President Obama’s primary objective for the sixth year of his presidency was laid bare on Tuesday night: Fight the insidious scourge of inequality in the United States, which has now reached levels unseen since the Gilded Age.
Obama’s goal is the right one. Inequality endangers democratic institutions, limits economic mobility, and — as recent research has shown — can be damaging to economic growth. The most sustainable and reliable approach to stemming high levels of inequality is promoting the creation of high-quality jobs.
Why? Because unemployment, especially the shortage of high-quality jobs, is a main driver of inequality. Long-term unemployment leads to an erosion of skills, diminishing wage prospects and economic mobility, fueling inequality.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Huffington Post.
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