Obama announced Alan Krueger as a nominee to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers on Monday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
We have few hints about the plan, but we do have Alan Krueger, who is perhaps the country’s most prominent labor economist.
Monday, Obama introduced Alan Krueger, a Princeton economist and new chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers. Krueger previously served as chief economist in the Treasury Department and has done leading research about why job growth lags during otherwise prosperous economic times. (Take a closer work at Kreuger’s academic work.)
According to sources in Zachary Goldfarb’s story, Obama’s plans could include:
• Considering a tax cut for companies that hire new workers.
• Developing programs to target long-term unemployment, which could include funds for employers who hire new workers and for training.
• Renewing — and potentially expanding — efforts including a call for a two-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax.
• Introducing a refinancing initiative that could pump tens of billions of dollars into the economy and revitalize the housing market .
But as the recession transitions from a temporary struggle to a permanent problem for many Americans, our readers seem to be responding to the jobs plan developments with a mix of wariness and skepticism. We asked readers on Facebook and Twitter whether they had hope for Obama’s new jobs plan, and here’s what they said. (Want to be included? Send us your thoughts using #ObamaJobs on Twitter.)
