Facing the Challenge

How policymakers can address the multiple crises threatening our economic recovery

BY NEIL L. BRADLEY

AS WE MOVE PAST the pandemic economy of the two years, America is poised for a great recovery—provided we successfully navigate three key challenges: the worker shortage crisis, inflation, and the growing movement to radically remake the rules of the road for our free market system.

At the U.S. Chamber, we are calling on policymakers to adopt prudent policies that will help our nation address the worker shortage and tame inflation while avoiding policies that will worsen the situation and add more uncertainty to the economy.

The worker shortage crisis

The worker shortage is worsening. There are now 10.4 million open jobs, which is over two million more vacancies than there are people looking for work—and there are three million fewer people total in the workforce today than before the pandemic. Our economy can’t grow when our workforce is shrinking.

There is no single solution to helping fill these open jobs, but several things will make a difference. For working parents, expanding access to affordable child care is key, and the government can help with regulatory changes and targeted financial assistance. For the long-term unemployed, rapid, employer-driven skills training programs can help. The government should focus its resources on the programs that are most likely to get people back to work the fastest and introduce transparency initiatives so that employers and individuals can readily identify which training programs work. It is also long past time to increase legal immigration. The U.S. Chamber is calling on Congress to double the number of work-based visas and green cards the government issues each year.

Inflation

It’s no surprise to families or businesses that inflation is the highest it has been in 31 years. Rapidly rising prices distort and constrain the economy. Some of the inflationary pressures result from the pandemic, but others are government-induced, the result of excessive federal spending and transfer payments, which have left state and local governments with historic surpluses and consumers with over $2.5 trillion in excess savings.

Congress could still make the situation worse. The multi-trillion tax and spending bill being considered by Congress would increase spending and transfer payments, increasing inflationary pressures throughout 2022 and into 2023.

Preserving the free market

Perhaps the least well-known but the most significant long-term threat to our economic recovery and future growth is an attempt by some regulatory agencies in Washington to fundamentally change the rules of the road around competition and antitrust. For nearly 50 years, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the U.S. has adopted a regulatory approach focused on consumer welfare and competition. Historically, the U.S. has eschewed government regulation to set prices or tell businesses what they can sell. Antitrust rules are enforced based on hard data and the goal of protecting consumers from monopolies that raise costs or limit choice. This approach has resulted in unprecedented consumer choice and convenience. Now, some in government, particularly at the Federal Trade Commission, want to change course, adopting a “big is defacto bad” approach that favors tight government regulation. Essentially, they propose a return to the pre-Jimmy Carter era of government price controls and regulation.

It isn’t just big companies who will suffer; the result will be higher prices for families and fewer choices for consumers. For small businesses, it will mean less opportunity to partner or even merge with larger businesses to achieve the scale that allows U.S. companies to be global leaders.

The U.S. Chamber is fighting back, including in the courts, but now we need lawmakers to step forward and protect the rules of the road that have served our nation so well.

The American business community has faced challenges before, and we always rise to meet them. This time will be no different, but it would certainly help if policymakers spend more time putting the wind at our back rather than in our face.

Neil L. Bradley is executive vice president, chief policy officer, and head of strategic advocacy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.