Top-down planning fails — only a decentralized state and local approach solves.

While the WPA’s top-down design theoretically could have guarded against local discrimination, the program’s centralized decision making often meant its projects were not democratically designed. Entire regions like the South were neglected in favor of western swing states. Women, Black Americans, and workers with disabilities were often excluded from the program. Additionally, the country’s state capacity has deteriorated significantly since the middle of the 20th century. The dominance of anti-statist factions within the Republican Party (Kabaserice, 2012; Fried & Harris, 2021), a bipartisan favor for tax preferences over spending programs (Teles, 2013), and liberal attempts to preserve government capabilities by surreptitiously fitting new programs and initiatives into existing agencies unequipped to implement them (Mettler, 2011) have all contributed to the decline. The portion of public employees out of the total workforce, a crude but effective metric for state capacity, has declined from 14.6% in 2000 to 13.8% in 2022 (Bureau of Labor Force Statistics, 2022; Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; author’s calculations). A modern American job guarantee should combine the democratic nature of Jefes with the centralized administrative support of the WPA. Local NGOs, municipal government agencies, and social entrepreneurs would design most projects and request program funds. City councils would be tasked with approving projects and would receive technical support from local program administrators and financial compensation from the program for increased workloads. If local governments lack the capacity to approve projects, even with additional support, state and local program administrators would be empowered to create local councils staffed by elected community representatives in a manner similar to Jefes’ Municipal Consultative Councils. The job guarantee would operate identically in Puerto Rico and in all U.S. territories. Every county would have at least one program administrator tasked with adding approved projects to a publicly available job bank. The job bank would contain contact information about the project’s objectives and requirements, as well as its approval process. The job bank would be available online, allowing workers to digitally enroll in projects. Physically, the jobs bank would be accessible at local Unemployment Offices and would complement the existing network of American Job Centers established under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (U.S. Department of Labor). Unlike unemployment benefits, workers would be allowed to search for other employment without losing access to the guarantee. These workers would not be counted in official unemployment statistics. State-level administrators would coordinate with local officials to identify gaps in the program’s supply of jobs and the needs of local communities. They would help state and local agencies design new projects and scale up existing ones when necessary. As demonstrated by NREGS, regional administrative capacity is critical for mediating behind federal standards and local participation. The guarantee would give state administrators the authority and mandate to combat discrimination and disparities at the local level when necessary. Program officials could direct funds to state or municipal agencies that create projects in communities without existing civic infrastructure and coordinate with local officials and program administrators to identify successful projects to scale or replicate.