The US faces a national crisis of homelessness and housing affordability like few other times in our history. Increasing rents and housing shortages have had devastating effects on nearly every major metropolitan area in the US and many rural communities as well. This crisis has affected everyone including children, seniors, military veterans, people with disabilities, and people working full-time. In his new book, “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America,” journalist Brian Goldstone exposes how the decline of work and pay in the US has left many full-time workers homeless. People who clock in at hospitals, drive for delivery apps, and care for others cannot afford stable housing as increases in rent continue to outpace wage growth.
Goldstone follows five families in Atlanta as they navigate the impossible demands of low wages, skyrocketing rents, and an inadequate social safety net. Through his reporting, Goldstone lived alongside families in extended-stay motels, witnessing the cycles of eviction and rejection, and capturing the resilience of those caught in a system designed to exclude them and in one that often doesn’t count them in official statistics. “There Is No Place for Us” not only brings these unseen lives into focus but also forces us to confront a pressing question: If hard work is no longer enough to keep a roof over one’s head, what does that say about the promise of economic opportunity in the US? Watching the recording of this book talk with Brian Goldstone.
This brief discusses the potential of data-driven impact procurement as a job quality strategy and specifically how, through strategic partnerships, Kaiser Permanente (KP) embedded job quality in its procurement practices from 2019 to 2023. It describes KP’s strategies to engage pilot partners, design the implementation process, and use the data and lessons from this work to inform future action. The analysis is derived from interviews conducted by EOP staff in 2024 with stakeholders involved in the California Good Companies/Good Jobs pilot. In addition to KP leadership, these stakeholders included leaders from the data analytics platform Working Metrics (WM), KP, and security services firm Blackstone Consulting Inc (BCI). Interviews focused on the context of each organization’s engagement in the pilot, the rationale for and design of the pilot, the results of the pilot and reaction of the organizations involved, and resulting changes in practices and policies. EOP staff also reviewed pilot materials from KP and WM, previous WM use case briefs, and literature on job quality and the procurement landscape. The interviews provided context regarding use cases for WM that predated the pilot, including information about organizations that were using the platform to inform vendor selection. Drawing from the research and interviews, the brief also provides recommendations for increasing the uptake of job quality-focused procurement in the private sector in California and nationwide.
This report presents six easy-to-read charts about differences in the average dollar value of employee ownership by the annual earnings, gender, and race of employees. As averages, this gives a snapshot from random samples from employee surveys from the US General Social Survey across the entire US population. It answers the question: How broadly has employee share ownership’s financial benefits spread among working people?
The focus is on employee equity ownership plans and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), separately. Employee equity ownership plans involve grants of restricted stock, performance shares, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and company stock ownership in 401(k) plans, etc. and do not include ESOPs. The results specifically on ESOPs are broken out and presented separately. Data are from the 2022 General Social Survey using previous surveys from 2018 and 2014 for a larger national sample.
In an economy where the interests and successes of workers and businesses too often seem in opposition, employee ownership offers a solution. Clegg Auto, an auto repair company with locations in and around Provo, Utah, is leading by example. By converting to an employee ownership trust, Clegg Auto lets its workers share in the profits, gives them a say in the workplace, and protects the company’s place in the community.
This profile of Clegg Auto illustrates the company’s experience becoming employee-owned, the innovative holding company model it pursued, and its employees’ perspective on the transition and what ownership means to them.
In this research brief, we provide back-of-the-envelope calculations showing that, as of 2022, about 140,000 firms employing around 33 million workers would have been suitable candidates for ESOP employee buyouts, and nearly 1.1 million firms employing over 25 million workers suitable candidates for cooperative employee buyouts. Collectively, these firms accounted for roughly $25 trillion in total revenues (in 2024 dollars). The data used in this exercise were drawn from several different sources, including the US Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey, County Business Patterns, and Economic Census.
Notably, we find that even under alternative modeling assumptions the resulting estimates would still point to substantial scope for expansion of employee ownership in the US today.”
Employee share ownership has a long and important tradition in the US. As of 2022, approximately 18% of employees or about 25 million workers across our nation have some form of ownership stake in the company where they work and 8% of employees have employee stock options. Employees participating in ownership in the US do so through a variety of means, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), equity compensation programs, worker-owned cooperatives, and employee-owned trusts. About 11 million active employees participate in ESOPs, while another 4.2 million additional retired ESOP employees are still receiving ESOP benefits from their ownership. An estimated 14 million employees participate in different other combinations of equity compensation plans, including grants of restricted stock, employee stock options, and employee stock purchase plans. Estimates show that approximately 10,000 workers are employed in between 900 and 1,000 worker-owned cooperatives, with a growing number of employees in Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs).
