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

Unstable Schedules: Unwrapping the Challenges and Solutions for Service Workers

An expert panel will discuss the latest research on the experiences of workers grappling with schedule instability.

Sustaining Ownership: The Promise of Employee Ownership Trusts
Event

Sustaining Ownership: The Promise of Employee Ownership Trusts

EOTs, a type of perpetual purpose trust, have the potential to sustain employee ownership over time, often while serving other purposes.

image of Wealth Supremacy book cover by Marjorie Kelly
Event

Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises — A Book Talk with Marjorie Kelly

Wealth Supremacy builds on the analysis Marjorie Kelly began 20 years ago with The Divine Right of Capitalism, arguing that the bias toward is wealth woven into the very fabric of American capitalism and is damaging, people, the economy and the planet.

photo of phone & bags representing the gig economy
Event

Good Work in the Gig Economy: Building a Sustainable App-based Economy

App-based short-term work, often called gig work, has been around for more than a decade. As use of app-based services has grown and become part of many people’s daily lives, so has awareness of the risks and challenges it presents to workers. During the pandemic, attention on gig work surged as thousands of unemployed service workers turned to apps for an income, and millions relied on these workers to deliver food and other essentials to their homes. Coming out of the pandemic, what is the status of gig work today, and what does the future hold?

Employee Ownership Ideas Forum 2023
Event

Employee Ownership Ideas Forum 2023

The Employee Ownership Ideas Forum will bring together leading policymakers, practitioners, experts, and the media for a robust discussion on how we can grow employee ownership for the shared benefit of American workers and businesses.

female asian engineer at work
Event

The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work – A Book Talk with Zeynep Ton

Zeynep Ton lays out plainly what most companies and leaders are doing wrong — and provides a blueprint for how to get it right.

photo-close-up-of-letters-ESOP-word-is-written-on-wooden-cubes-on-a-blue-background
Event

ESOPs, Job Quality, and Wealth Inequality: The Potential of Employee Stock Ownership Plans

ESOPs can be a valuable tool to create better jobs, build wealth, and increase businesses’ resiliency while reducing employee turnover.

photo with cashier in the foreground
Event

Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism — A Book Talk and Panel Conversation

Work must contribute to an inclusive economy in which all can thrive. Do we need stronger public action to make that happen?

The Promise of Guaranteed Income: A New Tool to Improve Jobs and Empower Workers
Event

The Promise of Guaranteed Income: A New Tool to Improve Jobs and Empower Workers

Guaranteed income can give workers the agency to leave low-quality jobs and pursue better opportunities — which raises the floor for all.

The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America — A Book Talk with Saket Soni
Event

The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America — A Book Talk with Saket Soni

Immigrants play a critical role in our economy, but many face exploitation and abuse. What do their experiences tell us about work in the US?

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