In 2014, other OECD countries invested 0.6 percent of their GDPs on active labor market policies, while the United States invested just 0.1 percent of its GDP. Moreover, the United States now invests less than half of what it did 30 years ago on such programs as a share of GDP.
In a globalized economy where technological automation and import competition continue to roil labor markets, the United States needs to do more to ensure its workers are equipped with the skills they need to compete. The United States should look to leading countries, such as Sweden, which have adopted a mantra not of “job security” but of “skills security,” which recognizes that governments’ main obligation isn’t to provide jobs but to ensure workers are fully equipped and ready to compete in an era of rapid change.
