Job quality today is a challenge. Many people who work every day to connect people to economic opportunities that will provide a dignified living can see this. Whether it’s a family sustaining wage, decent benefits, safe working conditions, or simply a schedule that is manageable with their other obligations—finding jobs that meet people’s basic economic needs can be a challenge.
But what if we rethought this approach? What if, instead of trying to find the “good jobs” within the sea of inadequate ones, we instead tried to transform jobs so that more of them provide workers with what they need to thrive? We know this approach sounds daunting—but many organizations have started down this road, and are making progress. And that is what this series is all about. What are the practical strategies organizations can use to address the biggest economic opportunity challenge we face—fixing work.
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, with support from Prudential Financial, launched an effort to encourage the development of job quality practices that promote access to economic opportunity. In this webinar series, we provide actionable tools and guidance to support leaders across geographies and fields – including workforce development, economic development, capital deployment, policy, worker advocacy, business, and higher education – to engage in practical action to improve jobs in their local communities and connect to a growing national conversation. Discussions in this series have included:
- Assessing Job Quality and Equity in Your Local Labor Market: A Closer Look at Race, Gender, and Place
- To Boost Job Quality, Money Matters: Practical Tools for Engaging Investors and Lenders Toward Change
- How Can Workforce Leaders Boost Job Quality?
- Job Quality in the Age of COVID-19: Strengthening Frontline Management and Supporting Workers
- Worker Organizations Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis
- Increasing Equity in a Post-Pandemic Economy: The Potential for Growing Worker Ownership
- How the Workforce System Can Advance Workplace Health and Safety During and After the Pandemic
- Can Investing in Workers Support Small Business Resiliency Through the Pandemic?
- A Job Quality Agenda to Build Back Better – An Action Platform for 2021 and Beyond
- Addressing Job Quality and Equity in a Time of Crisis: Tools and Case Studies from Local Government, Workforce Development, and Policy Advocacy
- Encouraging Job Quality in Small Businesses: Advising, Lending, and Procurement Approaches
- Job Quality Fellowship Overview