Creating Broad-Based Economic Opportunity

 For decades, the American economy generated rising living standards and expanding opportunity across large segments of the population. Today, that pattern has weakened. Many Americans work hard and contribute productively, yet face rising costs, economic uncertainty, and limited pathways to upward mobility. These challenges are not the result of individual failure, but of structural changes in how the economy creates and distributes opportunity.

The immediate pressures are visible in everyday life. Housing, healthcare, childcare, and education costs have risen faster than wages. Many jobs no longer provide the stability or advancement they once did. Economic shocks—from recessions to technological disruption—can leave workers and communities struggling to recover. These outcomes reflect deeper structural weaknesses in the economy’s capacity to generate sustained, broad-based growth.

At the same time, the global economy is undergoing a profound technological transformation driven by digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. These developments have the potential to dramatically expand productivity and prosperity. But without deliberate institutional adaptation and investment, their benefits may remain concentrated in a small number of firms and regions, leaving much of the country behind.

Restoring broad-based economic opportunity requires addressing both the immediate challenges facing households and the deeper structural foundations of economic growth. This includes strengthening job quality, reducing economic insecurity, improving affordability, and rebuilding the productive capabilities that support long-term innovation and industrial development. The sections below present practical approaches to achieving these goals.For millions of Americans, the economy doesn’t feel like it’s working the way it should. People are working harder, juggling more responsibilities, and playing by the rules—yet still struggling to afford housing, health care, child care, food, transportation, and basic utilities. Even steady employment no longer guarantees economic security.

The problem isn’t effort. It’s a system where paychecks haven’t kept up with prices, risks have been shifted onto families, and essential costs rise faster than incomes. Addressing these challenges requires practical solutions that focus on work, wages, affordability, and economic security—so growth actually improves everyday life. Below are several approaches to fixing the parts of the economy that matter most to households.