Reinventing Low Wage Work

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 Economy explored 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.

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