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.

The Latest

Job search and matching

Last updated on September 24, 2024

The Prison Credential Dilemma: Insights into Applying for Jobs with Qualifications Earned during Incarceration

Credentials typically help job seekers demonstrate their abilities to obtain better-paying jobs. One study, however, suggests that credentials earned in prison present job seekers with a dilemma: reveal their incarceration and showcase their qualifications or obscure both. Interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals in the United States reveal strategies and tactics deployed to improve labor market outcomes and implications.
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Skills and training

Last updated on June 18, 2024

How to Expand Access to Good Clean Energy Jobs among Women and People of Color

New research shows women and people of color are underrepresented in the potential workforce for high-quality clean energy jobs. Universities, employers, and unions can play a role in creating a more diverse workforce.
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Skills and training

Last updated on June 04, 2024

WorkRise Shorts: Applying AI to Rebuild Middle Class Jobs with David Autor

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor David Autor asks what artificial intelligence could enable people to do and who could be enabled by this tool.
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Working Knowledge

The Latest

Employer practices Last updated on October 08, 2024
Research Summary

Young Workers Need Support When They Can't Find Their Footing in the US Workforce

During recessions, young workers are less likely to find work and face lower wage growth than more experienced workers. Unemployment Insurance could be reformed to support these young workers as they navigate the labor market amid economic downturns at foundational times in their careers, alongside other policy tools that can be effective in these instances.

Madeleine Sirois

Last updated on October 08, 2024
Job search and matching Last updated on September 24, 2024
Research Summary

The Prison Credential Dilemma: Insights into Applying for Jobs with Qualifications Earned during Incarceration

Credentials typically help job seekers demonstrate their abilities to obtain better-paying jobs. One study, however, suggests that credentials earned in prison present job seekers with a dilemma: reveal their incarceration and showcase their qualifications or obscure both. Interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals in the United States reveal strategies and tactics deployed to improve labor market outcomes and implications.

Annabel Stattelman Scanlan

Last updated on September 24, 2024
Skills and training Last updated on June 18, 2024
Article

How to Expand Access to Good Clean Energy Jobs among Women and People of Color

New research shows women and people of color are underrepresented in the potential workforce for high-quality clean energy jobs. Universities, employers, and unions can play a role in creating a more diverse workforce.

Hailey D'Elia

Last updated on June 18, 2024
group of diverse businesspeople working on a laptop
Economic context Last updated on June 11, 2024
Research Summary

Better Local Labor Market Conditions Can Help Reduce the Risk of Reincarceration in the United States

Formerly incarcerated people who face better local labor market conditions when they are released from prison are estimated to face lower likelihoods of being reincarcerated.

Marokey Sawo

Last updated on June 11, 2024

Research

Employer practices Brief Last updated on September 19, 2024

Extreme Heat at Work

This report offers the first nationally representative estimates of how outdoor and indoor workers are affected by extreme heat, highlighting that low-wage workers, defined as adults earning less than $15 an hour, face greater risks than higher-wage earners.

Lisa Clemans-Cope, Dulce Gonzalez, Sara McTarnaghan, Michael Karpman

WorkRise Research

Last updated on September 19, 2024
Skills and training Report Last updated on August 27, 2024

Supporting Youth Economic Mobility through Employment-Focused Strategies

WorkRise’s new landscape research report on youth economic mobility reviews the evidence of programs and practices that help young workers succeed and advance in the labor market.

Shayne Spaulding, Madeleine Sirois, Amanda Briggs

WorkRise Research

Last updated on August 27, 2024
Workers talking in factory
Economic context Last updated on July 09, 2024

Expanding Worker Opportunities Through Evidence: WorkRise Impact Report 2023

By bridging knowledge gaps and forging multi-stakeholder partnerships among employers, worker advocates, policymakers, and practitioners, WorkRise is meaningfully improving economic mobility for lower-wage workers. Our 2023 Impact Report shares more about how we lead with rigorous yet actionable research and get it into the hands of the change makers best positioned to act on it.
Last updated on July 09, 2024
Employer practices Report Last updated on May 21, 2024

IKEA Self-Scheduling Intervention: Baseline Report

Widespread unpredictability in work scheduling leads to decreased job satisfaction, higher turnover rates, economic instability, and compromised worker health. To address these challenges, IKEA partnered with The Shift Project to develop a Self-Scheduling Intervention for its hourly workers to give them greater control over their shifts. They selected intervention and comparison stores to measure its impact on worker and business outcomes, and over four years, held weekly meetings to strategize and analyze data. This report contextualizes self-scheduling research, delves into pre-intervention conditions, introduces new features, outlines the research design, and explores future directions.

Grantee Research

Last updated on May 21, 2024