THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR NEW JERSEY

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR NEW JERSEY

The American people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t created

overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the middle class has been under attack

for decades. That’s why President Obama believes we need to do more than just recover from this

economic crisis – we need to rebuild the economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the

same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. We can work together to create the jobs

of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, by investing in education, and by making things the

world buys. The President understands that to restore an American economy that’s built to last we cannot

afford to outsource American jobs and encourage reckless financial deals that put middle class security at

risk.

To create jobs, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – nearly all of which is made up of ideas

that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that Congress should pass right away

to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back

to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a

dime to the deficit. The American Jobs Act has five components:

1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow

• The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in

wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with

wages below this level. In New Jersey, 200,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the

American Jobs Act.

2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America

• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and

aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American

Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the

job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will

make immediate investments of at least $1,325,100,000 in New Jersey that could support a minimum

of approximately 17,200 local jobs.

• The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while

supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These

funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $831,100,000

in funds to New Jersey to support up to 9,300 educator and first responder jobs.

• The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at

least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and

upgrading our schools to meet 21

st

century needs. New Jersey will receive $518,600,000 in funding

to support as many as 6,700 jobs.

• The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the

job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and

businesses. New Jersey could receive about $98,100,000 to revitalize and refurbish local

communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.

• The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at

community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and

ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. New Jersey could receive

$123,800,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.

3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.

• Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing

the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without

jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 216,000 long-term unemployed workers in

New Jersey back to work.

• Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance,

preventing 104,300 people looking for work in New Jersey from losing their benefits in just the first 6

weeks. And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the

year.

• The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands

of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth

industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 3,500 adults and 11,300 youths in jobs in New Jersey.

4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family

• The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll

taxes in half next year. A typical household in New Jersey, with a median income of around $65,000,

will receive a tax cut of around $2,020.

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.

• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee

to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit

target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do

that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of

stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.