In this short brief, we provide some updated statistics and analysis regarding workers’ involvement in employee share ownership plans and the wealth and job quality benefits those workers realize from their participation. ESOPs are the most common form of broad-based employee share ownership in the US, and, likely for that reason, there are more robust data related to ESOPs. For these reasons, this brief focuses primarily on workers who participate in ESOPs.
A career in trucking was once considered a pathway to the middle class. Yet the quality of jobs in the industry has steeply declined in recent decades. Long-haul truckers, who might spend days or weeks away from home, have seen their salaries fall by as much as half since the deregulation of the industry a half century ago, and annual turnover hovers near 100%. Short-haul truckers are frequently misclassified as independent contractors, stripping them of benefits and worker protections and burdening them with the costs of owning and operating a truck. And predatory leasing arrangements are pushed on truckers by the industry, saddling many with debt that they struggle to pay off. All of this is in spite of the fact that truckers work year-round, at all hours of the day, while exposed to hazards, to ensure that our economy keeps moving,
In recent years, a common narrative developed that there is a shortage of truck drivers. What is missing, however, is that this shortage is driven in large part by the industry’s turnover rates and the lack of good jobs that allow truckers to thrive. Today, there are nearly three times as many people with the necessary licensing and qualifications as there are trucking jobs. In addition, new developments in technology promise to upend the industry as companies embrace automation and increasingly deploy methods of surveillance.
As a key pillar of our economy and supply chain, and one of the largest occupations in the US, the job quality of workers in the trucking sector has far-reaching implications. Watch this event recording to explore the challenges truckers face and ideas for improving the returns for the essential work they do.
Today approximately 77 million Americans, or 1 in 3 adults have a criminal record. While not everyone represented in this statistic has experienced incarceration, it serves to highlight that the barriers formerly incarcerated people face finding quality jobs are far more commonplace than we might think. Many returning citizens, who worked for little or no pay while incarcerated, will struggle to find quality jobs after release. Discrimination against those with a record, restrictions on what occupational licenses are available to those with a record, existing debts, punitive court supervision policies, and lack of support to meet basic needs in areas such as housing can force those leaving incarceration into dead-end, low-paying, and exploitative jobs. Some will find they are barred from doing the jobs they worked or were trained to do while incarcerated. And many more lacked opportunities to participate in education or training opportunities while incarcerated.
But across the country, innovative efforts are underway to revamp our re-entry system by opening up access to good jobs. New laws to wipe criminal records and address occupational licensing barriers, legal action aimed at discrimination, and a growing coalition of employers and union leaders are showing that providing a second chance is possible.
This event recording is the second part of a two part series by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program. The first event, A Hidden Workforce: Prison Labor, Human Rights, and the Legacy of Slavery, explores the history and conditions of work for incarcerated people and ideas for creating more humane and dignified work for those behind bars.
A key piece of the American dream is that hard work leads to economic success. Yet in recent years, many people seem to be working harder while reaping fewer rewards.
Moreover, even people who are successful in economic terms often feel compelled to participate in overwork. In her new book “Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life,” author Brigid Schulte dismantles the pervasive idea that overwork guarantees success, happiness, or economic security.
Drawing on her experience as a journalist and director of New America’s Better Life Lab, Schulte reframes the conversation about work in the United States. Using real-life stories, data, and ideas from leading thinkers and activists, she challenges readers to rethink their conceptions about time use and productivity, to envision new and healthier relationships to work and to advocate for bold policy changes, like paid family leave, that would support better work and better lives. Schulte makes a compelling case that rejecting a culture of overwork can reduce burnout, promote fairness, and contribute to a more stable economy and a future rooted in shared prosperity, well-being, and dignity.
Schulte’s work is a call to action for policymakers, employers, and individuals to rethink what it means to lead a fulfilling life and the role work should play in that. By confronting the glorification of overwork and advancing practical, people-centered policies, “Over Work” offers a roadmap toward a balanced and better life for all.
Developed as part of the Shared Success Demonstration, this tool offers guidance for business advisors at CDFIs on how to have conversations with small business owners on job quality improvements. It centers business value and includes a variety of information and resources to assist business owners in addressing poor job quality.
For a guide of resources that complement this tool, see our topic guide on Small Business Job Quality Advising.