After becoming the nation’s 26th labor secretary last summer, among my first two calls were to the president of the AFL-CIO — the largest labor organization in the United States — and the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Those two organizations aren’t always natural allies. But to create good jobs, you have to talk to both workers and job creators.
Recently, Atlanta was the last stop of a five-city tour in advance of Labor Day to have a conversation with business, labor and civic leaders at a forum convened by Invest Atlanta. I hope to build more of these relationships with worker advocates and employers, to talk about what I’ve seen and heard during a year on the job. I also visited Bento Box, a full-scale animation studio where I met one worker who has risen in two years to become a supervisor thanks to on-the-job training partly funded by the Labor Department.
My message in Atlanta and at other stops was simple: We’re all in this together. To continue our economic recovery, we have to put down our pre-determined talking points, identify common ground and get to work.
Here’s a great example: If you’re following the old script, you’ll conclude that business almost universally opposes the minimum wage. But according to recent polling, 61 percent of small businesses want to increase it to $10.10 per hour, a raise that would benefit roughly 964,000 Georgia residents. Shrewd employers are paying above the minimum wage because they know it’s the right thing to do for their workers and the smart thing to do for their bottom line. They see their human capital as a precious asset, one they must invest in to stay competitive.
Ours is an economy driven by consumer demand. When we give working people a raise, they pump it right back into the economy, spending it on goods and services in their communities. That helps more businesses grow, which creates more jobs. As a matter of fact, new research shows states that raised their minimum wages this year experienced greater job growth during the first half of 2014 than states that didn’t.
The connection between consumer spending and economic growth isn’t lost on savvy job creators. “I’m already wealthy,” one CEO candidly told me, “and I’ve practically run out of things to buy. More cash for me won’t give the economy a shot in the arm. We need to make sure the people who will spend more money have more money.”
Forward-looking employers like him reject the false choice that says you can accommodate either your shareholders or your employees. The fact is, you can serve both. Research shows that immediately after Fortune 500 companies announced new work-life balance initiatives, their stock prices increased. Clearly, the markets consider policies like paid family leave to be profitable investments.
We’ve got to stop thinking of the economy as a zero-sum game, where businesses can only thrive at the expense of workers. We have to move beyond simplistic binary thinking and seize win-win solutions there for the taking.
There’s been a lot of good economic news of late. We’ve created at least 200,000 jobs in the last six consecutive months, the first time that’s happened since 1997. Job openings are at their highest level in 13 years. We’re making things in America again; manufacturing has rebounded strongly. So has employment in professional and business services, such as accountants and architects.
But there are still plenty of challenges before us, still plenty of people working harder and falling further behind and on the outside looking in at the American Dream. To build a robust middle class and an economy that works for everyone, we must strengthen partnerships with a business community that increasingly plays against stereotypes and pursues the high road.
Thomas E. Perez is secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.
