Worker Voices
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Worker Voices Special Brief: Self-Employment, Dreams Versus Reality
Worker Voices participants described weighing the tradeoffs of self-employment from the independence it gave to its income generation potential. This research found that participants were pushed or pulled into self-employment for a variety of factors and their experiences did not align with their expectations of this work.
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Worker Voices Special Brief: Pursuing Advancement through Personal Investment
Worker Voices participants described their persistence in taking steps to improve their employment outcomes. They pursued skill-building opportunities and were more willing to leave lower-quality jobs, sometimes to pursue self-employment instead. However, their efforts were met with mixed results.
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For Ashley Putnam, creating change starts with listening to the voices in the community
Ashley Putnam knows that change starts with listening. She leads programs that encourage organizations to think differently about their impact on communities.
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Worker Voices Special Brief: Barriers to Employment
Worker Voices participants described the challenges facing individuals without a four-year degree as they navigated the job market during a global pandemic. Common barriers to work included an evolving labor market, individual attributes, work-family conflicts, and concerns regarding individual well-being.
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‘We’re looking for a place where we belong’: What we learned from talking to workers
As we think of ways to build the strong economy of tomorrow, we cannot afford to leave workers without a four-year degree, and their enormous potential, on the sidelines. “I […]
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Worker Voices Special Brief: Perspectives on Job Quality
For Worker Voices participants, a quality job checks five boxes. Workers with a quality job are adequately compensated, treated well, secure in their position, given flexibility around hours and location, and engaged with the work.
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![[Watch] Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment](https://fedcommunities.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/workervoices-connecting-communities.png?w=1024)
[Watch] Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment
What do workers expect of job quality? How are they using skill development and self-investment to change their economic opportunities? Here’s what recent research tells us. Watch or listen on demand.
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Navigating a changing economy requires resources, data, ideas—and listening
More than 400 community development professionals met in Cleveland, Ohio in mid-June for Policy Summit 2023, an event that featured various sessions aimed at highlighting and addressing economic challenges in the current economy.
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Worker Voices: Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment
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.
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Worker Voices: Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment—Executive Summary
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.