How Employers Are Tackling Mobility Blockers in Public Benefit Programs
Employers provide both wages and benefits essential for worker financial well-being. For millions of workers also receiving public benefits, rules within those programs determine whether these employer-provided resources carry reward or risk. Policies, for example, like asset limits penalize saving, while benefit cliffs create a precipitous loss of benefits when wages increase, blocking workers’ financial mobility.
What actionable strategies can employers and lawmakers leverage to address these asset limits and benefit cliffs? How can private sector employers support their employees’ financial resilience across public and private systems?
To find out, join the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program for a virtual public event on May 22 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Co-hosted by the Center for Social Development and the National Academy of Social Insurance, this event will elevate leadership, research, and innovations that can help workers meaningfully benefit from the range of resources available to them.
Unable to attend live? Register anyway, we will send the recording to all registrants after the event.
This event is supported by JPMorganChase.
Speakers
Shoshana Marder, Executive Director, Leap Fund
Shoshana Marder is the Executive Director of Leap Fund, leading the team in creating products that empower optimism, financial and career growth, future planning, and security for the working families that need it most. She has presented about benefit cliffs at the Prosperity Summit (2024, 2022), National FSS Conference by Compass Working Capital (2024, 2022), Change Machine (2024), NYCETC’s Annual Conference (2024), Circles USA National Conference (2023), and the Foundation for Financial Planning (2023). She’s also spoken about benefits cliffs to numerous groups, including NYC Benefits Policy Working Group, JobsFirstNYC Policy Committee, NYATEP’s Workforce Development Directors, multiple Chambers of Commerce, and participated in the HHS Marginal Tax Rate Advisory Panel. Shoshana is a member of the NYCETC Advisory Council.Shoshana received her BA from Stern College Honors Program, and previously worked at the International Rescue Committee. https://myleapfund.com/shoshana
Stephen Roll, Assistant Professor, Brown School at Washington University and Co-Director of Research and Policy Innovation, Center for Social Development
Dr. Roll’s research focuses on promoting asset building, debt management, and economic security in lower-income populations. His most recent work focuses on the role of cash transfer programs in improving household balance sheets and economic mobility outcomes. He has conducted several studies of guaranteed income pilots around the country, including the St. Louis Guaranteed Basic Income program. He is also the leader of the Workforce Economic Inclusion and Mobility Project, which focuses on strengthening public and private safety nets for low-wage workers.
His work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, and he has briefed the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Senate Joint Economic Committee, and the United States Supreme Court on the results of his research.
Tim Shaw, Director, Benefits Transformation Initiative and Senior Policy Advisor, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
As the Director of the Benefits Transformation Initiative and Senior Policy Advisor for the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, Tim works to advance promising policies that address the most pressing financial security challenges facing people in America. Working with leaders across levels of government, Tim and Aspen FSP’s Benefits team seek to provide policy, nonprofit, and market leaders with the innovative ideas, research, and networks of leaders they need to design and enact policies that help people weather financial shocks and comfortably afford everyday life.
Before joining the Aspen Institute, he was an Associate Director for Economic Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. While there, he was the policy lead for BPC’s Paid Family Leave Task Force and led projects on economic opportunity, retirement security, and fiscal policy. Prior to that work, he was a tax and budget staffer at the Government Accountability Office. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Politico, and the Wall Street Journal.
Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Rebecca Vallas, CEO, National Academy of Social Insurance
Vallas joined the Academy as its Chief Executive Officer after spending nearly 8 years as a member of its Board of Directors, including four as Secretary. Most recently, she spent 2021-2023 as a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where she founded the organization’s disability economic justice work and organized a bipartisan, cross-sector coalition in support of reforming Supplemental Security Income’s antiquated asset limits. She is also the founder of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, a first-of-its-kind project bringing together nearly 50 leading organizations across the policy/research and disability rights and justice communities to work collectively to bring a disability lens across economic and social policymaking in the U.S. Over the years, Vallas has authored a wide range of policy reports and proposals on social insurance and public assistance, disability policy, and criminal justice/reentry policy—and strengthening Social Security, and especially its disability programs, have been long-time priorities especially close to her heart.