On The Issues

Christian believes the Labor Commissioner should be an advocate and an administrator, using every tool available to fight for working families and to organize workers to demand legislative changes beyond the office’s direct control. His experience as a prosecutor taught him that the justice system arrives too late. His experience in healthcare administration taught him that broken bureaucracies cost lives. His experience in local government taught him how to navigate complex systems and deliver results.

THE NEW DEAL AGENDA:

Pay people while they train for good jobs through stipends and wraparound support 

• Provide Georgia workers with a hand up so they are able to create a better life for themselves and their families 
• Create childcare assistance provisions during job training so working parents can upskill 
• Promote workforce training as a key part of economic development 

Build job pathways that reduce recidivism and break cycles of poverty 

• Stable employment significantly reduces recidivism, with formerly incarcerated individuals holding jobs being 13% to 24% less likely to re-offend. Those who maintain employment for one year post-release have a 16% recidivism rate, compared to 52% for those who do not.  
• Establish job programs in prisons and transitional housing to ensure returning citizens have stable employment upon returning to society 
• Target in-community services to areas with low employment rates and high crime to create new opportunities and reduce criminal activity 

Advocate for livable wages (Georgia’s $5.15 minimum wage has been frozen since 1997, nearly three decades) 

• Advocate to make Georgia the most competitive state in the South by pushing to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the tipped wage subminimum for service workers 
• Advocate for provisions to revisit living wages with COLA and inflation adjustments to ensure families are not falling behind. 
• Support businesses that invest in workers, making that the standard for employers in Georgia  

Modernize unemployment systems to work when families need help most. Georgia ranks last in the nation in unemployment benefit duration at just 14 weeks — and only 27% of eligible workers ever receive benefits. When layoffs or transitions hit, workers deserve a safety net that actually works. 

• Protect unemployment insurance and ensure families can get speedy access to help and support 
• Reduce bureaucracy by updating online systems and clear the claims backlog 
• Bring services into communities, fully staffing offices across the state