Interviews during 2017-2019: on Jobs


Jo Jorgensen: Opposes minimum wage; it hurts minorities and youth

Q: What is your position on the minimum wage?

A: I oppose it. Government must not interfere with voluntary contracts between employers and employees. The research is clear--the minimum wage hurts minorities and those entering the job force the most.

Source: AFA iVoterGuide on 2020 presidential hopefuls Nov 3, 2020

Jo Jorgensen: Eliminate all wage standards

Q: Raise federal hourly minimum wage above current $7.25/hour?

Jo Jorgensen: No. No raise to federal minimum wage; eliminate all wage standards.

Howie Hawkins: Yes. Supports $20 hourly minimum wage. "All citizens shall have the rights to a minimum income sufficient to meet basic needs."

Source: CampusElect on 2020 presidential hopefuls Aug 30, 2020

Gloria La Riva: Restrict employers' asking about criminal records

We call for the immediate amnesty for all non-violent offenders currently incarcerated. We call for disallowing employers from inquiring about an applicant's past criminal record not directly related to the occupational task to be performed, including eliminating the check off box for felons.
Source: Socialist PSL Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful Aug 3, 2020

Jo Jorgensen: No required unions; no occupational licensing laws

We favor repealing any requirement that one must join or pay dues to a union as a condition of government employment. We advocate replacing defined-benefit pensions with defined- contribution plans, as are commonly offered in the private sector, so as not to impose debt on future generations without their consent.

Libertarians support the right of every person to earn an honest and peaceful living through the free and voluntary exchange of goods and services. Accordingly, we oppose occupational and other licensing laws that infringe on this right or treat it as a state-granted privilege. We encourage certifications by voluntary associations of professionals.

Source: Libertarian Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful May 22, 2020

Bill de Blasio: Would raise the NYC minimum wage to $15/hour

The mayor has advocated for a $15 minimum wage in New York.
Source: Townhall.com: "The 2020 Democrats" (presidential hopefuls) May 18, 2019

Andrew Yang: Monthly stipend would help us through technological changes

We've automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa. We need to think about how we're going to help Americans transition through this time. My flagship proposal is a freedom dividend of $1,000 per month for every American adult. It would help tens of millions of Americans transition through what is the greatest economic and technological transformation in our country's history, which we're going through right now.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls Apr 14, 2019

Andrew Yang: I'm a huge union fan

I'm a huge union fan. When I sit with union leaders and I say, you know what's going to help your union membership is if you have a dividend of $1,000 a month [as in my flagship proposal] because it ends up making it possible for unions to negotiate much harder, since then they have something they can fall back on? So this is a very pro-union plan. I'm fan of the right to organize.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls Apr 14, 2019

Wayne Messam: Supported boosting minimum wage

Messam also supported a "living wage" for Miramar city, putting full and part-time workers above the state minimum wage.
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls Mar 28, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: Consider guaranteed income, perhaps redefine work

There's an experiment in Stockton where they're distributing payments to people to make sure that that income floor is lifted. There are too many Americans who couldn't find even $400 in an emergency to get them through that. I'm not yet sure that that's the right way to go, but it's the sort of bold policy we should contemplate, especially if it's connected to work. Maybe we ought to broaden our definition of work. If you are taking care of a parent or raising a child, isn't that work?
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls Mar 10, 2019

Jay Inslee: Increase minimum wage; ensure gender pay equity

Inslee supports increasing the minimum wage, which is currently $12 in Washington state and will rise to $13.50 in 2020. Inslee signed into law a guaranteed paid family leave plan in 2017, granting eligible parents 12 weeks paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child or for a serious medical condition. He also signed an Equal Pay Opportunity Act that requires employees receive equal pay and work opportunities regardless of gender. Inslee opposes the Trump administration's trade policies. He has said that "any punitive tariffs to the Asian markets are felt deeply" in the state of Washington. Inslee believes in a positive working relationship with trade partners and open access to foreign trade markets.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls Mar 1, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Minimum wage must be raised

It is an unbelievable thing that we have not increased the federal minimum wage for something like a decade. And it's just stuck where it is. And we should be increasing the minimum wage. That brings up the wage everywhere.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls Feb 18, 2019

Bill Weld: In-state training for displaced workers, including on-line

What are we going to do about the fact that 25% of all the jobs in the United States today won't exist in 15 years? The old jobs will be replaced by new and different jobs, but the problem is that today's workers don't yet possess the skill sets that the replacement jobs will require. This truly is a national emergency.

