“Federal job guarantee” requires a right to work.

Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley last week introduced a proposal to establish a federal job guarantee, a national program that would provide work for every American who wants it.

Under the proposal, the federal government would fund employment opportunities for everyone who could not find work within the private sector. The jobs would be created in “socially necessary and useful” fields including education, health care, emergency preparedness, infrastructure and environmental projects.

The concept of a federal job guarantee has a long history in Democratic politics. Franklin Roosevelt, whose New Deal programs put thousands of Americans to work after the Great Depression, included a right to work in his proposal for a second Bill of Rights. The cause was later taken up by prominent civil rights leaders like Coretta Scott King. Today, a job guarantee is supported by a number of high-profile progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pressley’s fellow “Squad” members.

Why there’s debate

Supporters of a federal job guarantee say work should be a fundamental right and the private sector is incapable of providing a job to everyone who wants one. Unemployment causes unnecessary personal and societal harm, they argue, that can be erased altogether if all Americans had access to well-paying, high-quality work. Through a job guarantee, the government can take on desperately needed initiatives — like green energy and elder care — without having to consider the profit incentives that often hold back private industry’s ability to address these problems.