Good Jobs Champions Group

Statement on Good Jobs

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Dozens of leaders in business, labor, workforce development, and policy have set forth an evidence-based, shared definition of job quality as part of the Good Jobs Champions Group, an initiative of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Families and Workers Fund.

Good jobs are essential to a healthy economy, successful businesses, strong communities, thriving families, and a well-functioning democracy. Yet only 44 percent of working people in the US report having a “good job,” defined by satisfaction with the job characteristics they care most about. More than 30 percent of the workforce — 53 million people and disproportionately women, people of color, and immigrants — struggle with low wages. Millions more lack adequate benefits, face discrimination and harassment, and cope with other daily challenges that are the consequence of low-quality jobs.

The ideals of America as the Land of Opportunity are undermined by the reality that millions of people work hard, play by the rules, but can barely get by — never mind get ahead. The work of women and people of color especially has been devalued, reflecting the racism and sexism embedded in our labor market. Workers without higher education are too often described as “low-skill” and their contributions belittled. Even workers satisfied with their pay may lack advancement opportunities or the ability to shape a positive workplace. Work of all kinds is too often dehumanized, with jobs designed for efficient processes without regard to how people are engaged in the shared work of an organization.

It does not have to stay this way. Workers, businesses, governments, labor unions, worker centers, philanthropies, and community organizations can work together to address the job quality crisis. A critical first step is a shared definition of good jobs — a north star to guide action toward good jobs and a touchstone that provides a common language to discuss priorities. This statement puts forth such a definition, supported by more than 100 organizations and leaders representing business, labor, workforce development, policy, philanthropy, and research. The definition is both foundational and aspirational — these job quality indicators are foundational to all good jobs in all sectors and all stages of a career with the aspiration of creating good jobs where all or most of these indicators are high.

Pie chart visualizing three attributes of a good job: Economic Stability, Economic Mobility, and Equity, Respect & Voice. Each attribute includes several bullet points, which are described in detail at https://as.pn/goodjobs

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  1. Economic stability: Good jobs provide workers with confidence that they can meet their basic needs — for healthy food, a safe place to live, healthcare, and other essentials — for themselves and their families now and in the future.
  2. Economic mobility: Good jobs provide clear pathways into them and an equitable chance at hiring. They provide mobility over a career through opportunities to learn, to advance to new positions, to be recognized for accomplishments, to save, and to build wealth.
  3. Equity, respect, and voice: Good jobs respect the contributions that people bring to an organization, without regard to their gender, race, ethnicity, level of educational attainment, or other demographic characteristics. They engage workers in understanding their work and how it advances the goals of the organization. Workers in good jobs have the power to ensure that concerns about working conditions or ideas for improving workplaces will be fairly considered and acted upon.

Good jobs rest on a foundation of our existing labor laws, which have established basic standards to eliminate child labor; set minimum pay standards; regulate working hours; improve worker safety and health; prohibit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, religious belief, age, or disability status; and recognize the right of workers to form a union and bargain collectively should they choose to do so. Respecting these laws as a shared set of rules to protect human dignity is a key component of creating good jobs and government enforcement plays a critical role in ensuring these values are protected in our economy. Good jobs provide these types of protections even if their particular industry may be excluded from these laws. We also recognize that effective managers support good jobs by looking for opportunities for direct reports to advance and develop, and helping to build equitable, respectful, and accountable teams and cultures.

We see this shared definition of good jobs as an essential first step in a renewed movement toward good jobs for all. We recognize that jobs are not easily separated into “good jobs” and “bad jobs,” and we use the term “job quality” to describe the actionable continuum of moving from low quality to higher quality. The undersigned recognize the urgency and potential of this moment and are committed to working toward this vision for good jobs through our daily work. We invite you to join us.

Please sign on to this shared definition of job quality here


Signatories

Michael Lastoria
&pizza

Leng Leng Chancey
9to5

Kristie Buckley
Access, Inc.

Eric Weaver
Accion Opportunity Fund

Siggi Busha’
AETC Aviation Management Group

Gina Schaefer
A Few Cool Hardware Stores

Kristina Valdez, MSW
Along The Way

Sean Daniel Murphy
Always win together.

