Later this week, President Obama will be hosting a jobs summit that promises to bring together all the top CEOs from industry. Confirmed attendees include Google CEO Eric Schmidt, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, Walt Disney’s CEO Bob Iger and Boeing CEO James McNerney. Each of these four attendees is leading a company that announced layoffs during the past year. In fact the four companies combined have laid off thousands of jobs in the course of the latest recession.
One could wonder if these are the best participants to send to a jobs summit. Have they showed the leadership that is going to be necessary to bring solutions to the table that will create jobs and help bring the unemployment rate down from historical lows? In order to be effective and have a real impact on the numbers, we need to make sure that small businesses and entrepreneurs are included on the guest list. These are the individuals that are going to add jobs and move the country out of the current employment downturn.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, unemployment will remain above 10 percent in 2010 and 9 percent in 2011. A number of ideas to create jobs and increase wages are already on the table such as an employer tax credit for creating new jobs, use of TARP funds to provide credit for small business, additional stimulus funds for local and state governments, and expanded investments in infrastructure and other construction.
Recent Congressional action has been on avoiding a financial meltdown and has primarily benefited Wall Street. For any solution to be effective, the job summit must address Main Street ensure that workers are not left out of the economic recovery. Labor, business, community, and government leaders must work together translate stimulus funds into lasting well paying jobs or we will have just another government bailout will no lasting benefits.
