Re-employing laid off workers is a great idea, particularly into a similiar industry, i.e. manufacturing, healthcare etc. However, I would have to disagree that the government has it thumb on the pulse of the economy. The states, not the federal government has jurisdiction over unemployment and re-employment initiatives. In Illinois and Michigan, once an employee is displaced and submits a claim for unemployment, they must register their credentials in a database for employers to search. It's far from an ideal system and it's usefulness to employers is debated, but it is a start.

It helps, of course, that the states can facilitate re-employment, but it would be better if the federal government could compile all the statistics throughout the whole country and put out a bulletin board, perhaps on the internet, to inform the unemployed as to where the jobs are. A coordinated board could indicate living expenses in the areas to indicate which places would be optimum for a move.

Why should the federal government set up this database, and not private enterprise? The info for this database (cost of living in various places and geographical distribution of jobs in various fields) is probably already available to private enterprise; someone just needs to set up a Web page that presents this info in a form that is useful to job seekers. I wonder if monster.com would be interested in adding this feature to their system? Having to check every region of the country manually to see where the jobs in a specific field are, is very inefficient.

Google "Texas Online" If that looks like what you want, ask your state representatives whether there is something similar in your state.