Events and Webinars

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program hosts a variety of discussions to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

Join our mailing list and follow us on social media to learn about upcoming events and webinars.


Upcoming and Recent Events

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers
Economic Opportunity

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers

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Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: Where do we go from here?
Economic Opportunity
Gouged — A Book Talk with Lindsay Owens
Economic Opportunity
Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: How did we get here?
Economic Opportunity
Disposable Workers: A Book Talk with MIT Sloan Professor Paul Osterman
Economic Opportunity
The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success
Economic Opportunity
Employee Ownership Ideas Forum 2026: Owning America’s Future
Economic Opportunity
Ownership During the AI Revolution
Economic Opportunity

Ownership During the AI Revolution

| Washington, DC

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When Work Isn’t Enough: Improving Job Quality for ALICE Households
Economic Opportunity
Investing in Job Quality in the South
Economic Opportunity

Investing in Job Quality in the South

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Current Series

Opportunity in America

2019—Present

Opportunity in America considers the changing landscape of economic opportunity in the US and implications for individuals, families, and communities across the country. The series highlights the ways in which issues of race, gender, and place exacerbate our economic divides, and ideas and innovations with potential to address these challenges and broaden access to quality opportunity.

Job Quality in Practice

2019—Present

Job Quality in Practice webinars 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.

Employee Ownership Ideas Forum

2023—Present

The Employee Ownership Ideas Forum — hosted in partnership with the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University — convenes policymakers, practitioners, researchers, philanthropists, investors, and leaders of employee-owned companies to learn about and discuss the latest in policy, research, finance, and practice.


Previous Series

Event Archive

All Past Events from the Economic Opportunities Program

Photo of protestors holding signs like "Justice Now" and "End Racism." A Black woman wearing glasses and a face mask speaks through a megaphone at the front of the group.
Event

The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century

This virtual book talk explores how new forms of collective action can help to build a healthy, multiracial democracy with an economy that works for all.

The Rewards of Work: Lessons from the Fair Labor Standards Act
Event

The Rewards of Work: Lessons from the Fair Labor Standards Act

What lessons can we learn from the FLSA and its history to help us restore the commitment to a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work?

Worker Power and the National Labor Relations Act
Event

Worker Power and the National Labor Relations Act

As we look to shape the future of work, what lessons can we learn from the NLRA’s history, impact and effectiveness today?

Job Quality Fellowship Overview
Event

Job Quality Fellowship Overview

The Job Quality Fellowship brings together innovators from differing lines of work who are engaged in work that expands the availability of better quality jobs in our economy.

Essential Jobs, Inequality, and “Dirty Work”: A Book Talk with Eyal Press
Event

Essential Jobs, Inequality, and “Dirty Work”: A Book Talk with Eyal Press

This event explores the working conditions of jobs that typically go unseen and raises disquieting questions about our society’s dependence on them.

Photo of ascending wooden blocks that spell out the word "Benefits"
Event

Toward Universal Work-Related Benefits

Our benefits system leaves millions behind. Let’s make paid leave, health insurance, workers’ compensation, and retirement plans accessible to more people.

Photo of a woman working at a laptop with technology symbols floating around her
Event

Insights from Businesses: How Digital Transformation Is Impacting Work and Skill Needs

Learn how businesses are supporting the development of digital skills for frontline workers.

Photo: Two women converse with each other while walking through an office
Event

Worker Financial Wellness: How Corporations Can Build Quality Jobs

Even before the pandemic, many families struggled to cover life’s essentials. Now, some business leaders are working to shape an inclusive recovery.

Gig worker Diego Gerena-Quiñones scrolls through his phone
Event

Shaping the Future of Work: A Conversation About Quality Jobs

Rebuilding our economy isn’t just about creating jobs. It’s about creating quality jobs.

Photo of two small business owners wearing face masks while working at a laptop
Event

Encouraging Job Quality in Small Businesses: Advising, Lending, and Procurement Approaches

Small businesses have an important role to play in advancing economic opportunity and job quality.

Communications Toolkit for “Valuing Care: Principles for a Post-Pandemic Care Economy”
Event

Communications Toolkit for “Valuing Care: Principles for a Post-Pandemic Care Economy”

Care work is underpaid and often invisible. How can we build a care economy that dignifies the work of caregivers and expands access to quality care?

Valuing Care: Principles for a Post-Pandemic Care Economy
Event

Valuing Care: Principles for a Post-Pandemic Care Economy

Care work is underpaid and often invisible. How can we build a care economy that dignifies the work of caregivers and expands access to quality care?

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

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More from the Economic Opportunities Program

Building Economic Security: A Book Talk with Arindrajit Dube and Carrie Joy Grimes
Podcasts Videos

Building Economic Security: A Book Talk with Arindrajit Dube and Carrie Joy Grimes

Economic security shouldn’t be a lottery. Yet for millions of working families, stagnant wages and precarious jobs collide with the daily grind of managing money on shaky ground — leaving stability feeling less like a plan and more like a gamble. Fixing that takes more than one lever. It takes structural reform and the tools people need to take control of their financial lives, working together.

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers
Publications

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers

Firms differ in how equity or profit is allocated, how long the ownership structure is intended to last, and how workers participate in governance and the workplace, all of which affect how workers experience ownership.

Employer-Friendly Practices: A Guide for Higher Education
Publications

Employer-Friendly Practices: A Guide for Higher Education

This resource is designed to help colleges and universities become more employer-friendly and build the kind of institutional capacity that sustains and grows partnerships while simultaneously better serving working learners. It offers role-specific guidance for leaders across the institution, a self-assessment spanning five domains of practice, and a process for turning results into action, grounded in the conviction that institution/employer partnerships can become easier without compromising academic missions.

MillerKnoll: Developing Operations Leaders from Within and Beyond — A Case Study in Structured Talent Development
Publications

MillerKnoll: Developing Operations Leaders from Within and Beyond — A Case Study in Structured Talent Development

Bridge, Propel, and Career Academy are built on a practical philosophy: that MillerKnoll has great talent already inside the organization. Finding that talent, developing it, and aligning it to the right opportunities is key to its success. T

A Typology of State-Supported Work-Connected Learning Programs
Publications

A Typology of State-Supported Work-Connected Learning Programs

States invest in work-connected learning through dozens of distinct funding streams, grant programs, and agency initiatives, often developed independently over time by different administrations and agencies pursuing different goals.

Resource Roundup: Data Centers and the Workforce
Blog Posts