Contributor: Atlanta Fed

Worker Voices
By Sarah Miller, Merissa Piazza, Ashley Putnam, Kristen Broady
Worker Voices provides a unique view into how job seekers and workers in lower-wage roles navigated the labor market at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and through recovery—and how it changed what they expect from a job.
Worker Voices
By Sarah Miller, Merissa Piazza, Ashley Putnam, Kristen Broady
The Federal Reserve held focus groups with workers and job seekers with less than a bachelor’s degree, seeking to understand their perspectives and expectations on employment. Here’s what we heard.
Worker Voices
By Sarah Miller, Merissa Piazza, Ashley Putnam, Kristen Broady
How did workers in lower-wage jobs experience employment during the pandemic? The Federal Reserve heldfocus groups with workers and job seekers aged 20–55 years with less than a bachelor’s degree to find out.
Worker Voices
By Sarah Miller, Merissa Piazza, Ashley Putnam, Kristen Broady
Have questions about Worker Voices? Get to know the methodology, coding approach, community-based participatory research principles employed, and limitations; statistics on participant demographics; and the facilitation guide questions used.
A diverse group of preschoolers in a classroom.
By Benjamin Horowitz
Affordable, high-quality child care can be difficult for parents to access. Here is what Fed researchers have learned about supply constraints and demand challenges that hinder equitable access to quality child care.
Julie Siwicki holding her foster dog.
By Jennie Blizzard
Julie Siwicki works hard to make sure the perspectives of community partners are part of the research formula.
Group of diverse multi-ethnic people communicating
By Jon Ford, Julie Siwicki, Jennifer Wilding
Communities benefit when research is conducted collaboratively with community members rather than to them. Here are five ways this approach, called participatory research, is different from a typical research process and how it benefits communities.
March 2023 Community Perspectives, Conditions
By Federal Reserve Community Development Staff
Here’s what nonprofit and community leaders, and workforce professionals serving lower-income people, shared with the Federal Reserve for the Beige Book.
Deonne Luacaw
By Gabriella Chiarenza
Losing public assistance benefits when their income goes up incentivizes some workers to stay in low-paying jobs. It discourages others who are willing to work from joining the workforce. Explore the issue and what's being done.
Two men and two women in focus group conversation
By Sarah Miller, Ashley Putnam
Businesses tell us they're having a tough time hiring and retaining workers. Do people not want to work or is something deeper going on? We're conducting focus groups with workers to find out what's going on. Here's what we've learned so far.