U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark on Thursday delivered a speech on the “State of American Business” which highlighted the local impact of businesses and the importance of small businesses.
Small businesses are responsible for employing nearly half of the American workforce and driving about 43.5% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), according to a Chamber report published last year. Clark’s speech emphasized the importance of small businesses — including those like franchises that some might not consider small businesses — to local economies.
“The State of American Business is local because businesses serve people where they are. And if you think about it, that makes all business local,” Clark explained. “That’s true, of course, of the small businesses that line Main Streets and the locally headquartered businesses that employ hundreds, or even thousands, of people in a community and drive its economic ecosystem.”
“It’s also true of the national chain restaurant where you had your first job. The tech company that produces the equipment and the internet service provider that together enable you to work from your kitchen table or your home office. The energy producers that power your vehicles so you can drive across town. The institutions that provide financing so you can start a business in your basement,” Clark said.
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“Wherever a company, a service, a product, or a solution originates, its impact is always local. Because local is where we live our lives,” she added.
The Chamber’s president and CEO also discussed the importance of global trade to small, local businesses, as well as the U.S. economy at large.
“To boost economic growth, America must participate in the global economy,” Clark said. “There are opportunities to boost trade, which already supports 40 million U.S. jobs and makes the goods and services we all need more affordable to expand exports and help small businesses reach global markets and to welcome imports that increase consumer choice and keep prices low.”
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Clark delivered her speech in Dallas, and noted that the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex shares some commonalities with other economically vibrant regions in the country.
Among those characteristics are a diverse industrial base, low unemployment and a deep pool of talent, as well as “a healthy mix of small businesses — serving and enriching their communities, and big businesses — bringing jobs, economic activity, and tax revenue,” she said, plus infrastructure, access to global markets and an innovation ecosystem.
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Clark went on to note that while many communities aren’t experiencing that level of growth, the U.S. should strive to ensure that communities aren’t left behind economically and that doing so depends on ensuring there are conditions favorable for commerce.
“We all know there are too many places, too many communities, that don’t feel the energy, that don’t see the growth,” she said. “We must be a nation where local communities aren’t left behind. Where there are no food deserts, where crime doesn’t crowd out commerce, where private investment is welcome, where young people want to stay and return and build businesses and careers, where people can get ahead and provide for their families.”
“Not every community can, should, or wants to be the next booming metropolis, but they all want the economic opportunity that provides the quality of life and promise of opportunity that all Americans desire,” Clark added.
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