Is HIRING "the new black?"

Is HIRING "the new black"? You know the expression from the fashion world right? Let the debates begin about what the latest US Department of Labor statistics mean about trends in our economic recovery. CNN Money  does a nice job of breaking them down. On the one hand 162,000 jobs were created in March; and on the other, over 184,000 were forecast and X million Americans remain trapped in long-term unemployment. Short term fixes are everywhere and it is clear that we have still not created a systemic formula for sustainable 21st century growth and competitiveness--even though the stimulus and jobs bills are fundamental and important short term solutions.

Even if these monthly numbers keep getting better, a long term "sustainable economy" solution would have to include comprehensive approaches to energy (where we seem to be stuck), health (we are clearly moving on this one), financial markets and access to capital (is new regulation going to happen?) workforce development (so many issues here from education to immigration to green jobs to healthcare/IT and manufacturing too). In other words, we need transformational innovation. And the entrepreneurs of the 21st century will solve these problems with new ideas just like they did in the dawn and evolution of the industrial era. But only if today's and tomorrow's innovators are drawn to the big challenges of creating value that creates jobs and wealth/prosperity while also addressing the huge changes we require. So - is HIRING the new black? Maybe but to sustain job growth and tackle chronic unemployment we appear to need big ideas more than ever.

These big questions and data-driven discussions will be the agenda for PBLN's 3rd Annual CEO Summit in Washington on "Business Leadership and Public Policy: Inventing a More Sustainable Economy." You can get more information about the agenda and logistics on the PBLN website.

We are an emerging non-profit network of CEOs and other top executives from companies of varying sizes and sectors--united by a commitment to innovation around progressive business and policy ideas about the future--ideas that require deeper engagement by business leaders. Let us know what you think.

(Andrew Tarsy, Executive Director, Progressive Business Leaders Network)

Member Spotlight

Diane Hessan, President & CEO - Communispace
According to Advertising Age Communispace is one of the fastest growing marketing and technology companies in the country, with a Blue Chip client list that would make a Madison Avenue giant jealous. A pioneer in creating online communities to help marketers deeply engage customers, Diane helped found Communispace in 1999 and hasn't looked back.