Economic Opportunities Program Newsletter, June 2021
At the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, and for our many colleagues and partners, the ongoing and intertwined health, economic, and racial justice crises bring new urgency to our work to improve access to quality jobs, options to participate in business ownership, and the freedom to pursue economic opportunity. Below we share our monthly newsletter with highlights of recent work. As always, we welcome your feedback, thoughts, and partnership in advancing inclusive opportunity and an economy in which we all can thrive. Click here to subscribe.
Delivering Patient Care and Quality Jobs
Improving job quality not only transforms workers’ lives, but it also benefits businesses’ performance and bottom lines. Highlighted in this brief by Mark Popovich and Yoorie Chang is Sunrise Treatment Center, a leader in the addiction treatment sector that provides stable, sustainable jobs. Founder Dr. Jeffrey Bill, Chief Operatin
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$500,000 USDA grant will support Michigan food and agriculture businesses and farmworkers
New initiative will develop food and agriculture technology education and career pathways for migrant and seasonal farmworkers
May 13, 2021
LANSING, Mich.-The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), in partnership with the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and others, has been awarded a $500,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to support the Michigan Agriculture and Food System Workforce Advancement Initiative. This new initiative will support Michigan s food and agriculture industry by developing agriculture technology education and career pathways for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The food and agriculture industry is critical to our state s growth, contributing more than $100 billion annually to the state s economy and accounting for about 17% of total employment, said Stephanie Beckhorn, Director of LEO s Office of Employment and Training. Through t
Economic Opportunities Program Newsletter, April 2021
At the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, and for our many colleagues and partners, the ongoing and intertwined health, economic, and racial justice crises bring new urgency to our work to improve access to quality jobs, options to participate in business ownership, and the freedom to pursue economic opportunity. Below we share our monthly newsletter with highlights of recent work. As always, we welcome your feedback, thoughts, and partnership in advancing inclusive opportunity and an economy in which we all can thrive. Click here to subscribe.
Race and Gender Wealth Equity and the Role of Employee Share Ownership
To Build Back Better, Job Quality Is the Key
The United States has a problem too few quality jobs. This problem contributes to a variety of national ills, from low productivity to poor health, to fractured politics and divisions within society. Low job quality has disproportionately negative effects on women workers and workers of color, contributing significantly to earnings and wealth gaps across demographic groups.
In “To Build Back Better, Job Quality is the Key,” Maureen Conway (The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program), Jeannine LaPrad (Corporation for a Skilled Workforce), Amanda Cage (National Fund for Workforce Solutions), and Sarah Miller (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta) make the case that improving job quality should be a central goal of economic recovery and rebuilding efforts, and they lay out practical policy ideas toward that end. The report includes a framework illustrating the multiple dimensions of job quality and outlines the variety of institution