As the stream of grim economic and job market news continues, let me throw out an idea I’ve been mulling for a while.

Maybe we need a new metaphor for the way we help workers struggling without a job. Instead of calling it a “safety net,” perhaps we should call it a “safety harness.” By harness, I’m thinking specifically of the gear used by rock and mountain climbers—the belt and straps attached to a safety rope that keep you from falling too far in case you lose your footing.

I think the economic safety harness is a better metaphor because it highlights the responsibility of the individual to get to where they’re going financially. Yes, they may fall—because of their own misstep or economic winds beyond their control—and need the steady hand of society to keep them from tumbling to disaster. But the individual will have to return to the mountain face to continue their ascent.

The economic safety net connotes a kind of passivity. It highlights social cushioning and assistance rather than individual initiative. Indeed, the circus imagery conjured up by a safety net suggests the economy amounts to a tightrope or trapeze act fraught with immense risk.

It’s true that economic risk is increasing for workers around the globe. But the safety net metaphor may exaggerate the peril and the role of luck while downplaying people’s power to control their economic destiny. As a result, I suspect, the phrase itself figures into the reluctance of conservatives especially to provide more generous unemployment benefits.

In my view, an economic safety harness would include expanded unemployment benefits as well as sound training programs, health insurance and decent retirement benefits—a combination which would give people the confidence and tools to take risks and keep climbing toward prosperity.

As it stands, leading economists consider our safety system for displaced workers to be skimpy. Fortifying it is an urgent task. Not only is the job market deteriorating for workers, but increases in unemployment benefits appear to be particularly effective at jump-starting the economy.

The U.S. economic stimulus package—centered on tax rebates—did not extend jobless benefits. There’s been talk about taking that step in a second stimulus plan. But the Bush administration has signaled its opposition to an additional package.

In other words, the administration isn’t eager to improve the “safety net” that catches workers. Would things be different if the president were asked to strengthen the “safety harness” that helps workers stick to their economic journey?