A contest sponsored by the Service Employees International Union is calling on Americans to share their ideas on how to help the economy grow and create better-paying jobs. The winning idea is worth $100,000 and two runners-up will claim a second prize of $50,000 each.

SEIU President Andrew Stern says the country needs new ideas on strengthening the economy and compete in the fast-changing international marketplace - ordinary Americans are the best people to provide those ideas.

Stern says, "In Washington, D.C., we are still living in the last century in an industrial revolution. India and China are in overdrive and America is in neutral."

The contest entries should outline, in 175 words or less, a problem or issue, how it should be fixed, and how fixing it will benefit working men and women. A panel of two dozen judges including Democrats, Republicans, economists, chief executives and interest group leaders will determine the winners.