Where the Jobs Are: Entrepreneurship and the Soul of the American Economy

Foreword

Before any candidates for Congress are permitted to have their names placed on the ballot, they should have to certify that they have read John Dearie and Courtney Geduldig’s book Where the Jobs Are.

The reason for this is that once elected they will suddenly be confronted with such challenges as assuring the supply of clean, affordable energy, providing health care to the nation’s citizens, preserving the natural environment of our planet, assuring national security, and more—yet none of these can be accomplished without first building a strong economy. And no nation can have a strong economy without producing jobs for its citizens—jobs that both underpin the quality of life of individuals and families, and generate the tax revenues that permit government to fulfill its obligations to its citizenry. Furthermore, an important but often overlooked point is that one can’t be for jobs and be against employers.

But this is just one of the conundrums and misunderstandings that plague those who seek to find—or, better yet, create—jobs. It is occasionally announced by deans at medical school graduations that “half of what we taught you is wrong—the problem is that we don’t know which half.” This caveat has relevance to the beliefs held by many concerning the jobs dilemma. Consider the following beliefs:

• Permitting foreign scientists and engineers to immigrate to the United States takes jobs away from Americans.
• Start-up companies, which usually fail anyway, are simply too small ...