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Workers in Transition

Policies + Practices focused on reducing unemployment and underemployment while also providing services to support and aid workers during their transition back into the workforce.

Worker-Owned Job Matching Services

ACTOR:
Workers, Governments, Businesses, Labor Unions
Workforce Development, Workers in Transition, Quality of Work, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should support the expansion of worker-owned and -controlled job-matching services, which would give workers power in the job-matching process and allow them to establish floors for wages and benefits and otherwise improve workplace standards, all while creating an empowered worker community.

More Information

Dislocation Reskilling Accounts

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses, Education Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should expand access to skills training by making workers who lose their jobs eligible for a Dislocation Reskilling Account. The account would provide public funds to invest in training through an apprenticeship or other training program, with a community organization or at a community or technical college, to prepare workers who lose their jobs for new jobs created as a result of technological shifts in the workplace.

More Information

Workforce Opportunities for Individuals Recovering from Substance Use Disorders

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

Governments should remove obstacles to participating in work and learning by closing gaps in access to medical and mental health care, including for those recovering from substance use disorders. Policies should work toward an ecosystem in which all workers, including those with disabilities, can participate in work and learning opportunities.

More Information

Accelerated Credential Pathways for Returning Veterans

ACTOR:
Governments
Modernizing Education, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should support returning veterans and their spouses transitioning to the civilian labor market by removing barriers to recognition of occupation-specific training completed as part of military service.

More Information

Enhancements of Unemployment Insurance Wage Records

ACTOR:
Governments
Data for Decision-Makers, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

States should collect more data from employers to improve outcomes tracking for those participating in the UI system. Additional data points may include hours worked, occupational codes and position titles.

More Information

Research Past Transitions in Administrative and Clerical Work

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Data for Decision-Makers, Workers in Transition

Policymakers and employers must address the question of what good jobs will be created to replace the lost jobs in administrative and clerical work, especially those that do not require an advanced degree to earn a family-sustaining wage. They should conduct further investigations to understand how clerical workers weathered transitions and job dislocation during the last several decades, when automation shrank the number of administrative jobs. The resulting lessons can be useful in connecting this workforce to new opportunities and in helping administrative workers keep pace with technological changes.

More Information

Legislative Requirements for Employer-Sponsored Retraining and Severance

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

If new technology will eliminate or fundamentally change an individual worker’s current job, governments should legislatively require employers to give them a minimum advance notice of that change, and to take on some of the responsibility for helping them transition into a new job. The employer could fulfill that responsibility by paying for that worker to train for a new position at their current company—including any remedial training needed to meet the minimum qualifications of the new position—or by providing a minimum severance payment and training voucher that the worker could use at a community college or a certified training provider. Workers facing technological change should have either a path to a new job at their current company or a chance to succeed at a new company with their economic security intact.

More Information

Investment in Middle-Skill Workers

ACTOR:
Governments
Modernizing Education, Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

Governments should invest in education and skills training not only for workers who risk losing their jobs to augmentation or automation, but also for middle-skill workers. The number of such workers in healthcare professions, such as respiratory therapists, dental hygienists, and clinical laboratory technicians, as well as production workers in operative, technical, and administrative positions, is expected to shrink in the next decade due to retirement. This presents the opportunity to hire millions of new workers to replace these vacant positions, which will require investment in accessible training paths such as community college education and sectoral training programs.

More Information

Verified Resumes

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Workers in Transition, Workforce Development, Tools for Individuals

Governments, educational institutions, and employers should collaborate to explore the potential for formalized verified resumes. A verified resume is a document that records the skills and knowledge that people acquire through their lives, both as students and workers. Interest in verified resumes has grown in recent years with developments in blockchain technology that can reliably document skill verification by a distributed network of actors.

