Attracting, Educating, and Empowering Workers for Successful Careers
The toughest, most important competition in the 21st century worldwide economy will be the global race for talent and workers.
For the United States, the answer lies in improved educational and training opportunities and a rational immigration policy that both secures our borders and welcomes legal immigrants to our shores.
Education and Training
To maintain a competitive business environment in America, we need to have an accountable educational environment. We simply cannot have one without the other.
For the American Dream to thrive, it will require economic prosperity and opportunity for every American--and that requires a quality education that prepares our youth for the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Some 30% of our students fail to graduate from high school in four years-more than 50% for African-American and Hispanic students. Those who do graduate often require remedial education. Many are unprepared for postsecondary education and the modern workforce.
That must change.
We owe it to our children and grandchildren to fully prepare them to compete on the global playing field. To that end, the Chamber has reorganized and expanded its institutional assets that focus on educating and training a superior workforce. We are pursuing federal legislation, engaging in public-private partnerships, and working with partners and allies to achieve reforms in the states.
In 2007, we issued a national report card, Leaders and Laggards, which graded all 50 states on their public school performance. This report card has already spurred reforms in a number of states.
This year, we will work to strengthen and reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act--a critical set of tools to help transform the schools so that all students are academically prepared for the 21st century workforce.
We need an education system that encourages local businesses to offer their expertise to both students and teachers. We're all in this together-and we will succeed or fail based on how well we cooperate with one another to give our children the knowledge and the life skills they need.
We need to change the way we train, pay, and evaluate teachers. Pay for performance should be the rule.
Administrators and principals must have the authority and independence to run effective schools--and they must be held accountable for results. Parents must have the information to judge whether their children are in a superior or failing school and be able to transfer their children to high-performing in-district or charter schools.
We must reject a bureaucratic culture and foster a spirit of innovation in our public schools. Smaller schools, expanded learning time, early enrollment in college-level courses for credit, the expansion of charter schools, and online learning programs can improve our students' prospects for success.
Education does not end upon graduation. In the 21st century economy, workers at all ages will need to be trained and retrained to be productive and successful in the workplace.
Immigration
The nation must also enact a balanced, commonsense, and comprehensive immigration plan that secures our borders and provides the workers we need to compete and win in the global marketplace.
In the absence of such a plan, states and localities are filling the void with hundreds of their own rules and regulations--often contradictory, illegal, and impossible for businesses to follow. The Chamber will continue to oppose these measures.
As a matter of principle, we need a policy that brings needed workers to American businesses and brings the American Dream to workers who accept our rules and want to legally become a part of our culture and our country. Undocumented immigrants who are hardworking and law-abiding need a pathway to normalization that includes learning English and following the rules that are established in a comprehensive immigration plan.
Congress and the president should act immediately to address the pressing visa shortage issues that are already resulting in economic damage. The government, working with business, must create an employer verification system that works and is fair and cost effective.
To be the best, American business has to attract the best talent anywhere and everywhere it exists.
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