Economic Opportunity Funders - Fall Meeting: Equity and the Future of Work, Workers, and Social Supports

The nature of work is changing, with work becoming more precarious and less predictable. New and emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence, automation, and big data—are playing a key role in shaping blue collar, white collar, agricultural, and service sector jobs. And while non-standard low-wage jobs grow, middle-wage job growth stalls. These changes are not impacting people equally, with women, people of color, migrants and people with disabilities affected disproportionately.   

Our workforce is also changing. Millennials now make up the largest generation in the workplace. Women comprise more than half of the labor force, with their role as breadwinners steadily increasing. And as the population ages, a growing number of older adults and fewer workers in their prime working years are participating in the workforce and the majority of employees will have caregiving responsibilities during a significant part of their work life. Labor force participation rates for people with disabilities are trending up, although a significant gap remains between Americans with and without disabilities. And with a majority people of color population expected before 2050, we can anticipate increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the workforce. Immigrants will largely contribute to this diversity, with Hispanics and Asians being the fastest-growing groups of employees.

As employment and the workplace evolve, so too must social supports for workers. Millions of Americans, especially women and people of color, are working in jobs with low pay, unpredictable schedules, few if any benefits, and limited opportunities for advancement or growth. Stronger supports are needed in this rapidly changing economy to boost wages, modernize benefits, and ensure safe, healthy, and fair conditions at work. They must be inclusive, and provide coverage for all workers in all forms of employment, including “gig” and contract workers as well as the more than 40 million American caregivers providing unpaid care to adults and children each year. And as unionization declines, new systems and structures are also needed to ensure workers have a voice in the workplace and political arena to ensure worker fairness and equality.  

Join Economic Opportunity Funders for this two-day meeting to explore the role of equity in the transformation of work, workers and social supports. How do we ensure that inequities are disrupted and not reinforced and create a more vibrant and just economy? Sessions will explore:

• Key worker and workplace issues and trends;
• The different impacts of these trends on people depending on race, gender, immigration status, geography and ability and how impacted constituencies are leading efforts to build a more just future of work.
• Connections to current debates and movements on immigration, caregiving and criminal justice;
• Insights on critical opportunities and challenges as we head into the 2020 elections and what we should be paying attention to now;
• How our cross-sector partners are thinking about this work; and
• Time to engage in dialogue with funder colleagues and consider opportunities for individual and collective action.

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Contact: Cema Siegel at csiegel@eofnetwork.org.