The Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making capitalism work for everyone, today launched the Framework for Inclusive Capitalism: A New Compact Among Business, Government, and American Workers. The framework demonstrates the potential for business to work with labor to craft bold but pragmatic policies that equitably extend the benefits of our economic prosperity to all workers. It rests on three core objectives: create more worker opportunity, expand the workforce, and enable fair gainsharing for workers. To achieve these objectives, the framework outlines 21 policy and business practice recommendations to ensure equitable and more inclusive outcomes for the American worker.
For decades, business practices and economic policies adopted by both parties have favored capital over labor, but the crises of the past year have created new urgency to reverse these trends and improve the financial security of America’s nearly 160 million workers and their families.
“The vast inequalities in our economic system hurt not only American workers and their families, but also undermine the strength of the economy and the potential for our recovery,” said Lynn Forester de Rothschild, founder of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism and managing partner of Inclusive Capital Partners. “As long as the market continues to be decoupled from the needs of society, our nation will fail to reach its full potential.”
Recommendations outlined in the Framework range from stimulating growth of new jobs to creating greater portability of worker benefits and training programs while rapidly increasing worker pay and worker voice in corporations. The Framework also identifies proposals to ensure the health and safety of the workforce and incentivizing companies to invest in workers and eradicating discriminatory policies and practices holding workers back. Download the full report here.
“As we rebuild the American economy, we must reevaluate how our system prepares those who power it. Having workers gain the skills to benefit from their labor and broadly share in America’s prosperity is critical to our nation’s sustained recovery and economic growth,” said R. Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush and the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics and Dean Emeritus of Columbia Business School.
“As President Biden focuses on the urgent challenges of containing the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the faltering and uneven recovery, and giving emergency relief to households, the Framework for Inclusive Capitalism provides recommendations for how to ‘build back better’ to achieve sustainable growth and broadly shared prosperity,” said Laura D. Tyson, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and director of the National Economic Council under President Bill Clinton and currently Distinguished Professor of the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley.
Developed by a bi-partisan, cross-sector commission, the Framework for Inclusive Capitalism demonstrates that a broad consensus is emerging around critical worker issues.
Commissioners include:
Zoë Baird, Markle Foundation CEO and President
The Hon. Steve Bartlett, former U.S. Congressman and Mayor of Dallas
David J. Berger, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Xavier de Souza Briggs, PhD, Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program Senior Fellow
Walter Bumphus, PhD American Association of Community Colleges President
Ursula Burns, former Xerox Chair and CEO and former Chair and CEO of VEON Ltd
Antonio Flores, PhD, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities President
Roger W. Ferguson, PhD, TIAA CEO and former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Inclusive Capital Partners Managing Partner and Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism Founder
Glenn Hubbard, PhD, Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics and Dean emeritus of Columbia Business School and former Council of Economic Advisers Chair
Janet Murguía, UnidosUS President and CEO
Andrew McAfee, PhD, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Initiative on the Digital Economy Principal Research Scientist, MIT Sloan School of Management
Ted Mitchell, PhD, American Council on Education President and former Under Secretary of Education
Eduardo Padrón, PhD, Miami Dade College President Emeritus
David M. Rolf, SEIU 775 Founder and President Emeritus
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, Rockefeller Foundation President and former USAID Administrator
The Hon. Leo E. Strine, Jr., former Chancellor and Chief Justice of Delaware
Laura D. Tyson, PhD, Distinguished Professor of the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley and former Council of Economic Advisors Chair
Darren Walker, Ford Foundation President
Ashbel C. Williams, Jr., Chair of the Council of Institutional Investors
Thomas L. Williams, North American Properties President and CEO
*Affiliations are for identification purposes only
“The time has come, as President Biden has promised, to ‘reward work and not wealth,’ and the proposals of this commission prove that, while the challenges are all around us, consensus solutions are within reach,” said David J. Berger, partner of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
On February 3 at 11 AM EST, the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Ford Foundation will host a virtual event to launch the framework featuring Senators Mark Warner and Rob Portman as well as CEOs, labor representatives, and civic leaders. Watch the event here.
