Announcing New Grantees

These pathbreaking projects will generate evidence to drive action towards strengthening economic security and mobility for workers in the US labor market.

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OUR APPROACH


Grantmaking and Partnerships

Led by a cross-sector Leadership Board that is ideologically diverse and representative of often-siloed groups, WorkRise invests in research on policies, programs, and practices that have the potential to accelerate economic security and mobility for low-wage workers. We fund analyses and the creation of data that shed light on labor market barriers, trends, and opportunities. And we engage in strategic partnerships that help advance evidence-based solutions in support of our mission. Learn more about our most recent request for proposals and how you can collaborate with WorkRise.

Working Knowledge

The Latest

Employer practices January 24, 2022

New Evidence Shows Internal Labor Markets Favor Higher-Wage over Lower-Wage Workers

A recent paper from researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management finds occupational stratification limits the benefits that internal hiring can bring to the workers who most need upward mobility.

Andrew Boardman

Employer practices January 25, 2022

New and Noteworthy: Research on predictable scheduling laws, postsecondary decisionmaking among youth, and more

New and Noteworthy highlights new research and data to inform policies, practices, and programs designed to strengthen workers’ economic security and pathways for mobility in the US labor market.

Archana Pyati

Economic context December 16, 2021

As Jobs Return, the Long-Term Unemployed Remain At Risk of Missing Out on the Recovery

Key takeaways from the AARP and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's virtual event examining current labor market issues, The Great Resignation and Long-Term Unemployment.

Andrew Boardman

Job search and matching December 15, 2021

If Left Unchecked, Algorithmic Decisionmaking Could Perpetuate Workplace Bias and Harms

This post highlights the challenges as well as the promise algorithms and other predictive tools hold for the workplace.

Jessica Shakesprere, Batia Katz

Research

Employer practices July 01, 2021

Skills, Degrees, and Labor Market Inequality

In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, researchers demonstrate that workers with college degrees have dramatically better access to higher-wage occupations where the skill requirements exceed the workers’ observed skill compared to workers without degrees.

Peter Q. Blair, Papia Debroy, Justin Heck

Wages and employer-provided benefits October 07, 2020

The Challenge of Slow Wage Growth

Because of sluggish wage growth, middle- and low-wage workers in the United States are today doing little better in real terms than similarly situated workers 40 years ago, exacerbating economic burdens experienced by workers during the current COVID-19 crisis. This brief examines the evidence on wage growth for the typical worker over several decades and concludes that efforts to rebuild the U.S. labor market must include policies to accelerate wage growth.

William J. Congdon

Demographic disparities September 28, 2020

Racial Inequality in the Labor Market and Employment Opportunities

This brief explores the persistent inequities and disparities in outcomes experienced by people of color in the U.S. labor market through key data points, delves into root causes based on a review of the evidence, and identifies key gaps in our knowledge of why and how labor market inequality endures.

K. Steven Brown

Economic context September 16, 2020

Five Lessons from Last Decade's Employment Recovery

The employment recovery from the Great Recession offers five key lessons for policymakers, employers, and other decisionmakers as they face the employment crisis created by Covid-19.

Donald Marron