Low-Wage Workers Deserve Attention and Action
By: Ryan Rippel
Tags: Labor, Workers

Coming into 2020, conventional wisdom held that the United States was enjoying the strongest labor market in a generation. But by what metrics was that determination made?

Millions of workers were stuck in low-wage jobs without basic assurances such as health benefits and a predictable schedule, and no opportunity and no security.

Then COVID-19 hit. Over the last seven months, millions of workers have been laid off, furloughed, or scaled back. According to Pew Research, one in four adults are struggling to pay their bills.

The people on the wrong side of these divides were not randomly determined. Specifically, people of color were much more likely both to be poor before the pandemic and to lose their job because of the pandemic. Research released in 2018 showed that the black-white wage gap for men has regressed to 1950s levels. (Reminder: Segregation was the law of the land in the 1950s.)

Two years ago, we launched a new program at the Gates Foundation focused on mobility from poverty in the United States. This initiative, which complements our longstanding work in U.S. education, is dedicated to removing barriers to economic opportunity.

As we’ve learned more about the struggles faced by low-wage workers, we’ve been surprised by the lack not only of investment but also of strategic thinking about the problem and solutions. For example, a good job for everyone is a noble goal, but what specifically does a “good job” entail? Along with several other funders, we’ve been surveying workers, and one insight stands out: People want good wages, yes, but they also want purpose, dignity, and autonomy. Our work is grounded in the idea that these factors are essential features to defining a good job.

Another guiding principle is the need to bring together the often siloed groups working on issues of equity in the labor market. We invest, for example, in improving workers’ access to needed benefits — benefits that will help them get to their jobs every day and stay in the labor market — and in meaningful job training that leads to real jobs quickly. Both strategies require partnership among workers, employers, and others. If we’re serious about this conversation, it needs to happen under a big tent.

This week, we’re taking a step toward building a bigger tent by joining with a number of funders to launch WorkRise.

WorkRise will do two things. First, it will bring together a diverse group of people who are all interested in the topic but don’t often come together — workers, employers, labor advocates, researchers — to identify and prioritize the critical questions we need to answer to build an equitable labor market. Second, it will provide funding to pilot solutions in response to those questions to start generating evidence about what’s working and what isn’t.

This is not an ivory tower approach where one researcher gets an idea in the library, publishes it in a white paper on the Internet, and considers the work done. WorkRise is about putting real-world ideas into practice.

COVID-19 didn’t create the inequities suffered by low-wage workers, but it has helped us see the terrible toll that the insecurity of low-wage work takes on millions of our fellow Americans. Now is the time to do something about it.

The goal is simple: to help more Americans climb the economic ladder and lead fulfilling lives with dignity and belonging. We hope you will join us in this journey.