Narratives about work in the American South have often centered on attracting business through lower labor costs, restrictions on unionization, and deregulation. The Southern economic development model, as this approach has come to be known, promised broad growth and prosperity.

That prosperity has not materialized for most. Many workers and communities in the South have been left behind, with some regions experiencing poverty rates well above the national average.

Narratives shape public perception, policy, and practice. They can also be challenged and changed. Across the South today, workers, business owners, and communities are advancing a new vision, reframing what opportunity and good work look like and who gets to share in economic success.

This was the first of four conversations with members of the Aspen Institute’s Job Quality Fellowship who are working in the South. We’ll examine narrative challenges around work and opportunity, highlight strategies for change, and explore how to amplify approaches rooted in worker dignity, quality jobs, and community wealth-building.

In this conversation, Haley Glover — senior director of UpSkill America at the Aspen Institute — speaks with Molly Dodge and Jennifer Gasiorek — leaders from Ivy Tech Community College —  about RAND's recent report on the college's Achieve Your Degree (AYD) program. They discuss the importance of employer-supported education, the motivation behind the AYD, what RAND's evaluation tells us about the impact of this work.

For more information on the RAND report, check out, "Employers as Partners in the Success of Working Adult Learners: The Achieve Your Degree Program": https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3681-1.html

To learn more about Ivy Tech, visit: https://www.ivytech.edu/

For more from UpSkill America, visit: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/upskill-america/

Since the mid-1900s, the nine-to-five work schedule has often been viewed as the standard. For many workers, this schedule has never worked. Parenting and other caregiving responsibilities, health challenges, the pursuit of education and skills, existing employment, and other factors mean many people do not have a lot of predictability and consistency in their availability. Some may only be able to work a few hours a week and may not know week to week when that can happen. And yet, many obviously need to work to get by and meet their basic needs. While app-based platforms have often been heralded for providing the flexibility workers in these situations need, these jobs have often perpetuated low wages and low job quality standards.

In this event — hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on January 21, 2026 — we explore how Workforce Investment Boards, labor unions, and businesses are adapting to this context and striving to ensure that those who need a flexible and adaptable work arrangement don’t have to endure low quality jobs and low wages.

Our speakers include Marcy Chong (Director, Service Employees International Union), Minsun Ji (Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center; Executive Director, Drivers Cooperative-Colorado), Wingham Rowan (Project Lead, Beyond Jobs), Nick Schultz (Consultant; Former Executive Director, Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network), and moderator Matt Helmer (Director, Job Quality and Worker Well-Being, Economic Opportunities Program, The Aspen Institute).

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website.

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.

This event is part of our Job Quality in Practice series.

When contemporary conversations on the “future of work” began a decade ago, most of the technologies that would define that term still resided comfortably in the realm of science fiction, or were only just emerging into public view — self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, and personal deliveries at the push of a button. Today — after a pandemic that prompted many to reexamine their relationship with their jobs, exposed the precarity of work for many more, and accelerated the adoption of technology — all these phenomena have come into their own, to varying degrees. Regulators, employers, and commentators alike struggle to keep pace with what this means for our labor force and for the role work will play in our society in the decades to come. 

All year we’ve been marking the tenth anniversary of Aspen Institute's Future of Work Initiative with an editorial series examining the lessons learned from a decade of "future of work" discourse, with contributions from leaders in academia, business, labor, policy, and philanthropy. This discussion with Future of Work Fellows and contributors to explore how, together, we can shape a future of work that works for all Americans.

This conversation includes opening remarks from Future of Work Initiative Director Liba Wenig Rubenstein, followed by a panel discussion with Mary L. Gray (Senior Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research), Michelle Miller (Director of Innovation, Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Harvard Law School), Arun Sundararajan (Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director, Fubon Center for Technology Business and Innovation, NYU Stern School of Business), and moderator Anmol Chaddha (Principal, Omidyar Network, and Fellow, Future of Work Initiative).

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website. 

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.
This event is part of our Opportunity in America series.

