Workforce development and small business development go hand in hand.

We will build the economy of the near future, full of machine learning and innovation, by overcoming the last century’s flawed, macro definitions of how the economy works. Those definitions were created by real economists who were nonetheless armchair participants in how the economy functions.

America for too long has separated the interests of workers and small business owners, lumping all employers in the same economic charts when considering labor vs capital. This unnatural divide damages the ability for local government to create effective and impactful policy and programs.

Within the context of hyper, local small businesses, the experience of workers and owners is emotionally and economically distinct from the relationship that workers have with large businesses.

— In a small business, workers can formally or informally apprentice and learn the business. Small business is often a family affair, through direct or modeled relationships that map to communities.

— In a small business, owners often have to play every role that a worker may play, either as they are building or to shore up a staff shortage.

— In a small business, the workers have reason to want the small businesses that employ them to succeed, and thus to support policies that lead to the stability and growth of the business.

— In a small business, everyone can benefit when both workers and staff receive additional technical training, which includes management training.

— If a small business winds down, owners can benefit from the workforce system preparing them to return to work. The reduction of risk for starting small business by offering options after a small business closes leads to higher overall wages in the local economy. Greater small business creation leads to greater economic churn that increases wages across the board, by having workers change jobs more frequently and creating more diverse experiences and demand for workers.

— Small business owners and workers benefit from programs that support the overall growth of their small business and of all small businesses. An increase in small business ownership means an increase of taxes and profits that stay local, supporting the growth of the local economy and amenities.

— Small businesses are highly responsive to the needs of local communities, because their markets are often personal and locally focused.

What does this all mean?

— Localities should fully align workforce and small business development and programs.

— Localities should recognize that the workforce system can and should produce more new small business owners.

— Localities should recognize that a small business closing is not a failure, but simply part of a beneficial economic process that nonetheless creates opportunities, valuable experience, and wealth.

— Localities should make workforce training dollars available to current and future small business owners.

Workers must learn how to be small business owners, and many small business owners may still need to develop or strengthen an ownership mentality. Workers and small business owners are the same people, from the same communities, our local community. We should stop dividing their interests by applying divisive definitions onto people. We should double down on seeing how investments or underinvestment in one part of a local economy can and necessarily will have impact throughout an entire local economy.