Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
Aspen Institute
Reinventing Low Wage Work
July 17, 2012
Low-wage jobs are a growing part of the US economy. From March 2012 to February 2013, Reinventing Low-Wage Work: Ideas that Can Work for Employees, Employers and the Economyexplored issues specific to industry sectors that employ large numbers of low-wage workers, including the restaurant, long-term care, retail, residential construction, and domestic work industries. The series, led by the Economic Opportunities Program, advanced conversations at the Aspen Institute about the nature of low-wage work, the challenges it presents to workers, businesses and the economy, and the opportunities we have for addressing these challenges. Discussions included:
In addition, the Workforce Strategies Initiative released four briefs on work in the direct-care, residential construction, restaurant, and retail industries including profiles of organizations working to improve job quality in those industries.
Since the conclusion of this series, the Economic Opportunities Program has developed a separate and related series, Working in America, which highlights an array of critical employment and job quality issues affecting low and moderate-income American workers.