More Information

Stackable Credentials

ACTOR:
Governments, Educational Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition

Governments and educational institutions should prioritize the development, validation, and promotion of a broader ecosystem of stackable skills-oriented credentials, such as microcredentials, badges, and short-term certificates. Stackable skills-oriented certifications can fill the signaling problem for workers without diplomas or degrees by capturing employability skills and other noncognitive skills. They also benefit students by not penalizing program noncompletion as harshly and offering credit and certifications for obtaining intermediate skills.

More Information

Union Membership Based on Ideological Alignment

ACTOR:
Labor Unions
Quality of Work, Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition

Unions can experiment with a form of membership or affiliation founded on ideological alignment rather than provision of services—an organization of people who want to learn about and support unions but are not currently represented by a union—similar to the American Civil Liberties Union, Sierra Club or National Rifle Association. These diffuse supporters could be a source of leaders and support for efforts by working people to come together in a union or to bargain a fair contract, as well as for pro-worker policy initiatives.

More Information

Support Mechanisms for Youth Employment

ACTOR:
Governments
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition

Governments should create support mechanisms to increase youth employment participation rate. This would include reducing structural barriers in labor market regulations, creating incentives to encourage the hiring of youth, and reducing tax burdens. Such measures would help facilitate the transition of youth workers between informal and formal employment.

More Information

Diversity of Labor Contractual Arrangements

ACTOR:
Governments
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition

Policymakers should respond to changing demographics by promoting diversity of labor contractual arrangements. Fostering more flexible and destandardized working conditions will allow increase labor market participation and inclusion by attracting vulnerable groups, such as women, people with a disability, ethnic minorities. For example, population ageing calls for longer working lives but also the need to develop more flexible working arrangements that fit the abilities and preferences of older people.

More Information

State Facilitation of Job Transitions

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments should facilitate the transition and secure the ability of workers to move between jobs. Policies should follow best practices for social innovations that protect workers, such as the social and training funds managed jointly between employers and unions. This will prioritize the protection of labor market security over individual job security.

More Information

Programs Covering Occupational Mobility

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Policymakers and social partners should facilitate workers' occupational mobility by establishing new premiums. This could involve a moving allowance (fully deductible business expense for tax purposes) but also continuing education courses. This would make it easier for workers in transition to undergo a change of location, occupation, or professional status.

More Information

Public and Private Career Management Assistance

ACTOR:
Businesses
Workers in Transition

Public and private employment services should work together to provide career management assistance in the job search. Services could include support in cases of dismissal, legal advice on contracts, training, and career transition. This would help workers to find and retain jobs.

More Information

Voucher-Based Training Benefits for Displaced Workers

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

States should provide displaced workers with training benefits in the form of vouchers that could cover tuition for two-year community colleges or vocational training programs. They could also provide benefits in the form of stipends to cover living expenses. The vouchers should be worth up to $10,000 and the stipend should be equal to a portion of the worker’s pre-displacement wages plus an additional $150 a week.

More Information

Wage Insurance For Older Displaced Workers

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

States should provide a wage insurance program for displaced workers over 50 years old who find new jobs at lower pay. Such workers who earn less than $50,000 per year would be eligible for up to $10,000 in short term subsidies over the course of two years. This would help offset wage loss while encouraging workers to remain in the workforce.

More Information

Reduction of Hours Instead of Layoffs

ACTOR:
Businesses
Workers in Transition

To cut costs, business can reduce the hours of multiple workers rather than laying off workers, a practice known as work sharing. When demand increases, work sharing allows firms  to increase the retained workers' hours as necessary. This gives business additional flexibility while allowing workers to avoid sudden unemployment.

More Information

Increased Lead Time Requirement for Layoff Notifications

ACTOR:
Businesses, Governments
Workers in Transition

When laying off workers, employers should give their employees a warning with enough time to ease the transition of employees looking for new work. Policymakers can mandate this via legislation like The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires businesses to notify workers and the government of at least 60 days in advance of a mass layoff event. Layoffs cannot always be avoided, but transition planning should include as many stakeholders as possible to mitigate negative impacts and to find mutually beneficial solutions.