What many believe is a thing of the past is in fact an ever-growing crisis, with life and death consequences for children across the US.

In a wave of rollbacks, at least 10 states have passed laws to restrict child labor protections in the last couple of years. Today, children as young as 13 are working grueling jobs that put their health, safety, and development at risk — in meatpacking plants, warehouses, and tobacco fields instead of schools. Migrant children especially are at risk of being exploited. Many arrive in the US without parents or guardians, lacking legal protections or a support system. These children are often funneled into the most dangerous sectors of the labor market, where oversight is weak and accountability is rare. Over the last several years, there have been numerous reports about children being seriously injured or killed working in incredibly dangerous conditions.

In this event — hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on November 19, 2025 —  we explore how we arrived at the current landscape of child labor; what it means in the current context; and how we can protect children moving forward and explore what policymakers, child advocates, and labor advocates can do to address weakening child protections. 

This conversation includes opening remarks from Yesenia Cuello (Co-founder, NC Field), followed by a panel discussion with Ron Estrada (Chief Executive Officer, Farmworker Justice), Reid Maki (Director, Child Labor Advocacy, National Consumers League), Nina Mast (State Economic Analyst, Economic Policy Institute), Charlie Wishman (President, Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO), and moderator Kristina Cooke (Journalist, Reuters).

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our website. 

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.
This event is part of our Opportunity in America series.

With more than 40% of workers in the US employed by businesses with more than 1,000 employees, many look to the outsized influence these employers can have on how we design work and jobs. As a result, engaging and collaborating with these businesses where possible is necessary to improving job quality and working conditions.

While their size and scale offers job quality practitioners the potential for big changes, engaging large businesses in job quality and strategies that improve conditions for their workforces presents unique challenges as well. Complex decision-making processes and implementation challenges, wide-ranging organizational needs and incentives, and an array of other potential barriers can make it difficult to navigate for those looking to engage and collaborate with big businesses on improving job quality.

In this event, which took place on October 9, 2025, we examine the challenges and strategies for engaging and supporting large businesses in actively influencing positive economic outcomes for their employees. Our speakers include Ellen G. Frank-Miller (Founder & CEO, Workforce & Organizational Research Center), Scotland Nash (Director, Talent Rewire, FSG), Cindy Williams (Executive Director, WorkLife Partnership), and moderator Matt Helmer (Director, Job Quality and Worker Well-Being, Economic Opportunities Program, The Aspen Institute). 

This event is part of our Job Quality in Practice webinar series.

For more information, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our event page.

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.

As employers know, finding the right employee for a role can be difficult even during the best of times. Meanwhile, many workers with the right experience are locked out entirely because they lack the prescribed degrees or traditional academic credentials. Skills-based talent development brings these two together, benefiting both job seekers and organizations.

Framing talent development around defined skills, rather than only degrees, can reduce disparities in career opportunities while increasing productivity and agility in business operations. Forward-looking organizations — for-profit, nonprofit, and public — are increasingly adopting practices that are characteristic of this approach, such as: defining job qualifications by skills and knowledge, sourcing candidates beyond customary channels, eliminating biases in hiring and selection, and maintaining a culture that reflects an organization-wide commitment to inclusion, job quality, and mobility.

So what does it take for a business to walk the talk in skills-based talent development? It takes collaboration, internal systems change, and commitment to equity. BMO Bank partnered with Cara Collective, a comprehensive workforce development nonprofit, to get qualified talent through the door and on the path to economic mobility.

In this event — hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on September 26, 2025 — we hear their story and learn practical tips for removing barriers to opportunity for workers. Our speakers include Liana Bran (Cara Plus), LaKeita Burns (BMO Bank), Paris Roney (BMO Bank), and Dee Wallace (The Aspen Institute).

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our event page.

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.

This event draws on insights from our Workforce Leadership Academies.

A core shared value in American society, one deeply woven into our national narrative, is the belief in equal opportunity — the idea that everyone should have a fair chance to succeed based on their effort, talent, and ambition, regardless of their background.

