The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will launch its Campaign for Free Enterprise on Wednesday, with the goal of spurring the creation of 20 million jobs in the next decade. Chamber to launch new jobs campaign

After months of research and groundwork, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will launch its Campaign for Free Enterprise on Wednesday, with the goal of spurring the creation of 20 million jobs in the next decade.

Organizers say the multimillion-dollar program will include grass-roots mobilization, national advertising, public education, outreach to opinion leaders and extensive involvement by young people.


“Since we announced plans for the campaign in June, we’ve been holding listening sessions with small-business owners, heads of state and local chambers, Fortune 500 CEOs, heads of trade associations [and] Washington political and press types, and we’ve built a one-of-a-kind, far-reaching campaign to promote free enterprise,” said Tita Freeman, the Chamber’s vice president of communications and strategy.

“We’ve said this is the most significant campaign we’ve ever undertaken, so we’re treating this announcement like none other in the Chamber’s history,” she said. “We have print and online ads running to build buzz as we lead up to the launch.”

The goal of 20 million jobs includes the 7 million lost in this recession, plus 13 million additional jobs needed to keep the nation competitive, based on economic modeling by an outside economist hired to work with the Chamber’s economist.

The Chamber plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on the campaign and has hired Brian Gunderson, a former top Bush administration official, to lead it. Its website is 20millionjobchallenge.com, and its Twitter account is @freeenterprise.

Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue will launch the campaign Wednesday morning at an event at the group’s headquarters that will be webcast to businesses and state and local chambers throughout the country.

Appearing with him will be Patricia Owen, the owner of Faces DaySpa in South Carolina; Ray Pinard, president and chief executive of 48HourPrint.com in Massachusetts; Robert Milligan, chairman of M.I. Industries in Nebraska; and Tom Bell, chairman emeritus of Cousins Properties in Georgia.

Afterward, Donohue will hold a news conference.

“There are growing concerns about interference with the private marketplace and the private economy, and it’s a ripe opportunity for reinforcing the importance of free enterprise,” Freeman said.

“People view free enterprise very positively,” she added, “but they don’t necessarily understand the benefits of free enterprise to them personally in their everyday lives.”

The Chamber, which calls itself the world’s largest business federation, represents more than 3 million businesses.

Freeman said the Chamber did “a good amount of polling and focus groups” and “got very positive feedback on the U.S. Chamber being well-poised to take on this campaign because of our unique infrastructure — our federation of state and local chambers throughout the country — and because we’re well-respected in terms of Washington organizations.”

“We are out raising money for the campaign on an ongoing basis, and we have specific donors for the free-enterprise campaign,” she said. “We have reached out to people who have clearly benefited from the free-enterprise system.”

Those include “entrepreneurs and individuals who have achieved great things because of our free-enterprise system,” Freeman said, “whether it be the head of a corporation or someone whose family built a great business, and now that business has been passed on.”

“This effort is about something much bigger than business, much bigger than policy,” she said. “It’s about the business community working to solve our nation’s greatest challenge, which is creating the 20 million new jobs America will need over the next decade. And free enterprise is the way to get there.”