

Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps during the New Deal, which created over 

6,000,000 jobs in less than a year; 


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Whereas Congress and the Treasury have a demonstrated 

track record of mass-scale mobilization of the economy, 

including during World War II, when the United States 

maintained an average unemployment rate of under 2 

percent, and successfully doubled real output of the entire economy in under 6 years in the face of an unprecedented existential threat; and 

Whereas President Biden has taken Executive action on the 

creation of a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, in need of 

dedicated, permanent funding on a nondiscretionary 

basis, to mobilize the next generation of conservation and 

resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible 

training opportunities and good jobs: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to 

4 create a Federal job guarantee— 

5 (A) to finally eliminate the moral and eco6 nomic scourge of involuntary unemployment; 

7 (B) to establish a true full employment so8 ciety, in which anyone who wants to undertake 

9 paid work in the service of the community and 

10 the environment has ample opportunities to do 

11 so; 

12 (C) to collectively achieve the greatest pos13 sible level of socially and ecologically sustainVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1011.IH HR1011

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1 able prosperity, and share the fruits of that 

2 prosperity equitably among all people; 

3 (D) to empower the working class by offer4 ing every worker, regardless of his or her back5 ground, capacity, or status, the opportunity to 

6 earn a fair, living wage, and to organize with 

7 fellow workers to advocate for common inter8 ests; 

9 (E) to ensure every person in the United 

10 States has genuine and meaningful opportuni11 ties for education, training, career advance12 ment, and choice with respect to workforce par13 ticipation; 

14 (F) to update and expand our under15 standing of socially necessary or useful work to 

16 include historically underrecognized and uncom17 pensated labor, including domestic and social 

18 care, ecological preservation, and cultural, sci19 entific, and creative work; 

20 (G) to promote justice and equity by stop21 ping current, preventing future, and repairing 

22 historic oppression and discrimination of indige23 nous peoples, communities of color, migrant 

24 communities, deindustrialized communities, de25 populated rural communities, the poor, low-inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1011.IH HR1011

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1 come workers, women, the elderly, the 

2 unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth 

3 (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘frontline and 

4 vulnerable communities’’); 

5 (H) to complete the unfinished legacy of 

6 the civil rights movement and the New Deal, 

7 and meet the contemporary challenges posed by 

8 the climate crisis identified in the Green New 

9 Deal resolution; and 

10 (I) to meet the broader social and eco11 nomic challenges of the 21st century through 

12 appropriate public investment, socially coordi13 nated planning, and industrial cooperation; 

14 (2) the goals described in subparagraphs (A) 

15 through (I) of paragraph (1) (the ‘‘job guarantee 

16 goals’’) should be accomplished through an imme17 diate national mobilization— 

18 (A) to establish and honor a legally en19 forceable right to fair, dignified, and decently 

20 remunerated employment for all eligible individ21 uals living in the United States (hereafter the 

22 ‘‘right to employment’’); 

23 (B) to establish and honor a bill of work24 ers’ rights, as a complement to the right to em25 ployment, that addresses issues related to workVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1011.IH HR1011

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1 er exploitation, discrimination, harassment, 

2 compensation, privacy, autonomy, choice of em3 ployment, working conditions, the right to orga4 nize and collectively bargain, suitable accommo5 dation for people with disabilities, protection 

6 and expansion of existing safety net programs, 

7 and other related concerns (hereafter the 

8 ‘‘Workers’ Bill of Rights’’); 

9 (C) to establish, implement, and admin10 ister a comprehensive and diverse range of so11 cially necessary and useful public projects, re12 flective of community and regional needs, in13 cluding direct public job creation programs, and 

14 to support related education, training, 

15 credentialing, and career development pro16 grams, to ensure workers enjoy meaningful 

17 choice and appropriate opportunities for growth 

18 and advancement in their chosen area of em19 ployment (hereafter the ‘‘enabling programs’’); 

20 (D) to design and implement the right to 

21 employment, Workers’ Bill of Rights, and ena22 bling programs through transparent and inclu23 sive consultation, collaboration, and partnership 

24 with frontline and vulnerable communities, 

25 labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society 


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1 groups, State and local governments, academia, 

2 and businesses; 

3 (E) to take ecological and equitable con4 cerns into consideration when designing and im5 plementing the right to employment, Workers’ 

6 Bill of Rights, and enabling programs, as well 

7 as any other related infrastructural and admin8 istrative institutions and procedures; 

9 (F) to take any and all necessary steps to 

10 ensure, wherever possible, that all people ben11 efit from the collective prosperity resulting from 

12 the establishment of the right to employment, 

13 Workers’ Bill of Rights, and enabling programs; 

14 and 

15 (G) to adequately and appropriately fund 

16 these efforts on a permanent, nondiscretionary 

17 basis, using Congress power of the purse, 

18 through a combination of Federal support to 

19 local and State governments, and various direct 

20 Federal grant and investment programs; 

21 (3) the national mobilization toward a Federal 

22 job guarantee would include projects that— 

23 (A) strengthen communities, retool our 

24 economy, achieve inclusive prosperity, and leave 

25 no one behind; 


