WorkRise Impact Report
Our 2023 Impact Report highlights how we lead with rigorous, actionable research and ensure it reaches the hands of the change-makers best positioned to act on it.
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Our 2023 Impact Report highlights how we lead with rigorous, actionable research and ensure it reaches the hands of the change-makers best positioned to act on it.
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
Skills and training
Last updated on June 18, 2024How 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, 2024WorkRise 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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Economic context
Last updated on June 11, 2024Better 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.
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The Latest
Economic context
Last updated on April 30, 2024
Video
WorkRise Shorts: Workers’ Assessments of AI’s Impact on Jobs
Rutgers University distinguished professor Carl Van Horn, founding director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, shares insights from his research, which looks at US workers’ attitudes toward government oversight of AI technologies and its impact on jobs.
Last updated on April 30, 2024
Worker voice, representation, and power
Last updated on April 30, 2024
Research Summary
The Consequences of Signing Noncompete Agreements among Low-Wage Workers and Those without College Degrees
Noncompete agreements are commonly used by businesses when hiring highly educated, high-wage workers entrusted with sensitive information or specialized training, but new research finds that 14 percent of workers without a bachelor’s degree and 13 percent of workers earning less than $40,000 per year are also bound by these contracts. The Federal Trade Commission now wants to ban all noncompetes because they often are associated with harmful employment outcomes for workers’ career mobility and income growth, relying in part on this new research.
Skills and training
Last updated on April 23, 2024
Video
WorkRise Shorts: The Harvard Workforce Almanac
The workforce almanac is a first-of-its-kind open-source directory mapping thousands of workforce training providers across the US. The workforce training system in the US has historically been treated in fragmentation, Nathalie Gazzaneo, co-director of Harvard Project on Workforce, shares.
Last updated on April 23, 2024
Employer practices
Last updated on April 23, 2024
Research Summary
A Win-Win for Business and Workers: Evidence from a Predictable Scheduling Intervention at Gap, Inc.
Given shifts in attitudes and legislation around irregular work hours, this study explores the effects of changes in scheduling practices on employee and business outcomes, finding benefits for both parties.
Research
Worker voice, representation, and power
Brief
August 09, 2023
Worker Voice, Representation, and Power
In this brief, we provide a summary of the research framework that informs WorkRise’s thinking about the importance of worker voice and power for low-wage workers’ labor market mobility. We then offer a series of specific priority areas for future…
WorkRise Research
Job search and matching
Brief
August 09, 2023
Search and Matching for Jobseekers
Each month, millions of workers in the United States move into or out of jobs. For workers in low-wage employment, transitions to new, higher-paying positions are an important driver of upward economic mobility. For those out of work, regaining…
WorkRise Research
Social determinants of work
Executive Summary
July 13, 2023
The Rise and Fall of Underemployment: Implications for Workers' Health
This brief offers an overview of the literature exploring the connection between underemployment and health outcomes. Public policies can be crucial in mitigating the negative health effects associated with underemployment. However, more comprehensive data on transitions into and out of underemployment are required to inform future research and policy initiatives.
Grantee Research
Employer practices
Executive Summary
June 26, 2023
A Workplace Divided: Survey Research and Stakeholder Engagement to Advance Equitable Workplaces
A national survey by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University explores workers' perceptions of discrimination and unfair treatment based on race and ethnicity. The survey reveals significant percentages of Asian-American, Black, and Latino workers experience discrimination in private-sector and government workplaces. Black workers are more likely to view workplace discrimination as a significant problem than white workers, with Black female workers reporting the highest levels of discrimination. The study highlights the impact of discrimination on career advancement and the need for government and employer interventions to promote workplace equity.
Grantee Research