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Wanted: Better Jobs

The U.S. has a job quality problem.  Even when unemployment is low, millions of Americans work at low-paying jobs that often offer limited opportunities for advancement. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Decades of research at MIT and elsewhere indicate that some companies achieve good returns while providing better jobs for frontline workers than many of their competitors do. The key lies in how companies are managed, the choices their leaders make—and the pressures those leaders face from investors.

 

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Improving Job Quality

Headshot of MIT Sloan Professor Zeynep Ton IWER Zeynep Ton Makes the Case for Good Jobs Headshot of MIT Sloan Professor Erin L. Kelly IWER When Good Jobs Go Bad Two women standing in front of a whiteboard with sticky notes on it IWER Three Steps Managers Can Take to Empower Workers
Paul Osterman | NTU Professor of Human Resources and Management
Good jobs are essential for good lives. Our great challenge is not simply creating jobs but assuring that they are good and, by the same token, upgrading the quality of existing work. We have the tools to achieve these goals but need to come together and build the will to move forward."
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Pathways to Better Jobs

An infographic describing the characteristics of a good job IWER A New Definition of Good Jobs, with Support from IWER Faculty Members Image of a Man With Backpack Climbing a Ladder IWER Creating Pathways To Better Jobs Image of a small seedling sprouting from a pile of coins IWER IWER Faculty Members Coauthor New Report on Management Practices that Foster Economic Mobility

Good Jobs Resources

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