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.

Sam Haas

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.

Andrew Boardman

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.

Archana Pyati

January 25, 2022
Job search and matching December 15, 2021
Article

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

December 15, 2021

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.

Samuel L. Bradley, Jr., Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Kathleen Christensen

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.

Samuel L. Bradley, Jr., Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Kathleen Christensen

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.  

Ioana Marinescu, Jake Rosenfeld

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.

Alexander W. Bartik, Bryan A. Stuart

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.

Erin L. Kelly, Hazhir Rahmandad, Nathan Wilmers, Aishwarya Yadama

June 17, 2022