The regional Job Guarantee: fostering economic democracy and promoting public participation

This chapter examines the implementation of regional Job Guarantee proposals with a focus on advancing economic democracy and public participation. Job Guarantee proposals that are intentional on advancing economic democracy will also expand local markets and build local economics. Local control of Job Guarantee programs intersects with identifying all stakeholders and maximizing participation. The voices and ideas of marginalized groups are all too often left out of traditional governance structures and decision-making processes. In an economic democratic framework, these same stakeholders shall be front in center in the drafting, design, and implementation of Job Guarantee programs. The chapter seeks to identify ways the structure of a Job Guarantee program advances economic democracy; and how the reverse is true, how economic democratization advances Job Guarantee projects. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of why the Job Guarantee proposal should be part of a broader revamping of the social safety net.