Jobs are the Solution to Eradicating Poverty in America

James C. Wilson, Ed.D.


It isn’t news that jobs are the solution to almost all of society’s ills. The point is that jobs resolve many of America’s problems is far more than an abstraction. Putting people to work is good for people, good for business, and good for our society. Jobs put money in the pockets of the employed. That is the obvious benefit. The broader benefits are even more significant. The positive self-esteem of the employed is enormously significant. Self-esteem must not be underestimated. It means fewer gangs, fewer prostitutes, less crime, and far fewer people incarcerated. It means poor people will have better relationships with significant others, spouses, and other people. They will be better parents. They won’t have the...

It is imperative to look beyond racism, poverty, and police over reaction for the actual cause of Black American’s unrest. Of course, we are all angry at having unarmed Black Americans killed by police or anyone else. The litany of killings of unarmed Black American men is inexcusable. Racism and violence are horrific and demean us as a society. However, given the reasonable anger at police brutality, it is really poverty that is the overarching cause of Black American’s unrest. But fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, what is the underlying cause of Black poverty in America? The circular answer is racism. No serious person doubts that racism is part of the cause of Black poverty. The recent police actions and recent political maneuverings to limit Black voters both speak t...

James C. Wilson, Ed.D.

Unfortunately, most people in America do not understand the connection between high school education and crime and incarceration. The high school is supposed to prepare youth for life after high school. This does not only mean a college education that the top achieving thirty percent obtain. It means an appropriate education for all students. The cold reality, however, is that the alternate program in high school of vocational education has been decimated over the past thirty years. Since the other seventy percent of students will not complete a bachelor’s degree, the high schools of America have abrogated their responsibility to this supermajority of our youth.

How did this happen? About thirty years ago, so-called educational reformers began to reconstruct the American hi...

The recent spate of shootings makes us angry and we immediately focus on our national security. And we have the Middle East with one after another conflagration. Our concern is normal and we do urgently require action on terrorism, mental health, and gun reform. These are all significant issues that require national action. However, there is a much larger national issue that impacts far more Americans, but receives very little serious attention.

For a variety of reasons, we have millions of Americans beyond the system’s defined group of unemployed, who want to work, but are called “discouraged workers.” This means they are no longer technically looking for work so they don’t qualify to be defined as unemployed. In addition, there are categories of underemployed workers, temporary workers, and mar...

James C. Wilson, Ed.D.

The concept of causation is treated with kid gloves by our university researchers. I understand that it is important to protect social science research from people who have no standards and make outlandish connections about human behavior. Having said that, I stand by my notion that it is education that causes poverty in America. Clearly, this notion requires explanation.

There is substantial research that documents how much more money college grads make than those who haven’t achieved a college degree. And there is equally substantial research about the terrible lives of high school dropouts. In both of these large research topics, they claim causation to be education or the lack of education. There is little or no research tying back the lack of learning employment skill...