Prometheus 6

Mr. Guichard said he expected to keep three of the five new workers after the program ends. But the month before it began using the program, the gallery had four employees on its payroll (in addition to a few who worked hours as needed); none of these workers are still there. Three left on their own, said Mr. Guichard, in part because they were frustrated after their hours were cut and their income fluctuated.

But one — Mr. Guichard’s cousin Juan Rodriguez — was laid off.

Mr. Guichard said he wanted to keep Mr. Rodriguez, a 24-year-old, precocious curator and a “hard worker,” but decided not to because Mr. Rodriguez did not qualify for Put Illinois to Work.

Instead, Mr. Guichard hired Mr. Rodriguez’s younger brother, Patrick, whom the gallery now can employ free.

Job Subsidies Also Provide Help to Private Sector
By CATHERINE RAMPELL

CHICAGO — States are putting hundreds of thousands of people directly into jobs through programs reminiscent of the more ambitious work projects of the Great Depression.

But the new efforts have a twist: While the wages are being paid by the government, most of the participants are working for private companies.

The opportunity to simultaneously benefit struggling workers and small businesses has helped these job subsidies gain support from liberals and conservatives. Congress is now considering whether to extend the subsidy, which would expire in September, for an additional year. A House vote is expected on Thursday or Friday.

Despite questions about whether the programs displace existing workers, many economists have argued that direct job creation programs are a more cost-effective way to put some of the nation’s 14.6 million unemployed back to work than indirect alternatives like tax credits and construction projects.

The average duration of unemployment continues to break records, after all, and studies have shown that the longer people are out of work, the less employable they become.

“I never, ever, ever thought I’d end up in an art gallery,” said Tremaine Edwards, 35, a former computer technician who had been unemployed for two years before he was hired in May by Gallery Guichard, a private gallery in Chicago. Mr. Edwards now earns $10 an hour, financed by the government, through the Put Illinois to Work program, to maintain the company’s Web site, curate exhibits and run gallery events.

He has also become the gallery’s star salesman, selling five paintings during the most recent gallery opening despite no background in fine arts or sales.

“I feel like if I knew I could have done this 15 years ago, I would have,” he said, grateful for the opportunity to escape cubicle life. “As long as I keep selling like this, I think I’ll be fine, no matter what happens with Put Illinois to Work.”