Long-term joblessness is “the great domestic crisis of the twenty-first century,” argued Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, at MI’s April 26 symposium “America’s Crisis of Work.” A half-century ago, 95% of American men aged 25 to 54 held jobs. Today, only 85% do. What to do?

Start with cultivating a more dynamic U.S. economy, one that rolls back many of the incentives that discourage work, from excessively generous Social Security disability insurance to the explosion of occupational licensing. Fixing America’s crisis of work will also require major upgrades to K–12 education—the focus of MI’s second and final symposium based on the City Journal special issue, “The Shape of Work to Come”—where big spending increases and centralization of control in Washington have delivered disappointing results.

INTRODUCTION
Brian Anderson, Editor, City Journal

PANEL
Kristin Kearns-Jordan, CEO, Urban Assembly
Steven Malanga, Senior Fellow, MI
John Widlund, Executive Director, Career & Technical Education, NYC Department of Education
Moderator: Howard Husock, Vice President, Research & Publications, MI

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