More Information

Resources and Funding for Job Centers

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments should guarantee sufficient funding for job centers, so that they have the resources to guide workers through transitions, as well as train counselors to better use technology and data to advise workers. Career counseling and other reemployment services, such as job listings, job search assistance, and referrals to employers, has been shown to effectively assist displaced workers in transitioning back to work.

More Information

Subsidies and Incentives for Hiring Underemployed Populations

ACTOR:
Businesses
Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Employers should use on-the-job training subsidies and tax incentives to hire individuals from underemployed groups. Private-sector recruitment strategies need to better address training and hiring of often overlooked populations of job seekers—including older, long-term unemployed job seekers, adults with disabilities, veterans, individuals with pastconvictions, opportunity youth (out of work & out of school)—and governments often provide underutilized programs and incentives.

More Information

Universal Basic Income Pilot Program

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments can test out Universal Basic Income (UBI) with regional, state, or municipal pilots. UBI allows workers to be more selective by eliminating the need to accept poor working conditions to make ends meet, and can allow unemployed individuals to more time to gain skills needed to re-enter the workforce.

More Information

Expansion of Active Labor Market Policies

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments should use active labor market policies to help transition unemployed workers into the workforce, targeting structural issues rather than cyclical trends. These could be public employment services, job search assistance, training, employment subsidies, and targeted assistance programs to encourage entrepreneurship among unemployed persons. ALMPs help workers acquire new skills that increase their earnings and hiring prospects in the long term.

More Information

Stronger Worker Transition Assistance

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

The US is currently in the bottom 5 of developed countries in terms of public spending on transition assistance and retraining programs. Governments should fortify and increase transition assistance for people in between jobs. This can be achieved through the provision of counseling and guidance, retraining, and business start-up support for displaced workers, among other mechanisms.

More Information

Worker-Owned Job Matching Services

ACTOR:
Workers, Governments, Businesses, Labor Unions
Workforce Development, Workers in Transition, Quality of Work, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should support the expansion of worker-owned and -controlled job-matching services, which would give workers power in the job-matching process and allow them to establish floors for wages and benefits and otherwise improve workplace standards, all while creating an empowered worker community.

More Information

Dislocation Reskilling Accounts

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses, Education Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should expand access to skills training by making workers who lose their jobs eligible for a Dislocation Reskilling Account. The account would provide public funds to invest in training through an apprenticeship or other training program, with a community organization or at a community or technical college, to prepare workers who lose their jobs for new jobs created as a result of technological shifts in the workplace.

More Information

Workforce Opportunities for Individuals Recovering from Substance Use Disorders

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

Governments should remove obstacles to participating in work and learning by closing gaps in access to medical and mental health care, including for those recovering from substance use disorders. Policies should work toward an ecosystem in which all workers, including those with disabilities, can participate in work and learning opportunities.

More Information

Accelerated Credential Pathways for Returning Veterans

ACTOR:
Governments
Modernizing Education, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should support returning veterans and their spouses transitioning to the civilian labor market by removing barriers to recognition of occupation-specific training completed as part of military service.

More Information

Enhancements of Unemployment Insurance Wage Records

ACTOR:
Governments
Data for Decision-Makers, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

States should collect more data from employers to improve outcomes tracking for those participating in the UI system. Additional data points may include hours worked, occupational codes and position titles.

More Information

Research Past Transitions in Administrative and Clerical Work

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Data for Decision-Makers, Workers in Transition

Policymakers and employers must address the question of what good jobs will be created to replace the lost jobs in administrative and clerical work, especially those that do not require an advanced degree to earn a family-sustaining wage. They should conduct further investigations to understand how clerical workers weathered transitions and job dislocation during the last several decades, when automation shrank the number of administrative jobs. The resulting lessons can be useful in connecting this workforce to new opportunities and in helping administrative workers keep pace with technological changes.

