LIBRE’s POV on Economic Opportunity
The American story is one of people rising to achieve great things. The way to continue this trend and lift individuals out of poverty is to provide the most opportunity for the most people. The road to economic prosperity is one paved by increasing access to work, respecting worker freedom and choice, cutting burdensome regulations, and fixing our broken budget process.
Work
A crucial step in increasing opportunities for Hispanics and all Americans is making the labor market more accessible by removing barriers to entry, supporting workforce skills development, and updating our system of work to honor the modern worker’s preferences and need for flexibility.
The Hispanic community is particularly important to the U.S. labor force given that they are driving overall labor force growth, have had a higher participation rate than non-Hispanics for the last two decades, and show significant involvement in the independent work sector as contractors, freelancers, and gig-workers.
A primary challenge for individuals, that often makes it harder to access work, is burdensome occupational licensing. These requirements prevent many would-be entrepreneurs and hard-working people from achieving their dreams Rigid and unnecessary licensing requirements often stack the deck against the unemployed by requiring them to sometimes pay thousands of dollars and hours of training to simply enter their chosen profession.
We support policies and reforms that allow for individual’s fulfillment in the profession of their choice, allow them to supplement their income, and increase access to work. People should be empowered to pursue their version of the American Dream through meaningful work and have power over their paychecks.
Regulations
Americans deserve to know the true weight of the federal regulatory burden that they face every day. A major hurdle to understanding and reducing this enormous burden is the lack of clarity around just how large the problem really is. Existing measures do not clearly define the real impact of our out-of-control regulatory accumulation.
Further our regulatory system disproportionately harms small businesses. Smaller firms end up spending a much higher proportion of their budgets on compliance costs than larger firms. This places small businesses at a steep advantage and impedes their ability to compete and grow. Hobbling small businesses affects the economy as a whole by reducing firm entry over time and limiting job growth.
Because Hispanics have had the highest rate of entrepreneurial growth since 2002 and currently represent around 14 percent of existing small businesses regulatory burdens have the potential to bring particularly negative consequences to our community.
Spending
The Federal government’s long history of wasteful spending gives little to no regard for the American taxpayer who foots the bill for irresponsible spending decisions and is most affected by the high inflation brought about by those decisions. The Hispanic community is one of the groups that disproportionately bears the brunt of the high costs that result from high inflation.
Cutting back on frivolous spending and increasing transparency through comprehensive budget reform could address concerns surrounding inflation and rising taxes. To accomplish these goals members of both parties must come together to find solutions and put mechanisms in place that prevent stand-alone partisan budget reconciliation. Moving toward the development of a unified budget, where all revenue levels and spending is included in a single bill, would ensure that all members have stake in the process and are incentivized to work together in pursuit of responsible budget allocations.