In order to build wealth and create opportunities in and across America’s underserved communities, and reverse the troubling trends we’re seeing in our economy, we no longer find it defensible to focus on job creation alone. It’s clear that job creation does not itself equate to lasting economic change. And so, we must shift our focus to the creation of higher quality jobs — jobs that are good for workers and their families, good for businesses, and good for communities — enabling us to build an economy that works for everyone.
Each month, we bring you the latest roundup of news from the fight for quality jobs for working people.
[custom_headline type=”left” level=”h3″ looks_like=”h4″]Building A Local Business Ecosystem From The Ground Up[/custom_headline]
This month we start off with a great piece from our friends at City Lab. They profile Vewiser Dixon of Kansas City who lives in a once-prosperous African-African neighborhood made famous by Charlie Parker and Count Basie. Dixon wants to open a coffee shop—a little café, with some entrepreneurial space upstairs and a market-rate apartment complex nearby. But that could serve as the cornerstone of a newly vibrant neighborhood—a “black Silicon Valley” full of startups and business incubators.
Opening a coffee shop seems simple; it’s the kind of thing that happens on street corners and in neighborhoods in cities everyday. But here, in a neighborhood that has suffered through generations of disinvestment and entrenched poverty, nothing is so simple. Dixon has the space and the vision—he now owns many of the properties surrounding the jazz district’s main drag along 18th Street. But the capital and resources needed to bring that vision to life have not materialized. Read more.
Building these kinds of local economies in underserved areas is also the theme of a piece this month from ImpactAlpha. They profile a local organization in Boston called Entrepreneurship for All, which runs programs in English and Spanish in four small cities in Massachusetts. Nearly three-quarters of the businesses it has supported are women-run, 52% are immigrant-run, and 57% minority-run. The organization provides a model for driving capital to disinvested smaller cities across the country.
And it’s not just states and municipalities who need to change the way development is done. Reconciling rising diversity amidst persistent racial economic exclusion is the core business challenge facing U.S. companies as we head into the next decade. The Competitive Advantage of Racial Equity, a new report from consulting firm FSG and research institute PolicyLink, calls the unlocking of that untapped economic potential “one of the biggest opportunities of our time for driving innovation and growth.”
[custom_headline type=”left” level=”h3″ looks_like=”h4″]Building A Local Business Ecosystem From The Ground Up[/custom_headline]
Our partners at The American Sustainable Business Council have a new report out this month entitled The High-Road Workplace: Route to a Sustainable Economy, intended to help policymakers and business leaders accelerate the adoption of “high road” business practices.
The way Americans work today would be unrecognizable to our counterparts of 30 or 40 years ago. As globalization, technological advances and the “gig economy” upend traditional employee-employer relations, American businesses can make choices that avoid pitting owners and workers against each other. Many companies are choosing to offer valued benefits like health insurance, paid family leave and sick days, child care assistance, retirement savings or defined-benefit pension plans, and a representative voice and an ownership stake for employees. These high-road practices are a win-win for businesses as well as workers.
Why do we need policies like these in place? A story from The Intercept this month gives us a good example in Chipotle. Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded Chipotle’s stock outlook in October and warned investors that the stock will “underperform,” complaining that the restaurant chain is paying its workers too much. The downgrade is a symptom of Wall Street’s obsession with keeping working Americans from earning living wages. Chipotle responded in the positive, though: “We continue to pay wages and offer benefits that are competitive and that reflect the priorities of our employees,” Arnold said. “And with a commitment to developing and promoting people from within, we are providing significant opportunities for advancement.”
The demand from wealthy investors that companies pay their workers as little as humanly possible is ridiculous to begin with. A Goldman Sachs analysis noted: “As our colleagues in equity strategy recently pointed out, rising wages are a threat to corporate profit margins.” As the Aspen Institute details, this is not only bunk but flies in the face of basic economics. A strong, productive workforce is not built without intentional human capital investment. Business leaders often refer to their people as their key resource but this is not—or should not be–just a talking point.