More Information

Legislative Requirements for Employer-Sponsored Retraining and Severance

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

If new technology will eliminate or fundamentally change an individual worker’s current job, governments should legislatively require employers to give them a minimum advance notice of that change, and to take on some of the responsibility for helping them transition into a new job. The employer could fulfill that responsibility by paying for that worker to train for a new position at their current company—including any remedial training needed to meet the minimum qualifications of the new position—or by providing a minimum severance payment and training voucher that the worker could use at a community college or a certified training provider. Workers facing technological change should have either a path to a new job at their current company or a chance to succeed at a new company with their economic security intact.

More Information

Investment in Middle-Skill Workers

ACTOR:
Governments
Modernizing Education, Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

Governments should invest in education and skills training not only for workers who risk losing their jobs to augmentation or automation, but also for middle-skill workers. The number of such workers in healthcare professions, such as respiratory therapists, dental hygienists, and clinical laboratory technicians, as well as production workers in operative, technical, and administrative positions, is expected to shrink in the next decade due to retirement. This presents the opportunity to hire millions of new workers to replace these vacant positions, which will require investment in accessible training paths such as community college education and sectoral training programs.

More Information

Verified Resumes

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Workers in Transition, Workforce Development, Tools for Individuals

Governments, educational institutions, and employers should collaborate to explore the potential for formalized verified resumes. A verified resume is a document that records the skills and knowledge that people acquire through their lives, both as students and workers. Interest in verified resumes has grown in recent years with developments in blockchain technology that can reliably document skill verification by a distributed network of actors.

More Information

Stackable Credentials

ACTOR:
Governments, Educational Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition

Governments and educational institutions should prioritize the development, validation, and promotion of a broader ecosystem of stackable skills-oriented credentials, such as microcredentials, badges, and short-term certificates. Stackable skills-oriented certifications can fill the signaling problem for workers without diplomas or degrees by capturing employability skills and other noncognitive skills. They also benefit students by not penalizing program noncompletion as harshly and offering credit and certifications for obtaining intermediate skills.

More Information

Support Mechanisms for Youth Employment

ACTOR:
Governments
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition

Governments should create support mechanisms to increase youth employment participation rate. This would include reducing structural barriers in labor market regulations, creating incentives to encourage the hiring of youth, and reducing tax burdens. Such measures would help facilitate the transition of youth workers between informal and formal employment.

More Information

Diversity of Labor Contractual Arrangements

ACTOR:
Governments
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition

Policymakers should respond to changing demographics by promoting diversity of labor contractual arrangements. Fostering more flexible and destandardized working conditions will allow increase labor market participation and inclusion by attracting vulnerable groups, such as women, people with a disability, ethnic minorities. For example, population ageing calls for longer working lives but also the need to develop more flexible working arrangements that fit the abilities and preferences of older people.

More Information

State Facilitation of Job Transitions

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments should facilitate the transition and secure the ability of workers to move between jobs. Policies should follow best practices for social innovations that protect workers, such as the social and training funds managed jointly between employers and unions. This will prioritize the protection of labor market security over individual job security.

More Information

Programs Covering Occupational Mobility

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Policymakers and social partners should facilitate workers' occupational mobility by establishing new premiums. This could involve a moving allowance (fully deductible business expense for tax purposes) but also continuing education courses. This would make it easier for workers in transition to undergo a change of location, occupation, or professional status.

More Information

Voucher-Based Training Benefits for Displaced Workers

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

States should provide displaced workers with training benefits in the form of vouchers that could cover tuition for two-year community colleges or vocational training programs. They could also provide benefits in the form of stipends to cover living expenses. The vouchers should be worth up to $10,000 and the stipend should be equal to a portion of the worker’s pre-displacement wages plus an additional $150 a week.

