About 20 million of them, in fact.
And they need to come from the private sector.
That's the overarching theme of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Regional Government Affairs Conference, held this week in San Francisco. The U.S. needs about 20 million new jobs over the next decade, including 7 million just to recover what's been lost in the current recession. It's the heart of the U.S. Chamber's new American Free Enterprise. Dream Big campaign, along with its 20 Million Jobs Challenge. (In Washington state, that means about 415,000 jobs are needed to make up for jobs recently lost. Click here to see the interactive map.)
In the last 50 years, the size of government has remained fairly consistent, according to U.S. Chamber Managing VP Brian Gunderson. However, current budget proposals would add $9 trillion in new debt in the coming decade and vastly expand the role of the federal government."Free enterprise is the system that creates new jobs and new opportunities," said
"The issue is jobs, jobs, jobs," said U.S. Chamber Board President Bob Milligan. "We have been through one of the most severe economic recessions ever -- a global economic tsunami," he said. And, with four or five "major game-changer" policy issues like health care, energy, international trade and deficit spending on the table -- issues with "unsustainable trajectories" Milligan said -- "we're going to be behind the eight ball and our future will not be as bright as it has been."
The meeting's conference agenda focuses on those very issues at the heart of the economic recovery effort. On Wednesday, the focus was on organized labor and its efforts to get rid of secret ballot voting through the Employers' Free Choice Act (EFCA) in Congress. (According to U.S. Chamber Chief Legal Officer Steven Levy, labor groups spent more than $450 million on elections in 2008 -- an amount larger than any other special interest group by a factor of 10.)
Additional conference presentation topics for Thursday and Friday include energy, transportation and health care.
SIDEBAR: San Francisco is one of the country's most romanticized cities. Hearts are left there (thanks to Tony Bennett) and so is about $244 per person, per visit each year. In his introductory remarks Wednesday, Steve Falk, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, offered these and other noteworthy statistics on the host city and state. According to Falk:
- You cannot buy tobacco products in a pharmacy or drugstore in California.
- There are no cigars allowed on golf courses, either (and there are 67 of them in the San Francisco area).
- The average income in San Francisco is $65,000, but only 35 percent of its residents own homes there; 65 percent rent.
- SF boasts 4,500+ restaurants, 400 wineries, 144 libraries and 57 colleges and universities.
- 16 million people visit San Francisco each year, spending about $8 billion, which works out to roughly $244 per person, per visit.
