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.

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

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.

America’s youngest workers are facing their most dire employment prospects in recent history. The report captures the insights of a variety of service providers helping to connect young adults to jobs in today’s labor market. Published by Aspen WSI in January 2016, the report documents the results of a survey in which hundreds of service providers nationwide described their experiences serving young adults. The report also offers key considerations for practitioners and policymakers seeking to assist the large and growing population of disadvantaged young adults seeking to make meaningful connections to work in today’s labor market.

This series of publications for workforce professionals explains why the time is right to focus on job quality work and offers a series of practical recommendations for job training programs seeking to deepen employer engagement and strengthen support for lower-income workers.

This discussion paper is designed to help Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) define and measure job quality. It defines a quality job as one that contains most (if not all) of five elements: a living wage, basic benefits, career-building opportunities, wealth-building opportunities, and a fair and engaging workplace. The paper offers impact measurement practices to assess and report on job quality to help CDFIs encourage and support their business borrowers to enhance the quality of jobs they offer. While this resource is written for lenders, it has applications for all practitioners seeking to define and measure job quality within a firm.

On September 12, 2014, the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program and the Annie E. Casey Foundation hosted a one-day meeting of leading workforce practitioners to discuss how we can redefine employer engagement to mean influencing businesses’ human resource and training practices in addition to responding to pipelines needs. This paper summarizes that conversation.

The Future of Work for Low-Income Workers and Families is a policy brief aimed at state policy advocates and policymakers seeking to help low-income workers and their families secure healthy economic livelihoods as the nature of work evolves in the United States. Published by the Working Poor Families Project in December 2015, the brief was written by Vickie Choitz and Maureen Conway. This brief reviews the major forces shaping the future of work, including changes in labor and employment practices, business models, access to income and benefits, worker rights and voice, education and training, and technology. Across these areas, we are seeing disruptive change in our economy and society resulting in increasing risk and challenges for low-income workers, in particular.

By 2050, the number of Americans needing long-term care services and supports will double. They will have more acute and complex care needs than previous generations, and they will be more likely to receive care at home or in a residential setting than in an institution. These factors are driving the increased demand for workers providing home care services and for better training. One of the biggest workforce challenges we face as a country is how to meet the growing demands for such a critical workforce. One model has emerged in Washington State: The SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership. Founded in 2007, this nonprofit school is the nation’s largest training provider for workers in home care. The Training Partnership has created a statewide training system with comprehensive resources and tools to support home care workers, consumers and employers. This case study provides an overview of the Training Partnership and its history, offerings—-including the nation’s first Registered Apprenticeship program for home care workers—-and outcomes. It also summarizes the model’s strengths and challenges. The development of this case study was generously supported by SkillUp Washington and the Ford Foundation.

A good job is the most important factor in helping people escape poverty. How do some employers create consistently high-quality jobs for even front-line employees, while their competitors offer only middling pay and poor employee satisfaction? This event highlights how companies can invest in their front-line workers to create a better workplace and strong results for customers and shareholders.

The event features three companies from the Hitachi Foundation’s Pioneer Employers Initiative, which focuses on the business case for investing in front-line workers. This initiative has identified nearly 100 companies that are securing a sustainable competitive advantage through increased productivity, revenues from new market segments, and improved quality of product or service by creating genuine opportunities for employees to thrive in the workplace and move up the economic ladder.