Sustaining Capitalism

In a rapidly changing 21st-century economy, continuing to field a world-leading, skilled workforce is both more essential and more challenging than ever to the mission of delivering increasing prosperity for American families and preserving our nation’s global economic leadership. The US must confront its demographic challenges, as an aging population and slowing labor force growth pose long-run risks to the economic strength and fiscal health of the country.

To help confront these challenges and offer policy makers and business leaders balanced, reasoned solutions in the public interest, in October 2019, the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board (CED) released Growing the American Workforce: Bolstering Participation Is Critical for US Competitiveness and Economic Strength with recommendations focused on making it easier and more attractive for more Americans to find work and remain working. CED’s workforce subcommittee co-chair, Paul Decker, President and CEO of Mathematica, will join us to discuss this policy brief, its insights for what’s ahead, and how its recommendations could spur economic growth.

PNC’s Grow Up Great initiative exemplifies how business can step in and make an educational difference in children’s early years. This year PNC celebrates the 15th anniversary of their Grow Up Great program, a bilingual initiative to help children from birth through age 5 prepare for success in school and in life. In 2004, PNC employees chose early education as the company’s philanthropic focus when investing in early childhood education did not have as much widespread support as it does today. To date, more than 5 million children across the country have been supported through PNC’s local grants and educational programming. In this episode, Tom Lamb, Senior Vice President of the PNC Financial Services Group and a CED Trustee, and Jim Hansen, Regional President of Eastern Carolinas for PNC Bank discuss how the program started, its impact on employees and plans for the future.

With workforce and population growth both slowing, the US will need to make full use of its available talent if it is going to remain globally competitive and continue to deliver growing prosperity for American families. To help address this challenge, the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board has released a new policy brief, Growing the American Workforce: Bolstering Participation Is Critical for US Competitiveness and Economic Strength, aimed at increasing labor force participation and attachment in the near-term to help more Americans achieve their employment goals and contribute to the strength of the US workforce.

High labor force participation is a crucial part of achieving broadly shared economic growth. Jay Shambaugh, former Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors and one of the authors of the recent Hamilton Project strategy paper Labor Force Nonparticipation: Trends, Causes, and Policy Solutions, joins to discuss the evolution of, and impediments to, labor force participation since the turn of the century and potential remedies to help grow the American workforce.

Research shows that ­­­early learning (from birth to 5) not only supports children’s success in school, but it also impacts a child’s future earnings, workplace productivity, and has long-term health benefits as well as multi-generational benefits. In this episode, Elanna Yalow, Chief Academic Officer of KinderCare Education, spoke with Bernard Bailey, CED President, about the critical components of high-quality early learning experiences and how parents can be confident that they are selecting the most appropriate setting for their child and family. Among the most important areas that support quality is ensuring that early childhood educators have the dispositions, skills and ongoing development needed to provide an enriched learning environment for young children.

In this episode, Mike Petters, President and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), discussed with CED President Bernard Bailey why early childhood education is vital to national security. “Nothing is more important than to ensure that our children will thrive in a rapidly changing world. I don’t just believe early childhood education in America is a national security issue. I believe it is the national security issue,” Petters wrote in an op-ed in February 2019.

Seeing a direct link between early childhood education and national security, Petters, who heads America’s largest shipbuilding company employing more than 40,000 people, started a scholarship fund by declining his annual salary (minus $1) that awards up to $3,000 to each qualified employee for preschool expenses. The HII scholarship is also available to employees who are pursuing postsecondary education. Since its inception four years ago, the company has awarded or renewed 578 scholarships valued at more than $1.5 million. Administered by Scholarship America, applications are selected based on academic and financial needs.

Despite past and projected rapid growth in computing-related job openings, women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of computing and technology. In the face of increasing global competition, as the US seeks to bolster the strength, skills, and size of its labor force, helping more women to pursue and advance in careers in tech could be a critical component of a modern workforce strategy. Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), and Paula Stern, CED Legacy Trustee and Founder and President of The Stern Group, discuss NCWIT’s efforts to “revolutionize the face of technology” by increasing girls' and women's participation throughout the tech ecosystem, from K-12 and higher education to the industry itself, with lessons for increasing the participation and utilization of women and underrepresented minorities throughout the US economy.

Hollis Hart is President (Retired), International Franchise Management of Citi and co-author of the book Smart Regulation: Changing Speed Bumps into Guardrails. The book explains how sound bipartisan policy can yield both faster economic growth and greater security for consumers. In this episode, CED host Joseph Minarik, also a co-author of the book, talked with Hart about the role of regulation in the financial industry, and how smart regulation can produce economic benefits from Main Street to Wall Street. Although there is a wide acceptance for the need of regulation for the financial industry, opinions vary on the nature and extent of such regulation. Hart discussed what is working and what is not, and recommended a more effective and productive regulatory approach going forward.

Michael Archbold is Chief Executive Officer (Retired) of GNC Holdings, Inc. and co-author of the book Smart Regulation: Changing Speed Bumps into Guardrails. The book explains how sound bipartisan policy can yield both faster economic growth and greater security for consumers. In this episode, CED host Joseph Minarik, also a co-author of the book, talked with Archbold about what smart regulation is and how to achieve it through bipartisan policies. Archbold discussed the history and development of regulation and outlined the broad principles that are critical to achieving smart regulation.

What is the “Whole Child” educational approach and what role can business leaders play as a stakeholder in education? This is the focus of discussion in the first episode of CED’s special series about early childhood education. Kai-leé Berke from Teaching Strategies explains that a whole child approach transitions away from a focus on narrowly defined academic achievement to one that incorporates a broader view of the skills and knowledge that all children must develop to achieve long-term success. These competencies include problem solving and resilience – some of the key “employability skills” that enable individuals to adapt and pursue work successfully.  Berke also shares some success stories of the Whole Child approach and offers suggestions on how the business community can get involved to support the educational approach.

Ongoing changes in the technological landscape will likely create significant opportunities and new risks for the US economy and be a core feature of international economic competition in the years ahead. How should policymakers seek to frame and understand this challenge? Matthew Shapiro, founder of MacroTessera and a Senior Advisor at Oxford Analytica, joins Devin O’Connor to share insights on this critical issue.