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

American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promised
Event

Race, Economy, and COVID-19: How America’s Race Problem Exacerbated the Crisis – A Book Talk with Eduardo Porter

Hear New York Times Reporter Eduardo Porter discuss his new book, “American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise.”

Photo of warehouse worker preparing goods for dispatch
Event

Job Quality in Practice Webinar: Worker Organizations Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis

Many workers have been fired or furloughed, while others are overworked, underpaid, and unprotected. How can we raise workers’ voices now and beyond the current crisis?

Photo of protesters gathering in front of the US Capitol
Event

Live Q&A: COVID-19 and Unemployment Insurance – A Discussion with Rebecca Dixon (Executive Director, National Employment Law Project)

With millions of new unemployment claims in the midst of the pandemic, the Economic Opportunities Program held a live Q&A on the cost of this economic dislocation and solutions that could help those who are unexpectedly out of work.

Two baristas use the cash register in a cafe
Event

Job Quality in Practice Webinar – Job Quality in the Age of COVID-19: Strengthening Frontline Management and Supporting Workers

The pandemic has left workers vulnerable, particularly for positions with low-wages and limited benefits. Aspen’s Economic Opportunities Program led a conversation on how to adapt to the new challenges, with a particular focus on the key role supervisors play in this adjustment.

Job Quality in Practice Webinar – How Can Workforce Leaders Boost Job Quality?
Event

Job Quality in Practice Webinar – How Can Workforce Leaders Boost Job Quality?

Join us for a conversation about how workforce development leaders can encourage improved job quality in their communities.

Various charts trending upward, superimposed on a photo of four stacks of coins ascending in height.
Event

Job Quality in Practice Webinar – To Boost Job Quality, Money Matters: Practical Tools for Engaging Investors and Lenders Toward Change

Lenders and investors can play important roles in supporting the creation of quality jobs. Let’s discuss how money matters for job quality.

Man and woman in professional attire staring upward at a giant ruler
Event

Measure What Matters: Realigning Measures of Economic Success with Societal Well-Being

How can we rethink economic growth so we can expand opportunity and ensure our country’s prosperity is shared by all?

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next? – Videos
Event

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next? – Videos

Since our founding, momentum for upskilling has continued to grow, as businesses across the country have created new programs to help employees advance their careers.

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next? – Agenda
Event

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next? – Agenda

Since our founding, momentum for upskilling has continued to grow, as businesses across the country have created new programs to help employees advance their careers.

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next? – Speakers
Event

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next? – Speakers

Since our founding, momentum for upskilling has continued to grow, as businesses across the country have created new programs to help employees advance their careers.

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next?
Event

Five Years of UpSkill America: What’s Next?

Since our founding, momentum for upskilling has continued to grow, as businesses across the country have created new programs to help employees advance their careers.

Job Quality in Practice Webinar – Assessing Job Quality and Equity in Your Local Labor Market: A Closer Look at Race, Gender, and Place
Event

Job Quality in Practice Webinar – Assessing Job Quality and Equity in Your Local Labor Market: A Closer Look at Race, Gender, and Place

How can leaders address disparities in job quality and improve outcomes for all workers?

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