Priscilla Sims Brown
Amalgamated Bank

Anna Fink
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation

Victor Burgos
AMBE-Advanced Manufacturing Bilingual Educators

Arlington Community Foundation

Anne Mosle
Ascend at the Aspen Institute; Aspen Forum on Women and Girls

Monique Miles and Steve Patrick
Aspen Forum for Community Solutions

Judy Samuelson
Aspen Institute Business & Society Program

Bonita Robertson-Hardy and Chris Estes
Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group

Maureen Conway
Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program

Ida Rademacher and Joanna Smith-Ramani
Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

Corby Kummer
Aspen Institute Food and Society Program

Domenika Lynch
Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program

Jane Wales
Aspen Institute Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation

Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative

AHM Bazlur Rahman
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication

Babak Bagheral
Beth Israel Lahey Health

Roy E. Bahat
Bloomberg Beta

Angela McCabe
Boston PIC

David Weil and Pamela Joshi
Brandeis University

Xavier de Souza Briggs, Molly Kinder, Annelies Goger, and Martha Ross
Brookings Institution

Anne Claire Broughton
Broughton Consulting, LLC

Sara Enright
BSR

Patti Castro
California State University, Sacramento

Sister Donna J. Markham OP, PhD, ABPP
Catholic Charities USA

Samra Haider
Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Holly Kurtz
Center for the Future of Arizona

Chipotle

Miranda Millard
Cincinnati Works

Bridget Dazey
Clackamas Workforce Partnership

Jeff Vockrodt
Climate Infrastructure Pension Project

Brandon Dennison
Coalfield Development Corporation

Betsy Biemann
Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

Matthew Cohen
Cohen Strategy Group, LLC

Scott D. Cole
Collectivity

Lee Wheeler-Berliner
Colorado Workforce Development Council

Timothy Flacke
Commonwealth

Dorian Warren
Community Change and Community Change Action

James McRitchie
CorpGov.net

Jess Kutch
Coworker.org

Rebecca Lurie
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies

Melissa Hoover
Democracy at Work Institute

Jeff Haanen
Denver Institute for Faith & Work

Lilia Vergara
Dr. Bronner’s

Rick Wartzman
Drucker Institute

Heidi Shierholz
Economic Policy Institute

Taylor Jo Isenberg and Natalie Foster
Economic Security Project

Georgetta Davis
Eminent Life Careers, Inc.

Families and Workers Fund

Darren Walker
Ford Foundation

Mike Brady
G3

Katie J. Wells
Georgetown University

Sarah Kalloch
Good Jobs Institute

Elyse Rosenblum
Grads of Life

Sandeep Gupta
Green Trek Research and Development Private Limited

Rakeen Mabud and Michael Mitchell
Groundwork Collaborative

Milinda Ysasi
Grow

Charmian Tashjian
Harper College Adjunct Faculty Association

Daniel Schneider
Harvard Kennedy School

Bhairvee Shavdia and Tom Woelfel
HCAP Partners

Daniel Bustillo
Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP)

Della Walker, Jr.
Hire Newark / Newark Alliance

Allison Kelly
ICA

Denise Brown-Chillers
ICHANGE

Louis Hyman
ILR School, Cornell University

Roberta McCullough
Institute Capital, Inc

Nadira Narine
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

Erica Bouris
International Rescue Committee

Sarah Amico
Jack Cooper Investments

Don Howard
James Irvine Foundation

Mandy Townsend
Jewish Vocational Service Boston

Fred Goff
Jobcase, Inc.

Melissa A Sadler-Nitu
JobReady by LearningMate

Tameshia Bridges Mansfield
Jobs for the Future

Erica Smiley
Jobs With Justice

Alex Camardelle
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Martin Whittaker
JUST Capital

Alan S. Levey
JVS SoCal

Ali Jaffar
Key Medium

Damien Dwin
Lafayette Square

Lori Davis
Lexington Public Library

Michelle Murray
Living Wage For US

Roxana Tynan
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)

Laurie Siegel
Lumen and FactSet

Chauncy Lennon
Lumina Foundation

Virginia Hamilton
Make Fast Studio

Bill Guest
Metrics Reporting, Inc.

Bill Rayl
Michigan Manufacturers Association

Thomas Kochan
MIT

Barbara Dyer
MIT Institute for Work & Employment Research

Paul Osterman, Erin L. Kelly, and Anna Stansbury
MIT Sloan School

Tanya Wallace Gobern
National Black Worker Center

Jessica Martinez
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

Haeyoung Yoon
National Domestic Workers Alliance

Amanda Cage
National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Dr. Stephen J. Sills
National Institute of Minority Economic Development

Elba Aranda-Suh
National Latino Education Institute (NLEI)

National Skills Coalition

Justine Zinkin
Neighborhood Trust

Mary Alice McCarthy, PhD, and Shalin Jyotishi
New America, Center on Education and Labor

Asia Edwards
Nonprofit Finance Fund

H Jeffrey Rafn
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

Northern Initiatives

Ohio Workforce Coalition

Omidyar Network

Byron G Auguste
Opportunity@Work

Rick Plympton
Optimax Systems, Inc

Walt Tobin
Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College

Anna-Lisa Miller
Ownership Works

Bulbul Gupta
Pacific Community Ventures

Kamalu Shehu Garba
PCACC

Jessica Zorola
Per Scholas

Jodi M. Sturgeon
PHI

Piper Phillips Caswell
PHILLIPS Programs

Abbie Langston, PhD
PolicyLink

Jim Baker
Private Equity Stakeholder Project

Hilary Abell, Evan Edwards, and Alison Lingane
Project Equity

Rebecca Kusner
R4 Workforce

Dr. Gene Coughlin
Resilience-Building Leader Program Inc.

