Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton plans to propose tax credits to encourage businesses to train young people and offer apprenticeships as a way to both raise wages and boost youth employment.
The former secretary of state called for a $1,500 tax credit per apprentice during a campaign stop in South Carolina on Wednesday, June 17.
Her proposal mirrors a bipartisan bill introduced in the US Senate last year that would grant businesses a $1,500 tax credit for hiring an apprentice under 25 years old, and $1,000 for those 25 and older. The backers of the Senate bill, not yet passed, said that it would create about 400,000 jobs and help meet a great demand for skilled US labor.
“I’m going to try to be producing an agenda that I hope can draw Republican voters and Republican members of Congress,” Clinton said in an interview with the press. “I’m well aware that the party on the other side has gone very far toward the Tea Party side, but I think there are still a lot of Republicans that understand that we’ve got to do things for our country—we have to make progress, and we’ve got to get results.”
Clinton’s campaign, now in its second phase after Hillary first declared her candidacy in mid-April, added that the tax credit proposal would require accountability for employment and earnings outcomes for businesses receiving the credit. Apprentices would also need to be registered in order to be eligible.
In her first large rally in New York City last Saturday, June 13 the former First Lady addressed growing businesses and the need for skilled workers in a growing job market.
“Businesses should be encouraged to create good jobs instead of increasing profits at workers’ expense,” she said.
Clinton has struck a populist tone during the first months of her campaign, often remarking how “the deck is stacked” against US workers and how Wall Street bankers pay lower tax rates than nurses or truck drivers.
Her campaign, in a background policy document provided to reporters, described her apprenticeship proposal as a “win-win for businesses that need skilled employees and workers in need of well-paying jobs.”
The campaign committee also pointed to a 2012 study cited by the Department of Labor that found apprenticeships are associated with a worker earning an average of $6,595 more annually. The unemployment rate for 18- to 34-year-olds outpaces the overall unemployment rate at 7.8 percent to 5.5 percent, according to campaign aides.
In rolling out the tax-credit proposal, Clinton is expected to emphasize the role her mother played in instilling the value of hard work.
Her campaign also highlighted a Clinton Foundation program that created economic opportunities for young people in the United States, the Clinton Global Initiative last year called “Job One,” which aimed to help young people ages 16-24 who were unemployed and out of high school. The initiative worked with companies like The Gap, JPMorgan Chase and Marriott to train and hire young people. (With reports from Washington Post, Reuters)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend June 20 – 23, 2015 Sec D pg.1)
