Workforce Leaders Seek Input on Initiatives to Improve Low-Wage Jobs
PHI and the Aspen Institute‘s Economic Opportunities Program, in collaboration with the MIT Sloan School of Management, are seeking feedback and suggestions from a broad range of workforce stakeholders for their forthcoming research paper on workforce policies and practice initiatives that use a “build ladders and raise the floor” approach.
Especially welcome is information about organizations that are doing work within the “build ladders and raise the floor” strategic frame and have documented success for both workers and employers.
The authors hope to encourage a broader range of workforce interventions that not only help low-wage workers climb out of poor quality jobs into better jobs, but also help low-wage workers by making their current poor-quality jobs better.
“In today’s labor market, an estimated one in five working adults holds a poverty-wage job,” the Aspen Institute says. “New strategies that focus on opportunities to improve job quality need to be included in today’s workforce strategies.”
An online form is available to submit feedback and suggestions.
To learn more about the project, read the concept paper, “Build Ladders and Raise the Floor: Workforce Strategies Supporting Mobility and Stability” (pdf) which includes examples of how this strategy has benefited both workers and employers in the restaurant, construction, health care, and manufacturing industries.
The project is made possible with support from the Ford Foundation.
— by Deane Beebe
