Universal Paid Sick Time Would Strengthen Public Health and Benefit Businesses
A national, guaranteed right to paid sick time is essential for the well-being of workers and their families and would have profound positive impacts on public health and businesses.
3 Ways States Can Expand and Sustain the Infrastructure Workforce by Meeting Child Care Needs
To improve recruitment, training, and retention in the construction industry, states should utilize infrastructure funds to address workers’ child care needs.
How States and Unions Can Partner To Build the Public Sector Workforce
Partnering with unions to train public sector workers helps states uphold high-quality standards; connect with and recruit from local communities; and address the nation’s public sector hiring challenges.
How To Support Good Jobs and Workforce Equity on Federal Infrastructure Projects
As funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act flow through federal and state project owners, agencies must build long-lasting capacity to provide equitable access to high-quality jobs.
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act provides critical protections for women who choose to breastfeed in the workplace and expands protections in the 2010 Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act.
Revolutionizing the Workplace: Why Long COVID and the Increase of Disabled Workers Require a New Approach
Using new data from the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the impacts of long COVID on the labor market, this report recommends that employers, unions, and policymakers create better workplaces for disabled workers and all workers.
The NLRB Protects Workers’ Right To Organize, Yet Remains Underfunded
Under the Biden administration, the National Labor Relations Board is striving to protect workers' right to form a union and collectively bargain, but the agency remains underfunded and understaffed.
Lessons From New Zealand’s New Sectoral Bargaining Law
Unions and policymakers in New Zealand are seeking a solution to address stagnant wages, rising economic inequality, and low productivity after the failures of worksite-only bargaining—and the United States can learn from their efforts.
Ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers would benefit everyone
As voters in Portland, Maine, and Washington, D.C., prepare to head to the ballot box to decide whether to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers, Justin Schweitzer explains why all workers—tipped and untipped—should be paid at least the state minimum wage.
How Biden’s American-Style Industrial Policy Will Create Quality Jobs
The Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are key pillars of a transformative industrial policy platform.
Latino Workers Continue To Experience a Shortage of Good Jobs
Although Hispanic and Latino workers have high employment rates in the United States, labor market experiences differ substantially within this community, with Mexican, Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran Americans experiencing significant and intersecting gender and ethnic wage gaps.
Workforce Development’s Role in Building the Infrastructure Labor Force
Marina Zhavoronkova, a senior fellow on the Poverty to Prosperity team at American Progress, discusses the important role the public workforce development system can play in building a skilled, diverse infrastructure workforce.
Worker Boards Across the Country Are Empowering Workers and Implementing Workforce Standards Across Industries
Worker boards have achieved real momentum in the United States, with four states and three local governments enacting laws since 2018 that bring workers and employers together to recommend standards.
COVID-19 Likely Resulted in 1.2 Million More Disabled People by the End of 2021—Workplaces and Policy Will Need to Adapt
Workplaces will need to adapt to significant increases to both the disabled population and disabled workforce, and future labor market analysis must center disability.
Federal Contractors Are Violating Workers’ Rights and Harming the U.S. Government
New analysis from the Center for American Progress Action Fund finds that government contractors that break workplace laws frequently perform poorly and waste public resources.
Raising Wages and Narrowing Pay Gaps With Service Sector Prevailing Wage Laws
Prevailing wage laws for government service contracts can uplift wages and benefits; reduce racial pay gaps; and could have a range of positive effects on worker turnover, service quality, local budgets, and collective bargaining.
David Madland praises a new Detroit city ordinance that would create a process for bringing together representatives of workers, employers, and the public to make recommendations around minimum compensation and standards for certain industries.
The American Rescue Plan Can Help States and Localities Meet Employment Goals and Invest in Workers
American Rescue Plan funding allows state and local governments to invest in employment solutions for their residents, including skills training, career pathways in educational settings, child care, and other basic needs.
Workers Are Rising Up Across the Nation. It’s Time for America to Listen
In light of the strikes happening across industries this month, David Madland argues that Congress and companies should heed workers' calls for better jobs.
Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice
We pursue climate action that meets the crisis’s urgency, creates good-quality jobs, benefits disadvantaged communities, and restores U.S. credibility on the global stage.