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1 (B) address national priorities as well as 

2 those put forward by local governments and 

3 community organizations, with the participation 

4 of communities impacted by structural racism, 

5 oppression, and disinvestment in the selection 

6 of projects; 

7 (C) create net new jobs, without displacing 

8 existing public sector workers; and 

9 (D) prioritize racial equity and environ10 mental sustainability, including but not limited 

11 to ensuring a just transition for workers and 

12 frontline communities currently involved in 

13 unsustainable industries; 

14 (4) job guarantee workers would be employed in 

15 a range of ways, including but not limited to— 

16 (A) ensuring the delivery of high-quality, 

17 professional care to children, seniors, and oth18 ers in need of long-term support in family 

19 based, informal, and formal settings; 

20 (B) augmenting the staffing of public edu21 cation and early childhood learning, including 

22 Head Start and preschool; 

23 (C) strengthening public afterschool pro24 grams, libraries, and recreational programs to 


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1 provide lifelong learning and enrichment for 

2 people of all ages; 

3 (D) implementing community infrastruc4 ture and improvement projects that revitalize 

5 neighborhoods, including vacant and abandoned 

6 property cleanup, street and sidewalk repair, re7 modeling and modernization of schools and 

8 other public community-serving facilities, and 

9 maintenance and renovation of parks, play10 grounds, and public spaces; 

11 (E) expanding emergency preparedness, 

12 and relief and recovery from natural and com13 munity disasters, including public health, nat14 ural disasters, and environmental emergencies; 

15 (F) producing works of public art and doc16 umentation of United States history akin to the 

17 Works Project Administration’s Federal Art 

18 Project; 

19 (G) implementing environmental conserva20 tion, remediation, and sustainability initiatives, 

21 increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and 

22 our housing stock to address climate change, 

23 and building climate resistance through pro24 grams such as the Civilian Climate Corps; 


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1 (H) rehabilitating and retrofitting our ex2 isting affordable housing stock to ensure safe, 

3 affordable, quality, energy-efficient homes, and 

4 supporting the development of new affordable 

5 housing and social housing to address the Na6 tion’s housing crisis; 

7 (I) producing creative, scientific, artistic, 

8 or cultural works, which would then be made 

9 open and available for public use; and 

10 (J) supporting other projects that address 

11 public needs and can be implemented quickly; 

12 (5) job guarantee jobs would pay no less than 

13 $25 per hour, adjusted on a regular basis to ensure 

14 a rising standard of living, and would not replace 

15 any existing safety net programs or benefits, includ16 ing unemployment insurance; 

17 (6) job guarantee jobs would also offer benefits, 

18 including— 

19 (A) health insurance consistent with that 

20 provided to existing Federal Government em21 ployees; 

22 (B) paid sick days and family leave; 

23 (C) retirement benefits; and 

24 (D) paid vacation; 

25 (7) job guarantee workers would— 


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1 (A) be able to join public sector unions and 

2 bargain collectively for better working condi3 tions and compensation; 

4 (B) be protected against discrimination 

5 and harassment by Federal labor laws; 

6 (C) have their data protected and their pri7 vacy respected; and 

8 (D) be empowered to develop lasting skills 

9 through on-the-job training, as well as paid ap10 prenticeships, credentialing, and other career 

11 building opportunities; 

12 (8) job guarantee work would— 

13 (A) be made available— 

14 (i) on a full-time and part-time basis 

15 for adult residents age 18 and over, de16 pending on worker needs, including those 

17 with involvement in the criminal legal sys18 tem; 

19 (ii) on a part-time basis for young 

20 people ages 16 and 17; 

21 (iii) for short- or long-term periods, 

22 depending on worker needs; and 

23 (iv) to all people on a nondiscrim24 inatory basis, including people with disabil25 ities; 


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1 (B) include outreach and recruitment, con2 ducted in multiple languages; 

3 (C) provide workers and aspiring workers 

4 with support services, such as childcare and 

5 transportation assistance, and specific accom6 modations, as needed to access jobs and fulfill 

7 job responsibilities; and 

8 (D) meaningfully expand our social safety 

9 net and would not replace any existing safety 

10 net programs or benefits, including unemploy11 ment insurance; and 

12 (9) the job guarantee program would be admin13 istered by the Department of Labor and overseen by 

14 the Secretary of Labor in coordination with the Sec15 retary of the Treasury, who would be responsible for 

16 dispersing funding, and in particular— 

17 (A) the Secretary of Labor would direct 

18 Treasury funds to local employment offices to 

19 manage job guarantee projects and match job 

20 seekers to projects, as well as cover any related 

21 capital and administrative costs, with funds tar22 geted during the initial 3-year startup period to 

23 areas of greatest employment need; and 

24 (B) State, county, and local governments, 

25 as well as territories and Tribal Nations, would 


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1 help administer the program, engaging resi2 dents in community assessments and 

3 participatory processes to identify job guarantee 

4 projects to go into a community job bank. 

Æ 


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