The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — Events and Interviews

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 ho...

The 2016 election was a stunning departure from recent presidential elections, with deep divisions in both parties and widespread skepticism that those in power have any interest or ability to make meaningful reforms. Are the anger, resentment, racial animus, and pessimism that have become so pervasive reflective of economic insecurity, or are there other forces at work as well? Do the dramatic ch...

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 int...

We often hear that good jobs require college. For many, however, the road to a college degree presents more challenges than opportunities. The costs of a four-year degree have soared, often leaving students with crippling debt, whether or not they are able to complete their degrees. At the same time, not as many jobs require a four-year degree as we once thought, meaning many students face the sam...

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 Workers across all income brackets struggle with the United States’ outdated work-life policy framework, but the balancing act is particularly challenging and risky for low- and moderate-income workers and their families who have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 sa...

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 exclu...

The holidays 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 o...

Headlines about work abound with projections that employment as we know it is quickly fading away. Jobs are sliced-and-diced into “micro-tasks,” and employees are replaced by an army of contractors. Some blue-collar workers do not even know whom they work for, technically, due to the layers of contracting that separate them from the company to which they deliver services. The on-demand or “sharing...

Labor unions traditionally have been the voice of workers seeking better pay, benefits, and jobs and have been a critical means for working people to improve their working conditions, incomes, and social standing. The right to form and join a labor union is enshrined in the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But in the United States, union membership and the commitment to union...

The sharing economy has gained traction and attention in the last few years. Also known as the “gig economy,” “consumer-to-consumer sharing,” and “peer-to-peer marketplaces,” the term “sharing economy” is used to describe a wide variety of exchanges between people, including property, skills, labor, or space. By using an online platform to connect users and providers, this system puts a modern spi...

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....

Lack of affordable, reliable, and efficient transportation options is one of the most common challenges for low-income workers and job seekers, and, by extension, their employers. Americans spend an average of 18 percent of household income on transportation and the poorest one-fifth of families spend more than twice as much; the vast majority of these transportation costs are for buying, operatin...

In MIT Sloan professor Zeynep Ton’s game-changing book, The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs & Boost Profits, she discusses how companies such as Costco offer good jobs to workers, low prices and excellent service to customers, and great returns to shareholders all at the same time. What makes good jobs not only possible but very profitable—even...

Young adults and teens face significant challenges in finding quality employment in today’s economy. The employment rate of teens is at its lowest point since World War II, and young adults have seen their employment rate drop by over 10 percentage points since 2000. For young workers, a lack of work experience can be a huge barrier to entering the labor market or finding a quality job. More busin...

Many working Americans today must regularly choose between earning a paycheck or caring for themselves and their loved ones. Over 40 million working Americans lack paid sick days. Many of these workers not only forgo earnings, but also risk losing their jobs to stay at home to care for their children or themselves as they recover from short-term illnesses, such as the flu. Frequently employed in a...

There’s no denying that service businesses like retail and fast-food chains have been engines of job growth. But, these industries typically offer bad jobs—low wages, scant benefits, and erratic work schedules. And not just low wages, but poverty-level wages. Nearly one in four working adults in America cannot support a family. Why such bad jobs? Many companies—especially those offering low prices...

The US economy continues to add jobs at a modest, yet steady pace. While job creation is a positive sign that the economy is beginning to heal, job reports in the last few months show low-wage sectors are predominantly the industries where people are finding work. In addition to low pay, other job quality issues — such as few benefits, part-time hours, and limited training and advancement opportun...

In the United States today, roughly 25 million workers, over 16 percent of all workers, are foreign-born. Immigrant workers contribute skills, knowledge and labor to the U.S. economy through employment in a diversity of sectors, including hospitality, construction, information technology, health care and others. Foreign-born workers also start businesses at higher rates than native born workers, c...

In May, we celebrate Mother’s Day, a holiday created by Americans to honor our moms and their influence in society. With the presence of women with children in the workforce increasing, mothers are not only the glue that holds our homes together, but they are also the fuel helping to drive our economic recovery. Two-thirds of women with young children now work and nearly half are the primary bread...

Today, roughly four million Americans earn wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. For a family of four, this wage falls beneath the poverty line. As President Obama recently stated in his State of the Union Address, in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty. However, the problem of working people living in poverty continues t...

Domestic workers—those that are employed in our homes to care for children, elderly and the disabled as well as perform a variety of other duties, such as cooking and cleaning—are critical to our economy, our society and our families’ well-being. Yet many domestic workers are paid little, receive no employee benefits, and may work in an environment with other challenges that can affect their healt...

This event is part of Reinventing Low-Wage Work, a discussion series hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program that advances conversations about the nature of low-wage work, the challenges it presents to workers, businesses, and the economy, and the opportunities we have for addressing these challenges. Learn more at as.pn/rlww . The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies,...

This event features Mike Holland (Division President, Marek Brothers Systems, Inc.), Christine Owens (Executive Director, National Employment Law Project), Emily Timm (Policy Analyst, Workers Defense Project), Nik Theodore (Associate Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago), and moderator Yuki Noguchi (Correspondent, National Desk, National Public Radi...

This event features Carrie Gleason (Executive Director, Retail Action Project), Kim Owen (Former Vice President of Human Resources, QuikTrip Corporation), Zeynep Ton (Adjunct Associate Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management), and moderator Steven Greenhouse (Labor and Workplace Reporter, The New York Times). This event is part of Reinventing Low-Wage Work, a discussion series hosted by the Econ...

In 2011, nearly 4 million workers were employed in direct-care positions, including nursing aides, home health aides, and personal care attendants. While direct-care workers play a critical role in supporting the lives of our elderly and disabled populations, direct-care jobs are often characterized by low-wages, few benefits or pathways for career advancement, as well as part-time hours. This eve...