Obama tasks tech execs with social issues, not just the economy

Homework for the tech executives on President Obama's jobs council is more than just the economy — it's consideration for his social priorities, too.

Obama opened the first meeting of his jobs council by stressing the need to knock down regulatory obstacles and help businesses compete abroad, but he also put a word in for social issues.

"We want to make sure that we're also putting a little pressure on you guys to figure out how do we make sure that the economy is working for everybody," he said to a room full of business executives.

This means considering a number of items not critical to their bottom lines.

"How do we make sure that every child out there who’s willing to work hard is going to be able to succeed?" Obama said. "How do we make certain that working families across the country are sharing in growing productivity and that we're not simply creating an economy in which one segment of it is doing very well, but the rest of the folks are out there treading water?"

Still, Obama made it clear that competitiveness and jobs will be the driving focus of the council. He stressed efforts to streamline regulations and reform the tax system. 

Tech participants included Steve Case, co-founder of AOL; John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers; Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel; Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast; and Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook.

"It’s critical for us to have input from folks who are actually hiring, putting people to work, making payroll, making the products and services that make our economy so powerful," Obama said. 

On competitiveness, he called for the United States to do better by improving education and infrastructure. 

"We're going to have to up our game in this newly competitive world," he said.