Working in America, and event series hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program, highlights an array of critical employment and job quality issues affecting low- and moderate-income American workers.

From 2012 to 2019, this series featured a diverse set of voices and perspectives, including those of high-profile worker advocates, philanthropists, labor leaders, academics, business leaders, and policymakers. Through these conversations, we sought to advance innovative ideas, in policy and practice, to improve economic opportunity and the future of work in America. These discussions helped to build momentum in the national discourse around various critical employment issues facing low- and moderate-income workers.

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Event Archive

Past Events in the Working in America Series

Reskilling America: Career and Technical Education in the Twenty-First Century
Event

Reskilling America: Career and Technical Education in the Twenty-First Century

What is the future of career and technical education? Panelists discussed ways to provide opportunities to develop skills, access middle skill jobs, avoid crippling debt, and meet skill needs in critical industries.

Finding Time: A Book Talk with Heather Boushey
Event

Finding Time: A Book Talk with Heather Boushey

In Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict, economist Heather Boushey argues that resolving work-life conflicts is as vital for individuals and families as it is essential for realizing the country’s productive potential.

Can Inclusive Economic Development Build Better Jobs and a Stronger Regional Economy?
Event

Can Inclusive Economic Development Build Better Jobs and a Stronger Regional Economy?

Traditional economic development has left behind many people in communities across the country. How can more inclusive economic development strategies help?

Shop ‘til Who Drops? Exploring Retail Jobs this Holiday Season
Event

Shop ‘til Who Drops? Exploring Retail Jobs this Holiday Season

For retail employees, the holidays often amplify year-round job stress they already face. Recently, however, more retailers have begun looking at how business models could include better jobs for their workers.

The 1099 Economy: Exploring a New Social Contract for Employers, Employees, and Society
Event

The 1099 Economy: Exploring a New Social Contract for Employers, Employees, and Society

As the social contract between employers and employees deteriorates, how do workers access stable and adequate incomes, protections from abuse, and basic benefits like health care and retirement?

The Future of Worker Voice
Event

The Future of Worker Voice

The future of workers’ voice in shaping their jobs today and tomorrow is at a crossroads. Are traditional labor unions able to successfully represent workers today — especially those in fast-growing, low-wage service sector jobs?

Webinar: Sharing Economy 2.0: A Model from the UK for Improving the Gig Economy for Workers
Event

Webinar: Sharing Economy 2.0: A Model from the UK for Improving the Gig Economy for Workers

Beyond Jobs has developed an online platform that goes beyond today’s diffused and disconnected sharing economy platforms by creating a centralized database aggregating opportunities and vetted workers.

Working in America: The Future of Work in the Sharing Economy
Event

Working in America: The Future of Work in the Sharing Economy

What are the benefits & downsides of the sharing economy for the workers who provide the services? What is the influence of the sharing economy on the future of work? What are the implications for policy & business?

Beyond Great Places to Work: The Business Case for Investing in Front-Line Workers
Event

Beyond Great Places to Work: The Business Case for Investing in Front-Line Workers

A good job is the most important factor in helping people escape poverty. How do some employers create consistently high-quality jobs while their competitors offer only middling pay and poor employee satisfaction?

Getting to Work: Improving Public Transportation for America’s Workers, Employers and Economies
Event

Getting to Work: Improving Public Transportation for America’s Workers, Employers and Economies

Improved and expanded public transportation remains an important part of the solution to helping low- and moderate-income workers get to work and helping employers get access to the workforces they need.

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

Room for Growth: A Survey of Upskilling Approaches — 2026 Analysis
Publications

Room for Growth: A Survey of Upskilling Approaches — 2026 Analysis

This publication examines how fragmented skills, credentialing, and workforce data systems limit the potential of skills-based hiring and advancement, and outlines a shared vision for building the interoperable infrastructure needed to create a connected skills ecosystem that benefits workers, employers, educators, and governments.

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