The pandemic placed the economy into a sickening tailspin. Did it also catalyze advantageous changes that expand opportunity and equity? Companies can share economic success through various models. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), worker cooperatives, profit sharing, and forms of equity participation all present different opportunities to share that success. Employee-owned firms have also shown strong resilience through economic downturns and often use management approaches that lead to higher-quality jobs. How can these strategies help shape economic rebuilding? How can they address the inequalities and inequities that have divided our society and help us build a more resilient economy?

To achieve vibrant communities and expand economic opportunity, capital must play a key aligning role. Business lenders and investors, including those such as CDFIs that seek social impact as well as financial returns, are important contributors to the local economy and job creation. But what kinds of jobs are the businesses they finance creating? What kinds of jobs do we want them to create? Can we influence the quality of these jobs? And what can job quality advocates in workforce development and other fields learn from pioneering investors and lenders about strategies to measure job quality in firms and drive business practice change?

This event features representatives from CDFIs and investors to discuss these questions.

In her book Unbound: How Inequality Constricts Our Economy and What We Can Do About It, Heather Boushey, President and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, considers how inequality is restricting growth and imagines how a more equitable economy would function. The book also raises two key questions: How can we better measure our economy to understand how it can improve the lives of individuals and how do we better support working families so we can set them and their children up for success?

The Economic Opportunities Program, Ascend, Financial Security Program, and Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation hosted a book talk with Heather and a panel discussion including other experts to explore these questions about defining and measuring economic success and how we can work more broadly to create growth with purpose.

This article discusses the barriers the lack of affordable childcare presents to parents and working people and the benefits the US would receive if this challenge were addressed

The future of work has received an avalanche of attention over the past several years from the media, academics, and policymakers. However, most discussion has been theoretical and speculative. And the challenges facing opportunity youth have largely been left out of this conversation. Given this context, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, with support from the Citi Foundation, developed a practical approach and toolkit that community leaders can use to begin to learn how the future of work is playing out right now in their local economies. The toolkit includes a framework and questions to guide conversations with employers and young adults to learn from them about the nature and structure of work in specific occupations and what’s changing now; a guide to resources for conducting background labor market research to inform conversations; and sights from three organizations that pilot-tested the approach and toolkit in their communities

Good Jobs, Good Business is a comprehensive toolkit for small business owners seeking to improve job quality. The toolkit includes sections on Employee Compensation, Scheduling and Paid Leave, Hiring and Professional Development, Employee Engagement, Health Benefits, Retirement and Wealth Building, Racial Equity, and Covid-19. Each section helps users develop a business case and provides guidance on implementing new policies. This resource is designed for small business owners but can also be used by partners (including lenders and workforce development organizations) to coach businesses on job quality improvements with potential business benefits.

This fact sheet displays the disproportionate effect technological change may have on Black workers and presents potential benefits that effective training programs could have on Black communities. This resource is useful for practitioners seeking to design training programs that center equity.

This report shares how Goodwill San Diego adapted its culture and operations to enhance job quality and business performance in response to a mandated local minimum wage increase, including developing transparent career pathways, investing in leadership development at all levels, and building a culture of learning and development. Businesses and service providers seeking to get ahead of minimum wage legislation and improve job quality can learn from the practices outlined in this profile.

This report highlights pressing racial disparities in the US workforce and education systems and offers recommendations for advancing racial equity within state and federal workforce policies. This publication is primarily geared towards workforce development professionals, as training and education can help address employment, income, and wealth disparities when paired with broader job quality efforts.

Manufacturers looking to improve productivity and efficiency often turn to Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs), public-private partnerships supported by the US Department of Commerce that provide consulting services to support their growth and competitiveness. These partnerships often focus on implementing lean manufacturing strategies to cut waste and eliminate production bottlenecks. But what if they also adopted people strategies, focusing on job quality alongside process and product strategies to help businesses solve their problems?

Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) took just this approach with its Genesis initiative, working with manufacturers to implement “good jobs” strategies to improve workforce engagement, productivity, and stability, alongside process and product improvements. Launched in 2014, with the support of the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance (CWFA), the Genesis initiative is based on the premise that workforce practices are central to a firm’s operations, productivity, and competitiveness. Through Genesis, IMEC fine-tuned a strategic planning approach that helped companies explore process- and product-related challenges that were deeply interwoven with people-related challenges.

This report details the process IMEC followed to implement Genesis, how it worked with manufacturers, results from the initiative, and key considerations for other MEPs, funders, and policymakers looking to learn more about this approach and how they can support similar work in their communities.