This Labor Day, California and the nation are on the edge between a recession and a recovery. While economists say that the Great Recession technically ended in June 2009, the past two years have been a recovery in name only.

By every measure, the job market remains mired in the deepest downturn in the post-World War II era. A new analysis by the California Budget Project shows that the state has gained only 227,000 jobs since the recession officially ended – just one in six of the almost 1.4 million jobs the state lost during the downturn. A record low share of working-age Californians have jobs, while nearly a record high share of the state's unemployed – close to 1 million people – have been looking for work for over half a year.

Nationally, there are more than four job seekers for every available position. This imbalance is likely worse in California, since the state's unemployment rate of 12 percent is significantly above that of the nation.

A weak job market affects all Californians, not just the unemployed. With employers cutting back hours in response to the weak economy, the state's average worker has the shortest workweek since 1985. Meanwhile, the inflation-adjusted hourly wage of the typical worker in California has fallen to the lowest point in 10 years.

Slow job growth and lower earnings have a deep impact on individuals and families, bringing financial stress, a reduced quality of life, and diminished expectations for their futures and those of their children. Without a proactive approach by federal and state policymakers, we run the risk not just of sluggish economic growth, but of slipping into another recession.

The key to a strong recovery lies in boosting consumer demand – putting more dollars into the pockets of those who are likely to buy goods and services. One way of doing this is by sustaining public-sector jobs. Public-sector employment not only helps provide for safe communities, an educated workforce and a range of essential services, it also puts money into local communities, which benefits businesses and their employees and fosters economic growth.

This is why the recent major cuts in federal and state budgets are taking us in the wrong direction, hampering an already weak job market. Private-sector job growth has picked up in California, but these gains have been partly offset by the disappearance of public-sector jobs, especially in education. In fact, in the past three years, the state lost public-sector jobs at a rate more than double the national average.

Looking ahead, policymakers should minimize spending cuts that would threaten the underpinnings of economic growth. As Congress begins to tackle long-term issues related to the federal budget deficit, it should carefully consider how proposed policy changes would affect programs that support state and local budgets. Federal and state policymakers should take a balanced approach to current budget challenges – one that includes carefully targeted spending cuts, but also brings in substantial new revenues.

Congress should let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for families with $250,000 or more in annual income – the wealthiest 2 percent of households – a move that would generate almost $700 billion in revenue over the next decade. But that's not enough to secure our economic future.

Congress' new supercommittee on deficit reduction should match spending reductions on a dollar-for-dollar basis with additional revenues. Options for achieving this include closing ineffective tax loopholes, such as those that provide subsidies for firms that move jobs overseas and for the production of fossil fuels, and eliminating preferences for investment earnings – such as "carried interest" – that allow extraordinarily wealthy individuals to have large shares of their income taxed at low rates.

We should all work together to ensure support for the public structures and systems that are key to job growth and widely shared prosperity. California and the nation face a long road back to a full economic recovery, but taking the right steps now will boost opportunity for workers and their families, and point us toward future Labor Days with more to celebrate.

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Alissa Anderson is deputy director and Jean Ross is executive director of the California Budget Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research group.