Equal opportunity in the American workplace has deep roots in the nation’s struggle for civil rights and economic fairness. Though disparities remain for women, different racial groups, and others in areas such as employment rates, wages, wealth, and occupational segregation, progress has been made. From the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, to affirmative action policies and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the US has made significant strides toward leveling the playing field.

Today, the legacy and pursuit of equal opportunity face significant challenges. Recent debates and policy shifts risk weakening efforts to address discrimination and harassment, and they may obscure the history and progress we’ve made toward greater inclusion. These trends raise important questions about how we uphold our shared commitment to fairness and democratic values. At a time when trust in institutions is wavering and inequality is rising, reaffirming our commitment to equal opportunity is more urgent than ever. 

In this event, which took place on September 4, 2025, we explore the current landscape, emerging challenges, and the strategies needed to protect and strengthen opportunity in the American workplace. We hear opening remarks from Kalpana Kotagal, commissioner of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, followed by a panel discussion with Stacey Abrams, USC’s Dr. Manuel Pastor, and moderator Natalie Foster, a senior fellow with our Future of Work Initiative and president and cofounder of the Economic Security Project.

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our event page.

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.

This event is part of our Opportunity in America conversation series.

Each of the last ten years ranks among the hottest on record, with 2024 taking the top spot. As the world heats up, nearly a third of the workforce is at risk, especially workers in groundskeeping, construction, and agriculture. But it isn’t just outdoor workers who face danger. Many of the drivers and warehouse workers who form the backbone of our on-demand economy spend their days in hot vans and warehouses, without air conditioning or sufficient breaks. Workers from minority backgrounds are most affected by excessive heat, with more than half of Black, Latino, and immigrant workers employed in “exposed” jobs, all while being less likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance.

Researchers have found that the rate of occupational injury and accidents increases steadily as temperatures go up, and as many as 2,000 workers die every year due to heat. Low-wage workers often can’t pay for basics such as food or shelter if they miss a day’s pay, so they keep working even when they know it’s too hot. And as heat harms workers’ health, making it more difficult for them to carry out their tasks, productivity is impacted. For the benefit of workers, businesses, and our society, we need to build workplace heat safety into our culture, policies, and practices if we are to adapt to our warming planet. 

In this event, which took place on July 30, 2025, we learn how the warming climate is affecting workers, and what policymakers, businesses, and labor are doing to keep workers safe. Our speakers include Jon Esformes (Sunripe Certified Brands), Sheheryar Kaoosji (Warehouse Workers Resource Center), Reyna Lopez (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste), Rosemary Sokas (Georgetown University), and moderator Dorany Pineda (Associated Press).

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our event page.

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.

This event is part of our Opportunity in America conversation series.

Efforts to improve work and working conditions in the US have been underway since our nation’s inception. While labor unions have historically led this work, the growing prevalence of low-wage, precarious jobs has inspired a broader movement. Today, a diverse array of leaders across sectors are advancing bold solutions to “fix work” — to ensure every job in our economy is a good job. The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program has released a report, Fixing Work: Lessons from Job Quality Practitioners, based on in-depth interviews with more than 20 leaders across the country about the work they are doing to create good jobs that provide economic security, the opportunity to advance and grow, and a safe, dignified, and equitable workplace.

In this webinar, which took place on July 22, 2025, we hear from leaders who are at the forefront of building a fairer and more just economy, where workers, communities, and businesses can succeed together. Learn how these leaders think about good jobs, what strategies they use to build them, and the experiences and lessons they have learned in creating change. Whether you’re a workforce leader, policymaker, business advisor, or advocate, this conversation will offer fresh insights, practical lessons, and inspiration to advance job quality in your own work. Our speakers include Evan Edwards (Project Equity), Adam Kader (ARISE Chicago), Renise Walker (Colorado Workforce Development Council), and moderator Matt Helmer (The Aspen Institute).

For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit our event page.

For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel.

Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.