Guest Opinion | Hoyt Hilsman, Former PCC Trustee: The Case for a New WPA

The Works Projects Administration, established in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression, employed more than 8.5 million American workers constructing public buildings, bridges and highways – including the Pasadena Freeway.  In addition to building nearly a million miles of roads, 10,000 bridges and many airports and public housing, the WPA also employed nearly 40,000 writers, musicians and other artists who created a lasting legacy of artistic accomplishment.

With over thirty million Americans currently unemployed and facing extended joblessness, it may be time to consider a new WPA, not simply for the health of our economy, but for the health and welfare of our fellow citizens.  As Harry Hopkins, the guiding spirit behind the WPA, once said “Give a man a dole and you save his body and destroy his spirit.  Give him a job and you save both body and spirit.”

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, many American workers were struggling to survive in low-paying jobs or multiple part-time jobs in a gig economy where automation was rapidly making many vocations obsolete.  At the same time, our neglected infrastructure and many of the most important tasks in the society – from home health care and child care to education and social services – were being cut to bone, often because these jobs simply didn’t fit with the current shape of the economic marketplace.

While the federal government has already issued over $2 trillion in stimulus payments that will end in July, there has yet to be a plan to deal with the millions of Americans who will likely be unemployed for months and years to come.  Would it not be more practical to fund an extensive public works project that could employ those millions of Americans in productive labor rather than simply issue short-term stimulus payments?

For years, politicians have been promising infrastructure improvements, not to mention bolstering the social safety net.  Why not seize the opportunity presented by the current pandemic to address these problems with long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes?

Hoyt Hilsman is an author, educator and former member of the PCC Board of Trustees.