Saket Soni
Resilience Force

Dr. Sekou Siby, DBA, and Marie L. Wiggins
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United

Morgan Golin and Celeste Richie
Results for America

Jeffrey M. Siminoff
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Peter Callstrom
San Diego Workforce Partnership

Tyra Mariani
Schultz Family Foundation

Mary Kay Henry
SEIU

Christopher W Cox
Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment

Santiago Leon
SGL Insurance

Mangle L. Shanks, Ph.D.
Shanks Health Housing Employment Education & Training Services, Inc. (SHEETS, Inc.)

Pegge Boehm, PBVM
Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Aberdeen SD

Steven Lee
SkillUp Coalition

Andre Green
SkillWorks

Alison Lands
SkyHive Technology

John Arensmeyer
Small Business Majority

Tracy Palandjian
Social Finance

Lisa L. Walsh
South Valley Industrial Collaborative

Julie Buisson
SpringForward

Brett Hickey
Star Mountain Capital

Jeff Wasden
State Business Executives

Lexi Gervis and Adam Roseman
Steady

Stonewall Community Foundation

Rosye Blancas Cloud
STRATA9

William Chesnutt
Strategic Development Group LLC

Phil Weinberg
STRIVE

Sid Pailla
Sunny Day Fund

Jeffrey P. Bill, MD
Sunrise Treatment Center

Kimberly Shin
Talent Rewire

Samantha Gordon
TechEquity Collaborative

Dave DeSario
Temp Worker Justice

Bo Delp
Texas Climate Jobs Project

Tracy Gray
The 22 Fund

Karen Bornarth
The Bread Bakers Guild of America

Carole Beaty
The Centers

Erik Forman
The Drivers Cooperative

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

David Hammer
The ICA Group

Sara Chester
The Industrial Commons

Soraya Sánchez Fernández
The Languages of Energy

Patrick W. Gross
The Lovell Group

David Howell
The New School

Michelle Talarico
The Picnic Basket Catering Collective

Rachel Lipson
The Project on Workforce at Harvard

Jenny Calvert Rodriguez and John Booker
The Red Tab Foundation

Michael Horrigan and Brad Hershbein
The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Adrian Haro
The Workers Lab

Talia Nagar
Tipping Point Community

Bendu Griffin
Tonma, LLC

Ashley Shabankareh
Trombone Shorty Foundation

Constance Ricketts
Tulipshare Ltd.

Bryan Pino Goebel
Turning Basin Labs

Neidi Dominguez
Unemployed Workers United

Kelly Pope
Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County

Emily Montan
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada

Amanda Ream
United Domestic Workers/AFSCME

Stephanie Hoopes, PhD
United For ALICE

Connie Beal
United Way’s Working Bridges

Chris Benner
University of California, Santa Cruz

Susan Lambert
University of Chicago

Arne L. Kalleberg and Nichola Lowe
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jenna Myers
University of Toronto Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources

Elisabeth Jacobs
Urban Institute

Jonathan Fisher
Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Jamon Alexander
West Michigan Center for Arts + Technology (WMCAT)

Cait Garozzo
West Philadelphia Skills Initiative

Tamear Henegain
Willow Foundation- Heartwood Center

La June Montgomery Tabron
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Ellen G. Frank-Miller, PhD
Workforce & Organizational Research Center (WORC)

Jen Gresham
Work for Humanity

Emily Timm
Workers Defense Project

Erin Patricia Jones
Workforce Boulder County

Larry Schlang
Working Metrics

Amy Mazur
Work Intervention Network

Jacqueline Ashley
WorkLifeHealth.design

Cynthia Williams
WorkLife Partnership

Monica Munn
World Education Services

Lindsay Blumer
WRTP | BIG STEP

Gerald Chertavian
Year Up

 

Amanda Ahlstrand

Karla J Avery

Kirk Bails

Barbara Bush

Vanessa Carrington

Mary Jo Cook

Elizabeth Enright

Whitney Fields

Robert B Godwin

Sara Gomes

Vasileios Grigoriou

Dee Halzack

Mary Hughes Willis

Matt Littrell

Jerome McIntire

Sarah Miller

Maria Misovich

Ashley Putnam

Nesha Robb

Borja Rodriguez

Theresa Severson

Jessie Spellman

Grace Ukoha

Jessica Valand

Brooke Valle

Click here to see reactions from leaders who signed the statement.