Expanding Opportunity for Low-Wage Workers through Systems Alignment

<p>Low wage workers are core to the U.S. economy and often serve in vital front-line occupations related to childcare, food service, retail, personal services, transportation, and agriculture. Women and people of color, especially Black and Hispanic residents, comprise a large portion of the low-wage workforce and often face numerous barriers that hinder their ability to move up to better jobs. Low-wage work does not typically provide the financial stability many people ultimately seek from employment, nor does it enable career pathways that lead to greater economic mobility in most instances.</p> <p>In a recently released report, my co-authors and I examine what we know about how the fields of economic development and workforce development have affected outcomes for low-wage workers. The full research report and shorter summary brief were published in May 2024 by WorkRise, which is a research-to-action network on jobs, workers, and mobility hosted by the Urban Institute. Our research was informed by practical insights gained through convenings of more than 20 economic development and workforce development professionals from nine communities across the U.S during the second half of 2023. The practitioner convenings were a part of the Advancing Worker Equity (AWE) initiative facilitated by New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN)—a knowledge hub for inclusive growth strategies. Analysts from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta presented findings from the Worker Voices Project during the AWE convenings that also shaped our research and understanding of the issues.</p> <p>Despite having some overlapping and complementary goals, economic development and workforce development tend to operate in their respective silos. This [...]</p>