Job quality is vital not only for workers, but also for small businesses and communities. Yet too many jobs today miss the mark on one of the key characteristics of a good job: providing enough pay to live on. Only 56% of full-time workers in the United States make enough money to cover their families basic needs. This problem is particularly acute at small businesses. Nearly 60% of low-wage workers work at businesses with fewer than 100 employees, and 35% of low-wage workers work at micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Small businesses also struggle to address other characteristics of a good job, like providing adequate benefits, stable scheduling, and a positive work culture.
Recognizing this context, in 2022, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) launched the Shared Success project, funded by the Gates Foundation. The project supports 11 community development financial institutions (CDFIs) across the country to integrate job quality support into their small business services with the goal of improving job quality for small business employees and building business resilience. Three years later, EOP has seen how grantees have used innovative approaches to recruit, advise, and incentivize small businesses to improve job quality.
In this event recording, leaders of CDFIs, their small business clients, philanthropic supporters, and other experts discuss the lessons learned from Shared Success, ranging from practical tips about strategies for engaging small businesses in discussions of job quality to the range of job quality improvements CDFI clients helped their businesses make.
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.
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.
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.
Democracy may be top of mind for many Americans this election season, but it’s easy to forget that the ideal of democracy has always been about more than filling out one ballot every couple of years. Democratic and participatory principles and practices can strengthen our public spaces, community organizations, social media platforms, and even our workplaces.
Workers are closest to many of the problems and potential solutions most critical to an enterprise’s performance, holding essential knowledge about safety, productivity, and culture. Employers who fail to sufficiently listen or value their workers’ voices miss opportunities to innovate and improve productivity — and may suffer from workers’ decreased job satisfaction, productivity, and retention. We know workers want a seat at the table on issues from pay and benefits to safety, culture, and accountability, not only because they say so in surveys, but, increasingly, because they’re organizing to win it. Companies that genuinely seek to leverage workers’ insights often deploy tactics like surveys and town hall meetings that fall short of capturing representative input or turning feedback into action. But democratic mechanisms like shared ownership, board level co-determination, and labor-management partnerships can unlock benefits by enabling a truly collaborative, participatory work environment.
This event from the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program is part of the Opportunity in America Series. The panel of experts and practitioners shares insights on how different democratic structures and strategies can create better workplaces and businesses. Panelists share their own experiences and extrapolate learnings that may apply to others looking to build more vibrant, participatory work environments.
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.
This page hosts all of Gallup’s articles and briefs on employee enagegement in the United States and abroad. It includes links to results from Gallup’s various employee engagement and experience surveys. It also includes opinion pieces and advice on improving employee engagement. These resources can be helpful for HR professionals, managers and other organization leaders, researchers, and practitioners interested in understanding employee engagement.
Announcements of a big employer moving to town, or a large infrastructure project, can often spark excitement. Local communities see the potential for big benefits, including new and better jobs and other investment in community needs. Too often, however, these benefits do not materialize. Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), binding agreements created between community groups and organizations like real estate developers or large employers, are a powerful alternative that ensure people have a real say in shaping the outcomes these new investments will create for their communities.
Jobs to Move America (JMA) is a national leader in leveraging CBAs to improve jobs and provide opportunities for historically disadvantaged communities and workers. CBAs have allowed JMA to build consensus between affected workers and employers on policies that would benefit the community — from reformed hiring practices to improved training and protecting workers from discrimination. In this webinar, co-hosted by JMA and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP), we’ll hear from experts and practitioners about their experiences implementing CBAs and leveraging them to improve job quality in their communities. This event is part of EOP’s Job Quality in Practice series, which examines the strategies and approaches practitioners are using to improve job quality and expand economic opportunity.