Over the past six years, we’ve rescued and begun to rebuild our economy on a new foundation. Middle class economics has begun to work. Now we have to build on this progress to raise wages and incomes and to strengthen the standing of working families in a new economy.
Middle class economics for the 21st century provides working families with the support they need to make ends meet right now—to reward hard work so paychecks go further to cover the costs of health care, child care, a home, and a secure retirement in the future. It empowers every working American with the education and training they need to earn higher wages. And it places a relentless focus on making America the place where businesses decide to innovate, grow, and create good, high-paying jobs. The President will help America accomplish these goals by working with Congress when he can and acting on his own when he must. In everything we do, America is at its best when we move forward together.
Making the Paychecks of Working Families Go Further
- Eliminating the trust fund loophole and using the savings to responsibly pay for measures to help middle class families get ahead
- Cutting taxes with a $3,000 credit per young child to make child care more available and affordable, while creating a new second earner tax credit for working families
- Partnering with states to adopt paid leave and ensure every American can earn paid sick days so they can take time to care for themselves and their family
- Increasing the minimum wage, so some of the hardest working Americans get a raise
- Making a home more affordable for responsible middle class families by cutting mortgage premiums
Preparing Hardworking Americans to Earn Higher Wages
- Making two years of community college free for responsible students, so every American has access to at least two more years of high-quality schooling
- Reducing the burden of student loan debt and expanding a middle class tax cut for college so hardworking students aren’t priced out of an education
- Partnering with businesses to create more on-the-job training and apprenticeship opportunities so workers can learn the skills they need for better, higher-paying jobs and earn wages while they are training
- Expanding opportunities for working Americans to make career transitions into fast-growing, higher-paying fields where employers have good-paying jobs to fill
Keeping Good, High-Paying Jobs in America
- Fixing our broken business tax code, repairing crumbling roads and bridges, and modernizing our infrastructure so businesses create good jobs here at home
- Promoting American jobs and American workers by signing new trade deals so the United States, not China, sets the fair wage, safe workplace, and clean environment rules of trade
- Jumpstarting medical innovation to deliver the right treatment to the right patient
- Promoting American leadership in clean energy technologies, as well as continuing to invest in advanced manufacturing to ensure America’s manufacturing sector continues to lead the world for years to come
- Passing comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens the American workforce
- Ensuring entrepreneurs and small business owners have the tools they need to grow their businesses and create jobs
Read the full statement from the The White House Office of the Press Secretary