Keeping America Competitive: Employment Policy for the Twenty-First Century

Potter and Youngman describe competitiveness as the ability of individual enterprises to sell goods and services profitably in both domestic and foreign markets. The nation's continued prosperity now depends on the ability of U.S. companies to produce and market goods and services that can compete successfully in both price and quality with foreign companies. It is not widely understood that U.S. employment policy has an important bearing on this country's economic competitiveness, which translates into American capacity to create and provide jobs for American workers. Americans are asking why their traditional jobs and industries are disappearing and why their standard of living is not improving as it did in earlier decades. These questions must be addressed and Keeping America Competitive provides the answers.

Edward E. Potter is president of the Employment Policy foundation based in Washington, D.C., a foundation dedicated to clarifying the effects of employment policies being formulated by Congress, the courts, and administrative agencies on job creation and U. S. competitiveness.

Judith A. Youngman is an associate professor of political science at the U. S. Coast Guard Academy where she heads the Government and History Section.