Government officials have no “jobs switch” they can flip to create private-sector employment.
But that unfortunately doesn’t curtail the tendency among some in government to believe that more government action is all that’s needed to generate jobs.
Just a few more subsidies, a little more intervention in the market, a bit more “priming of the pump” will do the trick, they assume.
But it doesn’t work. In fact, one of the hardest lessons for many public officials to learn is that often government does the most to help create jobs by simply avoiding improper interventions rather than by devising some new program.
One of the best things government can do to enhance economic growth – or at least foster conditions that promote growth – is avoid excessive taxation. Wealth creation and growth flourish in a market unencumbered by undue taxes, because that leaves the private sector more money to invest in all sorts of entrepreneurial ventures.