Bill Clinton urges businesses to do more for Americanworkers

Former President Bill Clinton said at his conference in Denver on Tuesday that businesses and otherorganizations could do more to hire and invest in struggling American workers.

Despite lower unemployment and an economy that's strong overall, millions still can't find work,Clinton said on the first full day of the Clinton Global Initiative America conference. Still others aretoo underemployed or underpaid to support their families.

Beyond insufficient job-skills training to adapt to the changing economy, he suggested anotherreason.

"Maybe a lot of it is because we're not maximizing the potential we have with the capital that's beenaccumulated, invested in the wisest possible way," Clinton said.

Lingering frustrations

He focused on the lingering frustrations beneath the surging American economy during his remarksat the conference, which is aimed at finding solutions to national problems. It convened in Denverthis week for the second year in a row and ends Wednesday.

As he spoke at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, Clinton reveled in his post-presidential role asself-styled policy wonk in chief.

At times, he dug deep into the policy weeds. At others, he distilled those economic challenges intothe kind of optimistic exhortations that might be embraced by the presidential campaign that hiswife -- former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, notably absent this year -- is revving up.

"I don't pretend that all this is easy," Bill Clinton said.

But he said he was confident that the nearly 1,000 attendees, who come from the business, labor andnonprofit worlds, were coming together to advance programs and investments that would "shift theconcentration of wealth in America into growth mode."

The CGI America conference, now in its fifth year, is the Clinton Foundation's offshoot of the ClintonGlobal Initiative, which focuses on worldwide problems.

The domestic conference is marked by announcements of new "commitments" made by nonprofits,business leaders, and local and state governments. They pledge money to help provide access toworkforce training, improve the quality of education, invest in road and infrastructure projects, andother goals.

By organizers' accounting, about 400 commitments since 2011 have resulted in nearly $225 millioninvested in or loaned to small and medium businesses, professional skills training offered to 910,000people, an improved education for 420,000 children and, on the environmental front, the aversion ofthe release of nearly 4 million metric tons of greenhouse gases.

CGI Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton, left, leads a panel of speakers. Former President Bill Clinton hoststhe Clinton Global Initiative (CGI America) meeting in Denver. Business, government, and civil

leaders are to attend to address what the Initiative says are pressing domestic issues.

(Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

This year, conference leaders say their main objectives are fostering economic growth, supportingAmerica's long-term competitiveness and increasing social mobility in the United States.

It has not been lost on political observers that the officially nonpartisan conference, taking place inthe likely swing state of Colorado, is full of talk about themes that Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, isexpected to highlight in her campaign. She is expected to visit Colorado next month.

Bill Clinton was introduced Tuesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper, a fellow Democrat, who spoke aboutthe importance of ensuring that "America is a place where people can make it."

Clinton couldn't resist a gentle ribbing of the famously informal Hickenlooper, who donned a raretie.

"I felt almost guilty that he felt constrained to wear a suit today," Clinton said. "But he looked reallynice in it."

New commitment

Hickenlooper returned to the stage for the announcement of a new commitment by the Corporationfor Enterprise Development. With partners across the country, including the Colorado Departmentof Human Services, it has pledged to start a program aimed at creating "Child Savings Accounts" forup to 1.4 million children by 2020.

In a morning panel discussion moderated by the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, several leaders fromlabor, a nonprofit, a business and the federal government discussed a topic described as "The Mapof Making It in America."

The panel discussed raising wages, especially for women; affordable housing; and the difficulty ofgetting by on the minimum wage.

With rents and home prices soaring in Denver, U.S. Housing Secretary Julián Castro

cited a report by his department to Congress in February that indicated about 7.7 million Americanfamilies are paying 50 percent or more of their incomes for rent, are living in substandard housing,or are doing both.

"Nowhere in the United States can you afford a two-bedroom apartment or home to rent on aminimum-wage salary," Castro said, calling the report's findings "eye-opening."

Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and rising Democratic figure, has been mentioned as a potentialrunning mate for Hillary Clinton.

Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JonMurray

Highlights wednesday

Bill Clinton will moderate a panel called "Unlocking the Potential of Rural America." Denver MayorMichael Hancock will participate in a panel called "Scalable Investment Tools for Social Impact,"addressing the city's planned social impact bond program to deal with chronic homelessness.

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