A Strong Workforce
To have a strong, competitive workforce, we need to equip workers with the resources and skills they need to move up the ladder, and the power to advocate for their interests.
“Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt
The issue
The cost of college is rising far faster than workers’ incomes, resulting in “fewer kids going to college because they say it costs too much.” We’re failing to create jobs in the industries that actually grow our economy, like clean infrastructure or manufacturing. Protections for union and gig workers are being systematically undermined. All of this has resulted in a workforce that is less and less equipped to meet the demands of today’s labor market and advocate for their interests. We must provide our workers with the education, tools, and protections that allow them to maximize their potential and live with dignity.
Read the detailed policy fact sheet:
How we fix it:
🎓 Enact a universal public college program
Americans' growing inability to afford higher education is a big problem. First, our job market keeps shifting towards tech and finance which require a college education; if we want our workforce to compete globally, they must have the skills that today’s ‘knowledge economy’ requires. Second, the inability to access higher education worsens economic inequality. College-educated workers make far more money over their lifetimes and enjoy greater healthcare and benefits; if low-income students can’t access education, the gap between the haves and have-nots widens. Several universal public-college proposals have been put forth (see details here), and the benefits are consistent:
Good for our workers
Research shows that "a well-trained workforce equipped with the skills required to adapt to automation and AI will enjoy productivity growth and ensure talents of all workers are harnessed."
Good for our workers
The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce reports that “additional annual tax revenue associated with higher educational attainment would exceed the annual costs." Free college increases enrollment and disposable incomes, resulting in productivity gains and economic stimulus that grow our economy.
Good for economic equality
Past CEW research found that family income is the top predictor of educational attainment and financial success in America, even more than a student's intelligence. All students should be able to access higher education, regardless of their parents’ income. First-dollar tuition programs offer help to low-income students by allowing them to qualify for other types of financial assistance to pay for living expenses.
⚒️ Create good, meaningful jobs that grow our economy
Invest in underdeveloped industries
Investing in clean energy infrastructure would create millions of new jobs. Meanwhile, research shows that reviving key US manufacturing industries could add 1.5 million jobs and boost GDP by over 15% by 2030. We need to fund and offer incentives for job creation in clean energy, manufacturing, and other sectors with untapped potential for employment and economic growth.
Invest in re-skilling and upskilling workers
Upskilling workers is critical in today's economy, as forces like automation and artificial intelligence are shifting the skills workers need. Re-skilling workers will require "intensive and innovative collaboration between the public and private sectors"; we must facilitate this collaboration through agency funding and policy roadmaps like the OPM's "re-skilling toolkit."
Invest in marginalized workers
Measures like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (for employers who employ individuals from targeted groups that face barriers to employment), or investing tax revenue from marijuana sales to create public sector jobs, help us bring as many Americans into our workforce as possible.
👨🏭👩⚕️ Support unions
Protect workers' right to organize
Labor unions help workers band together to advocate for fair wages and working conditions. Bills like the Protecting the Right to Organize Act will protect employees' rights to organize and prohibits employers from taking adverse actions against unionizing employees.
Honor collective bargaining rights
The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act Establishes minimum collective bargaining rights for public employees, including the right of supervisory employees to self-organize, join a labor organization, or collectively bargain.
Repeal right-to-work laws
‘Right-to-work’ laws let workers exempt themselves from joining their company’s union, “hurting the ability of unions to advocate for all workers and to check corporate greed.” Workers in ‘right to work’ states have lower wages, higher poverty and infant mortality rates, and less access to quality healthcare and education. The Nationwide Right To Unionize Act would curtail this practice.
Direct funding to pro-union organizations
Per the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, we must “leverage federal [funding] to support workers who are organizing and pro-worker employers," while ensuring federal contract dollars aren't spent on anti-union campaigns and activities.
🏃♂️ Protect gig workers
Distinguish gig workers from independent contractors at the federal level
Gig workers can be wrongly labeled as independent contractors, which unfairly “excludes them from core minimum wage, overtime, paid leave, anti-discrimination, and collective bargaining protections” under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A recent Department of Labor proposal would lowers the requirements for a gig worker to be classified as an employee.
Promote part-time workers' flexibility
Part-time workers don't receive the flexibility that full-time workers do. Elizabeth Warren's 2019 "A Fair Workweek for America’s Part-Time Workers" Plan would require employers to post work schedules 2+ weeks in advance, grant employee requests for shifts to accommodate caregiving or other professional responsibilities, and offer additional hours to existing part-time workers.