First, however, let me also mention two issues that rank as among the highest priorities for small companies across our country. It can send small businesses into bankruptcy or at least severely weaken them. It s a tax on family businesses that parents have often spent their whole life building. By getting rid of it, family businesses can better stay intact. And successful businesses mean higher growth in our economy.
Labor costs are also extremely high.
Benefits account for between 25 to 30 percent of employees compensation. Now let me go onto the four major areas covered at the Summit, I ll begin with the most critical. Every company in the country is affected by the ongoing crisis in finding qualified employees. Survey after survey shows that firms of all sizes have difficulty locating men and women who can perform not only sophisticated high-tech tasks but even read and write sufficiently to function in the workplace. At the summit, we agreed that two of the particular problems facing small manufacturers relate to demographic changes and workplace regulations.