Two interesting new columns address Andrew's question--with different answers.
One thoughtful opinion piece on CNN.com is by Clarence Otis Jr. Otis is CEO of Darden Restaurants, parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse. He is a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Otis notes that "more than half of today's adults worked in food service at some point in their career, for example -- whether as a first job, a way to pay for higher education, a bridge to a new direction in their lives or as a path to a career in restaurant or food service management."
Moreover, he says, retail corporations are creating new jobs at a high rate. In fact, "In the year ahead, the company I lead expects to open roughly 80 new locations, each with about 100 jobs," he writes. "The entire industry projects adding 1.3 million jobs over the next decade, according to the National Restaurant Association."
Otis argues that too much regulation is bogging down his industry and slowing growth and new job creation.
But Harvard economics professor and author, Edward Glaeser, in his Bloomberg View colulmn, writes that more retail jobs won't fix the U.S. economy. Glaeser claims that "the great retail entrepreneurs of the past 30 years -- from Amazon to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- have produced efficiency rather than economywide employment." Further, he states that "tremendous improvements in retail efficiency have been associated with diminished job growth in the e-tail sector."
What's needed, in his view, is entrepreneurship, which "provides the best path to a healthier economy."
However, Glaeser and Otis seem to be in full agreement on the point of government regulation. To achieve a healthy economy, Glaeser writes, "the government’s role in supporting entrepreneurs is to help train smart people, then get out of their way."
What's your view of both job creation solutions and the role of government? Add your thoughts...