A good job has long been the foundation for both financial stability and economic mobility. However, labor markets are changing. Of the 30 occupations expected to have the largest growth in the next decade, 23 will require a high school diploma or less. In addition to lower wages, these jobs, in industries such as home healthcare, retail sales, food preparation and service, often have irregular hours, limited benefits and limited opportunities for advancement.
These jobs are found all across the country, which is why we took the Working in America series on the road to the Midwest. We partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to host a luncheon forum to explore strategies for improving the quality of lower wage workers’ jobs in addition to creating opportunities for career advancement. Panelists discussed the importance and advantages, to both workers and employers, of shifting our employment and workforce strategies to focus on “building ladders and raising the floor.”
National attention is increasingly focused on growing inequality, stagnating wages, rising unrest, and economic insecurity and immobility. From Occupy Wall Street to the Fight for $15, workers and their families have raised their voices for change in recent years, calling on society to uphold its values, including equal opportunity to succeed through work. How can these voices to be translated into changes in policies and practices? Can exercises of democratic rights – to free speech and association – provide a means for workers and their families to attain fair wages, reasonable hours, and safe working conditions?
David Rolf, one of the nation’s most successful labor organizers in recent years, discusses his book The Fight for $15: The Right Wage for a Working America. He is joined by local labor leaders who share their experiences in today’s workplace and their efforts to engage their co-workers, advocating for better working conditions and revitalizing the democratic process.
In April 2015, the Aspen Institute Workforce Strategies Initiative jointly launched the Communities that Work Partnership with the US Economic Development Administration. The purpose of this initiative was to document and accelerate the development of employer-led regional workforce initiatives across the country. Seven competitively-selected sites — in Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New York (upstate and NYC), and Texas — participated in a learning exchange focused on bridging economic and workforce development to strengthen local talent pipelines and improve access to quality employment.
The “on-demand” or “1099” economy is reengineering how millions of Americans work, and California’s San Francisco Bay Area is at the forefront of these changes. Four members of the Bay Area team participating in the Communities that Work Partnership (CTWP) set out to understand this challenge and explore how the public workforce development system—the one-stop job centers, community colleges, and publicly funded community-based training programs—could meet the skills/needs of freelancers, and the businesses that hire them, in the region’s 1099 economy.
Restore the Promise of Work: Reducing Inequality by Raising the Floor and Building Ladders, published by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and PHI in February 2016, encourages a broader community beyond workforce development to engage in initiatives that redesign work to expand economic opportunity and address growing social, political, and economic inequality. Restore the Promise of Work underscores that both public and private changes, in both policies and practices, are essential. This new brief calls for leaders from workforce development, education, business, philanthropy, labor, government, and more to forge a powerful, coordinated agenda to promote better quality jobs. A coordinated effort will be critical to sustaining and expanding the successes that members of this community have already attained.RR
This op-ed examines the severing of wealth from work, and what we can do to change course to ensure work leads to economic security.
In “Training That Works,” authors John Colborn and Susan Crane scan the field of apprenticeship and identify areas where coordinated investments of foundations could support high-leverage, actionable ideas that would grow apprenticeship and strengthen its impact on poor and marginalized populations. The report targets 4 aspects of the apprenticeship “eco-system”: Knowledge and Research, Marketing & Outreach, Advocacy & Policy, Capacity Building for Practitioners.
As work demands more of employees’ time, many are asking: How can I earn a living while making sure my family doesn’t fall behind? Workers across all income brackets struggle with the United States’ outdated work-life policy framework, but the balancing act is particularly challenging and risky for low- and moderate-income workers and their families who have smaller financial margins and a weak safety net.
In her book, Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict, Heather Boushey argues that resolving work-life conflicts is as vital for individuals and families as it is essential for realizing the country’s productive potential. Boushey, executive director and chief economist of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, presents detailed innovations — at municipal, state, and company levels — that illustrate how US policy can ease the burden on American families and ensure our country’s economic stability. Through personal anecdotes, real-life profiles, and extensive statistical research, Boushey demonstrates that economic efficiency and equity can be reconciled if we have the vision to forge a new social contract for business, government, and private citizens.
Traditional economic development focused on attracting large companies promising many jobs has left behind many people in communities across the country, including working people, low-income individuals and families, people of color and immigrants. But some communities have taken a different approach, one that embraces and cultivates local assets and ownership and that empowers traditionally excluded communities.
This event explores the approaches these communities have taken, including alternative business ownership models, leveraging the purchasing power of large public and nonprofit institutions to bolster communities, robust workforce development, more equitable infrastructure development, and more. Panelists discuss how inclusive economic development cultivates economic opportunity and quality jobs for community residents.
This event discusses the dynamic of retail during the holidays, which are a critical time for retail companies and workers. The National Retail Federation anticipates that holiday sales this year will make up approximately 19 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. Holiday spending also impacts the paychecks, schedules, and work-life balance of the 15 million retail workers in the United States, who make up more than 10 percent of total US employment. For these workers, the holidays often amplify year-round job stress they already face, including stress caused by unpredictable and changing work schedules, on-call shifts that may not materialize, and unexpected early dismissals. Unstable schedules — combined with other common workplace conditions like lack of paid leave, low wages, and little investment in workforce training — reduce employee engagement and contribute to high turnover and job instability.