NSDA Topic: Federal Jobs Guarantee

With the end of October, we are now on our second topic of the season.

Resolved: The United States ought to provide a federal jobs guarantee. 

Much like the September/October topic, this one is timely in terms of the current environment. Where the last topic ends as the next United States election takes place, the November/December topic arrives with Congress having failed to renew Covid-19 relief, an economy which continues to face a downturn due to both the shut downs earlier in the year, and an unemployment rate which is higher than many other recessions with little economic growth being seen on the horizon (Iacurci, 2020). At the same time, debates concerning a federal jobs guarantee (FJG) versus other options such as a universal basic income (UBI) are mainstays within the Democratic Party, while Medicare-For-All continues to be advocated at the same time (Keshner, 2019). 

The result of this is a topic which will require both long term and short term knowledge of economic and political events which have shaped employment and social choices. While easily conceived of as a discussion of only the economic conditions, the implications of jobs have been demonstrated to have long lasting influences on education, health, technology, integration, environmental degradation, and many other areas of public policy. This means that both sides will have access to a plethora of potential avenues while arguing why the affirmative is needed both at this particular time in history and in the future. 

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