The skills required by the new jobs correspond roughly to the skills now taught in the first two years of post-secondary education, or the community college level. We should adjust our budget priorities to cover the cost of in-state tuition for those displaced workers, as we did for our returning veterans under the G.I. Bill. To cut down on room and board expense, we should encourage and embrace on-line education. It has now been proved that distance learning is as effective as learning in a bricks and mortar classroom, so we should take advantage of that.

Source: Speech in New Hampshire by 2020 presidential hopefuls Feb 15, 2019

Cory Booker: Supports $15 minimum wage and guaranteed jobs

Booker supports a $15 minimum wage and calls it "unacceptable" for Americans to "work a full-time job and still live in poverty." He also backs a pilot program that would provide grants to guarantee everyone a job and paid sick leave. Last year, Booker sponsored legislation to eliminate the income gap by creating a savings account for every child that could grow to as much as $46,000 by their 18th birthday. The "opportunity account" could be used to pay for home ownership or higher education.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls Feb 1, 2019

Beto O`Rourke: Invest in training for evolving economy

Invest in training or for the certification or the skills that will command that high-skill, high-wage, high-value job. Does not come inexpensively. It involves an investment that we have to make. When that person is able to work, they're able not only to take care of their families, but contribute back to the success of their community, of this state, and of this country. I want to make sure that we make investments in people, not corporations and political action committees.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls Oct 18, 2018

Eric Garcetti: Universal pathway to employment

Garcetti called for stricter gun restrictions. He's pro-choice. He prefers a "universal pathway to employment" over the universal basic income proposal some have offered. As a Mexican-American Jew, he proudly touts his own immigrant ancestry.

While Garcetti is not afraid to talk policy, he posits that's not how elections are won. "We need to speak plain English again," Garcetti said of Democrats. "We can't be the smarty-pants party anymore. I know we have good ideas and once we're in power we should do them, but when we're running elections, people don't want to know your 10-point plan for things. They want to know if you connect with them as a human being."

Garcetti sought to cast the glitzy reputation of LA as not so estranged from the everyday problems of Americans elsewhere. "Yes, it's true, I come from Los Angeles," he said. "But we are people who have dreams and hopes and are just as frustrated as you are about the direction of this country."

Source: J. Lovegrove in Post & Courier on 2020 presidential hopefuls Feb 24, 2018

Tom Steyer: Closed tax loophole on out of state business, creating jobs

Tom Steyer is a California business leader, philanthropist and advanced energy advocate. In 2010, Tom teamed up with former Secretary of State George Shultz to defeat Proposition 23, an effort by out-of-state oil companies to dismantle California's groundbreaking clean energy law. In 2012, Tom served as co-chair with Shultz for Yes on Proposition 39, which closed a tax loophole for out-of-state corporations and created jobs in California.
Source: K.McIntosh, HamiltonProject.org: 2020 presidential hopefuls Jan 1, 2018

Steve Bullock: Guarantee equal pay for women

Bullock is understandably queasy about being labeled a capital-P Progressive. He walked the line during his 2016 reelection campaign: Although one of his campaign ads, narrated by his daughter, was about the need to guarantee equal pay for women, a liberal priority that many conservatives oppose and which is rarely a top-line campaign topic for Democrats in tight races, he also ran ads calling himself a fiscal conservative while slamming his wealthy opponent's proposed sales tax.
Source: Politico.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls Oct 11, 2017

  • The above quotations are from Interviews during 2017-2019, interviewing presidential hopefuls for 2020.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Jobs.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Mike Pence on Jobs.
  • Click here for more quotes by Cory Booker on Jobs.
2020 Presidential contenders on Jobs:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN)
Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021