Job Quality Newsletter – Low Quality, High Costs

As we move into a season of gratitude and gathering, it’s worth reflecting on the people whose labor makes our rest and leisure with our loved ones over the holidays possible.

Across the supply chains that feed and sustain us — from the truck drivers moving food across the country to the farm and food workers who prepare our meals, to the service workers who keep stores, restaurants, and delivery systems running — millions of people are working in unsafe, undervalued, or unstable jobs. In some industries, we’re even witnessing the troubling resurgence of child labor, a stark reminder of what’s at stake when job quality and basic labor standards are dismissed.

This month’s theme, Low Quality, High Costs, explores the human toll of essential work performed without the essentials of a good job: fair pay, safety, and respect. Through conversations about the rollback of labor protections, the experiences of truck drivers, and the realities of food and service workers, we examine how job quality connects to the health of our communities — and why creating better jobs remains fundamental as we strive for a better society where all workers are valued and treated with the dignity they deserve.

Webinar – Backsliding on Child Protections: The Return of Child Labor in the US

Across the country, state legislatures are weakening child labor laws even as violations rise, signaling a dangerous step back from long-standing workplace protections. In this event — hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program on November 19, 2025 — we invite our speakers to explore how we arrived at the current landscape of child labor; what it means in the current context; and how we can protect children moving forward and explore what policymakers, child advocates, and labor advocates can do to address weakening child protections. Visit our event page for video, audio, transcript, and additional resources.

Related resource: Child labor standards: State solutions to the U.S. worker rights crisis | Economic Policy Institute

Driving the Economy: The Essential and Undervalued Work of Truckers

Truck drivers move almost everything we consume, yet their work remains among the least protected in our economy. Check out this conversation that highlights the structural challenges truckers face — from misclassification to unsafe conditions — and explore what it would take to make this work more sustainable and rewarding for the people behind the wheel. Explore event highlights and related resources here.

The Hands That Feed Us

Explore these conversations that dig deeper into job quality across the US food system.

The Hands That Feed Us is a three-part series, co-hosted by EOP and Food & Society at the Aspen Institute, that shines a light on jobs that literally feed the country. It documents how workers in farms, processing, restaurants, grocery stores, and delivery face low wages, hazardous conditions, little access to paid time off and limited bargaining power–despite being essential.

• Job Quality in the Fields: Improving Farm Work in the US
• Workers On the Line: Improving Jobs in Meat and Poultry Processing
• The Workers Behind Our Groceries: A Book Talk with Benjamin Lorr

Field to Feast: The Workers and Hazardous Jobs Behind our Thanksgiving Meal

This blog, by Associate Director Merrit Stüven, takes readers beyond the holiday dinner table to the fields, factories, and service counters where our meals begin. Stüven reveals how the workers who grow, process, and deliver our food often face hazardous conditions and low pay — and why improving job quality across the food chain benefits everyone. Read the blog here.

➡️ Additional resources

Check out the work featured in the Job Quality Center of Excellence.

• “Just Make It Better.” What Gig Workers Have to Say About Gig Work, The Workers Lab and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program
• When Climate Change Meets a Bad Work Environment, Disaster Can Strike, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program
• A Retailer Bets on Learning and Development: Goodwill Industries® of San Diego County, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program