The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an initiative that seeks to achieve at least 3 percent annual real economic growth over the next decade.
Through its Growth and Opportunity Imperative, the Chamber is calling on candidates and elected officials to support policies that would help achieve this goal. The 3 percent annual growth rate would be a 50 percent increase over current projections. The Chamber said this target should serve as a litmus test for evaluating policy solutions to our nation’s most pressing challenges.
“Many Americans do not feel like the current economy is working for them. To create the future we want, and the next generation deserves, we need to get back to growth,” U.S. Chamber President and CEO Suzanne Clark said. “We need our elected officials to look beyond the next election and set targeted priorities for our collective future. Economic growth is not a red issue or a blue issue. It’s a red, white, and blue imperative.”
The initiative is in line with historical averages as from 1950 to 2010, the United States averaged a robust 3.4 percent annual real economic growth rate. Since 2010, this has slowed to just 2.2 percent, with projections suggesting it could further drop to 1.8 percent in the coming decade.
“While economic growth may feel like a static number on a chart, it is far more than that,” Clark said. “It is a snapshot into the lives of everyday people, the value of their efforts, their ability to provide for themselves and their families, the belief that their children’s lives will be better than their own.”
U.S. Chamber calculations illustrate the difference between 2 percent and 3 percent growth. At 3 percent growth, a child born today could see their living standard double by their early 20s. At a 2 percent growth rate, it would double by their mid-30s.
“America can’t afford for economic growth to be an afterthought in this year’s election,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said. “Instead, it should be the national priority, and today the Chamber is calling on all candidates to make it the cornerstone of their agenda.”
As part of this initiative, the Chamber has identified several critical policy areas, including AI, trade, housing, immigration, and workforce, to achieve this goal. Generally, the Chamber is advocating for policies that:
• Support and develop a larger, more skilled workforce.
• Encourage investment in cutting-edge technology and private-sector deployment of innovation to improve productivity.
• Embrace the economy of the future while giving the private sector the certainty to plan, invest, and grow.
Leading up to the November election, the Chamber will outline a series of growth policies and engage policymakers from both parties to advance this agenda.