Our country currently has the highest number of unemployed Americans since the Great Depression. While many of the 33 million workers who have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus crisis began expect to be rehired, many jobs will not come back.
The solution? Let's take this time as an opportunity to rebuild our country with a long-overdue investment in our infrastructure. Infrastructure put 1930s America back to work. With lower educational barriers to entry these jobs teach in-demand skills that pay livable wages. They offer family-sustaining salaries, mobile career paths, and health benefits that are now more important than ever. We need that here in the state of Alaska and all over the United States, where infrastructure improvements are long overdue and thousands are waiting to get back to work. By investing in America’s infrastructure we will not only provide millions of people with jobs, we will keep our country competitive.
Jan Carolyn Hardy
State Vice President, AFSCME Retirees Chapter 52
Member, Central Labor Council
Anchorage
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