American Express Brings Main Street Voices to Capitol Hill.

Business Editors

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2000

Testimony Before House Subcommittee Focuses on "Crisis" in Small

Business Workforce Skills; Urges Wider Promotion of Internships

for Secondary and Vocational School Students and More Accessible

Employee Training Programs

American Express today testified before Congress that the current labor shortage has reached "a crisis level" for smaller companies. Small Business Services Senior Vice President Jim Blann called for a major national push to connect small firms with educational institutions that are focused on developing work force skills.

Citing research from the company's "Voices from Main Street" program, Blann testified today before the House of Representatives, Small Business Subcommittee on Government Programs and Oversight.

"Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy," Blann said, noting how smaller firms employ half of the country's private work force and account for half of the country's private sector output. However, the lack of employees with basic communications and interpersonal skills "has truly reached a crisis level for small business owners across the country," he said.

"The small business community," Blann said, "is telling us that they need a better equipped work force, or the entrepreneurial renaissance that has driven so much of this country's record economic expansion will wither."

Blann noted results from one Voices from Main Street survey which showed that:

1. Most small businesses are dissatisfied with the country's work

force skills.

2. Small business owners say that despite the emergence of the

Internet economy, it is not computer or science proficiencies

their employees need, but the basic soft skills, including verbal

and written communications and interpersonal skills.

Blann's testimony represents the collective voices of tens of thousands of small business owners who have participated directly in the "Voices from Main Street" program, which was launched in March of this year. The year-long program includes:

-- a web site (www.americanexpress.com/voic es)

-- a nationally broadcast town hall meeting (CNN, May 24)

-- regional forums for small business owners to meet with their peers and
engage in discussions on a local level;

-- broadcast and print advertising featuring small business owners speaking
about the issues they find to be most important;

-- national opinion polls to take the pulse of entrepreneurs on small business
issues.

This fall, small business owners continue to contribute to this discussion through town hall meetings in Chicago, Miami, and Austin, Texas, as well as national web chats. Following these discussions, American Express will publish a "white paper" summarizing and prioritizing the solutions small firms want explored.

The next townhall takes place on Oct. 5, when American Express, the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) and the Florida SBDC Network will host a forum at the Fontainbleau Hilton, Miami Beach. On the agenda will be a discussion about the unique challenges faced by minority entrepreneurs.

American Express Small Business Services is a unit of American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. solely dedicated to serving companies with fewer than 100 employees. Small Business Services provides a broad range of financial services, including charge and credit cards, equipment financing, lines of credit and tax and business advisory services. To obtain more information about the Small Business Services group, visit the Small Business Exchange at www.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness.