Broadening Place-Based Jobs Policies: How to Both Target Job Creation and Broaden its Reach

Many places in the United States are distressed in that they have low “employment rates” (employment to population ratios). In my recent report for the Brookings Metro Policy program (Bartik 2020b), I proposed helping the most distressed local labor markets, comprising 15 percent of the U.S. population, by a federal block grant of $11 billion annually to provide public services to create local jobs. The present policy paper outlines how this block grant can be broadened, while remaining targeted. The block grant is broadened by adding $3 billion for more moderately distressed local labor markets, comprising an additional 15 percent of the U.S. population. In addition, the block grant is broadened by adding $4.8 billion for distressed neighborhoods, with about 10 percent of the U.S. population, to better link neighborhood residents with jobs