Overview
Employer practices such as hiring, scheduling, promotion, supervision, and on-the-job training determine workers’ day-to-day reality and long-term prospects in the labor market. The growing prevalence of independent contractors and contingent workers underscores the continued fissuring of employer-employee relationships.
Working Knowledge

Skills and training
April 08, 2022
Article
How Randomized Evaluations Build Evidence to Inform Workforce Program Design, Policy, and Investment
Four takeaways from J-PAL North America and WorkRise joint panel on the power of randomized controlled trials in generating evidence to inform and guide decisionmaking and investment in workforce training.
April 08, 2022

Employer practices
January 24, 2022
Article
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.
January 24, 2022

Employer practices
January 25, 2022
Article
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.
January 25, 2022
Research
Employer practices
December 10, 2022
The National Study of Workplace Equity
The National Study of Workplace Equity surveyed just over 1,000 workplaces to find that equity is inconsistently implemented across employment systems. Researchers from the Boston College School of Social Work and Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) find that equity is strongest in recruitment and hiring, compensation and benefits, and orientation and onboarding.
December 10, 2022
Employer practices
December 10, 2022
Executive Summary: The National Study of Workplace Equity
In a new study, researchers from Work Equity, an initiative at the Boston College School of Social Work, and SHRM find that much progress needs to be made on equity across the employment lifecycle. Based on a survey of just over 1,000 workplaces, researchers find that equity is implemented inconsistently across 10 discrete employment systems.
December 10, 2022
Worker voice, representation, and power
July 28, 2022
Worker Power and Economic Mobility: A Landscape Report
This landscape report summarizes empirical evidence on two main pathways for workers to exercise their power in the labor market: the ability to exit their current job for better outside options and organizations and institutions that build worker voice within firms.
July 28, 2022
Job search and matching
July 20, 2022
Search and Matching in Modern Labor Markets: A Landscape Report
This landscape report synthesizes research on how job seekers find work and how employers post and fill open positions in the labor market. It also explores frictions experienced by both parties and implications for workers’ economic mobility.
July 20, 2022
Employer practices
June 17, 2022
Employer Practices and Worker Outcomes: A Landscape Report
Commissioned by WorkRise, this report by researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management summarizes evidence on employer practices that influence economic mobility and promising areas for research to advance the state of policy and practice.
June 17, 2022