Weekend Reads: Job Gap, Afghanistan post-2014, Syria Intervention, Discharge Petition, and More

Brookings Now recommends these weekend reads:

Gary Burtless calculates that we need between 7 million and 7½ million jobs in the U.S. to close the job gap and return to full employment. This could take up to 8 years, he says.

Khalid Koser has a series on what he expects to happen in Afghanistan over the next year, as U.S. and coalition forces withdraw from the country. He concludes that there will certainly be more internal displacement of civilians in the country. Koser recently returned from a field visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Brookings experts continue to write on the possibility of a U.S. military intervention in Syria, including Ken Pollack’s view, “Go Big or Stay Home.”

The new Social Mobility Memos blog launched this week, featuring short pieces on the challenges of promoting greater social mobility and opportunity.

Molly Jackman writes on the discharge petition, an instrument that may be used in the House of Representatives to dislodge a bill from committee if a House majority favors the legislation. She explores the possible use of a discharge petition in the immigration bill instance, plus looks at how state legislatures use it. 

Rob Puentes, Patrick Sabol and Joseph Kane argue that the Build America Bonds program “should be reinstated to encourage budget-constrained state and local governments to invest in economically critical infrastructure projects.”

César Guadalupe discusses the need to promote the usage of age-specific data in education and learning measurements and argues that this information can play a significant role in promoting children’s right to a quality education.