White House invites Don Peebles to participate in Jobs Forum

December 3th, 2009

As Vice President Joe Biden looks on, President Barack Obama addresses attendees at the White House jobs summit. (Source: White House)

With roughly one in 10 Americans out of work, President Barack Obama brought together 130 business leaders, entrepreneurs, labor officials, economists, and mayors Thursday to offer "fresh perspectives and new ideas" to place millions of unemployed workers on the payrolls of businesses large and small. Held before the release [2] of Friday's Labor Department's November employment report [3] showing that 11,000 people were pink-slipped last month as the unemployment rate eased slightly to 10%, the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth [4] was the latest push by the administration to enlist experts outside the Beltway to tackle its greatest domestic challenge.

"I'm looking for specific recommendations that can be implemented that will spur job growth as quickly as possible," the president charged forum participants who filled an auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Building. "I'm confident that people like you, who've built thriving businesses or revolutionized industries or brought cities and communities together and changed the way we look at the world and created new products that you can come up with additional good ideas on how to create jobs."

The best and brightest were represented among attendees, including corporate powerhouses such as Xerox CEO Ursula Burns [5], Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Disney CEO Robert Iger; leading economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz; nonprofit organizations heads including AARP CEO A. Barry Rand [6] and Joint Center for Political Studies CEO Ralph Everett; Detroit Mayor David Bing [7]; and entrepreneurs such as R. Donahue Peebles, CEO of The Peebles Corp. (No. 79 on the BE Industrial/Service list [8] with sales of $51.4 million [8]). During the gathering, participants were split up into several discussion groups and shared job development and business-building concepts in such areas as infrastructure, small business, green jobs, international trade and business investment. At the completion of these breakout sessions moderated by White House officials and cabinet members, the president re-assembled forum members to review potential initiatives that sprung from the sessions. Some included using funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to spur job creation; initiating worker training programs through community colleges; and offering another round of business tax incentives.

A number of attendees believed the forum was a critical and useful first step. "I think there is going to be an emphasis on immediate job growth," says Peebles, the only BE 100s [9]CEO who attended the event. "I think we are going to see business and organized labor work together -- one of the topics of our discussion. One of things we focused on was neighborhood economic development and [creating incentives for] small businesses to locate in those areas." Another participant, Rob Carmona, president of STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Service [10], a participant in the worker preparedness session, says he now envisions "community colleges, nonprofits and employers coming together to train our workers -- especially in communities of color" for IT and green positions. To get individuals working in the near term, however, his group proposed public works jobs similar to those developed during the Great Depression.

Focusing on Afghanistan and healthcare in recent months, the administration has received criticism for not placing a greater emphasis on job creation as the unemployment rate rose to 10.2%. At the forum, Obama has always put employment on the front burner and announced he will deliver a major speech on the economy this Tuesday. During the speech, he is expected to offer new initiatives like providing weatherization incentives for homeowners and small businesses, an idea modeled after the "cash for clunkers" auto rebate program that he shared during the forum's energy-related session.

White House officials also maintain the forum's development was not in response to critics who maintain the $787 billion stimulus package has yet to gain traction. In an interview with Black Enterprise, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett [11] asserted that "the stimulus package is doing exactly what it was intended to do." She added, "In January, when the president was inaugurated, we were losing 700,000 jobs a month. That number has dropped precipitously since then, but until every single American that wants a job is working, we won't be satisfied. The President has said, 'Now that we have taken the critical steps to stop the downward spiral and we're seeing a trajectory in the right direction, what more can we do to jumpstart job creation.' " The sessions, she says, were a means to find that answer.

The forum, however, garnered a bevy of critics. Chief among them was the Republican National Committee, which characterized the event as an example of "political slight-of-hand." In a statement, Chairman Michael Steele said, "The White House jobs summit is another example of President Obama's PR presidency where he stages photo-ops and events to distract citizens and the media from his administration's failures. If this jobs summit is anything like the previous fiscal responsibility summit then Americans should expect nothing but vague political overtures and empty promises."

Some Congressional Black Caucus members have voiced concern about the exclusion of Capitol Hill representatives from the proceedings. "No Congressperson or senator that I know of is a part of this. I think that's a mistake because in the final analysis legislation is what's going to be required," says Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Florida).

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) says that the House and Senate are already proposing jobs creation bills in which "the CBC will play a very significant role." Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) says, "I'm hoping we'll use TARP funds to do it and I hope it will happen soon. I think there's somewhere around $75 billion from TARP that will be used for this. I'm hopeful that $20-$25 billion of it can be for direct public service jobs with senior and youth components in it."

Jarrett says the Obama administration is fully supportive of such legislation and will work with Congress on its passage. In the meantime, the administration will still solicit ideas from a variety of sources.

In the closing session, the president told the group that the conversations will continue. "I want to assure you that this is just the start of this interaction that we're having with you. We'll probably set up some working groups coming out of this. And the input that we're soliciting from you is going to be continuous."

Joyce Jones contributed to this article.