TJ Madsen is among the founding members of the New Herald Tribune and chairs the editorial board. He worked for national syndicated newspapers in Newark, Philadelphia, and Baltimore before moving to the midwest.
September 5 , 2025
Washington, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump announced Friday that his administration will reestablish a modern version of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the historic jobs program first introduced during the Great Depression.
The decision comes on the heels of the latest Labor Department report, which revealed a significant uptick in unemployment rates nationwide. The new program, dubbed the "American Renewal Works Administration" (ARWA), is expected to focus on infrastructure repair, public works, conservation efforts, and community development projects.
“The President believes in American workers, and this administration is moving proactively to protect jobs and rebuild communities,” said Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer during a morning press briefing. “This program will put Americans back to work in meaningful, tangible ways that improve the country for everyone.”
The revived WPA initiative will be funded through a combination of federal appropriations and redirected infrastructure spending. According to administration officials, initial priority will be given to projects involving road and bridge repair, expansion of broadband access in rural areas, and the restoration of public buildings and parks.
Though details of the program’s scope and implementation timeline have not yet been fully released, early estimates suggest that ARWA could employ up to 2 million workers in its first year.
Modeled loosely on the original WPA, which operated from 1935 to 1943 and employed over 8 million Americans, the new version aims to leverage public-private partnerships and modern technology to make the initiative more adaptive to today’s workforce needs.
The White House has indicated that legislation enabling the new WPA will be introduced to Congress within the coming weeks. In the meantime, the Department of Labor and other agencies are reportedly working to identify “shovel-ready” projects and potential hiring pipelines.
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