WH economist says Obama considering hiring tax credit

A senior White House economist said that President Barack Obama is considering a hiring tax credit for businesses to help jump start the labor market.

"A couple of weeks ago, when the president talked about ideas that he was asking his macroeconomic team to consider, he did mention potentially a hiring tax credit targeted at businesses," said Jared Bernstein, the chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden. Bernstein made the remarks Tuesday during a briefing with reporters on the $787 billion stimulus.

The hiring tax credit would go to companies that bring on new employees. Obama had proposed a $3,000 tax credit for each new full- time employee when he was running for president last year. The tax credit was mentioned as a possible item to be included the stimulus as it was being crafted earlier this year. But Democrats in Congress eventually nixed the idea, arguing that stimulus aid should go directly to individuals and to spending projects that create jobs.

Now that the unemployment rate has risen to 10.2 percent, a 26-year high, the hiring tax credit is one of several job creation proposals under consideration. Democrats in both the House and Senate have called for new jobs-focused legislation. Democrats and labor unions have called for more state fiscal aid to prevent layoffs of public workers, new infrastructure spending and increased credit for small businesses.