More Information

Wage Insurance For Older Displaced Workers

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

States should provide a wage insurance program for displaced workers over 50 years old who find new jobs at lower pay. Such workers who earn less than $50,000 per year would be eligible for up to $10,000 in short term subsidies over the course of two years. This would help offset wage loss while encouraging workers to remain in the workforce.

More Information

Increased Lead Time Requirement for Layoff Notifications

ACTOR:
Businesses, Governments
Workers in Transition

When laying off workers, employers should give their employees a warning with enough time to ease the transition of employees looking for new work. Policymakers can mandate this via legislation like The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires businesses to notify workers and the government of at least 60 days in advance of a mass layoff event. Layoffs cannot always be avoided, but transition planning should include as many stakeholders as possible to mitigate negative impacts and to find mutually beneficial solutions.

More Information

Resources and Funding for Job Centers

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments should guarantee sufficient funding for job centers, so that they have the resources to guide workers through transitions, as well as train counselors to better use technology and data to advise workers. Career counseling and other reemployment services, such as job listings, job search assistance, and referrals to employers, has been shown to effectively assist displaced workers in transitioning back to work.

More Information

Universal Basic Income Pilot Program

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments can test out Universal Basic Income (UBI) with regional, state, or municipal pilots. UBI allows workers to be more selective by eliminating the need to accept poor working conditions to make ends meet, and can allow unemployed individuals to more time to gain skills needed to re-enter the workforce.

More Information

Expansion of Active Labor Market Policies

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

Governments should use active labor market policies to help transition unemployed workers into the workforce, targeting structural issues rather than cyclical trends. These could be public employment services, job search assistance, training, employment subsidies, and targeted assistance programs to encourage entrepreneurship among unemployed persons. ALMPs help workers acquire new skills that increase their earnings and hiring prospects in the long term.

More Information

Stronger Worker Transition Assistance

ACTOR:
Governments
Workers in Transition

The US is currently in the bottom 5 of developed countries in terms of public spending on transition assistance and retraining programs. Governments should fortify and increase transition assistance for people in between jobs. This can be achieved through the provision of counseling and guidance, retraining, and business start-up support for displaced workers, among other mechanisms.

More Information

Worker-Owned Job Matching Services

ACTOR:
Workers, Governments, Businesses, Labor Unions
Workforce Development, Workers in Transition, Quality of Work, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should support the expansion of worker-owned and -controlled job-matching services, which would give workers power in the job-matching process and allow them to establish floors for wages and benefits and otherwise improve workplace standards, all while creating an empowered worker community.

More Information

Dislocation Reskilling Accounts

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses, Education Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should expand access to skills training by making workers who lose their jobs eligible for a Dislocation Reskilling Account. The account would provide public funds to invest in training through an apprenticeship or other training program, with a community organization or at a community or technical college, to prepare workers who lose their jobs for new jobs created as a result of technological shifts in the workplace.

More Information

Workforce Opportunities for Individuals Recovering from Substance Use Disorders

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses
Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition, Workforce Development

Governments should remove obstacles to participating in work and learning by closing gaps in access to medical and mental health care, including for those recovering from substance use disorders. Policies should work toward an ecosystem in which all workers, including those with disabilities, can participate in work and learning opportunities.

More Information

Research Past Transitions in Administrative and Clerical Work

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Data for Decision-Makers, Workers in Transition

Policymakers and employers must address the question of what good jobs will be created to replace the lost jobs in administrative and clerical work, especially those that do not require an advanced degree to earn a family-sustaining wage. They should conduct further investigations to understand how clerical workers weathered transitions and job dislocation during the last several decades, when automation shrank the number of administrative jobs. The resulting lessons can be useful in connecting this workforce to new opportunities and in helping administrative workers keep pace with technological changes.

More Information

Verified Resumes

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Workers in Transition, Workforce Development, Tools for Individuals

Governments, educational institutions, and employers should collaborate to explore the potential for formalized verified resumes. A verified resume is a document that records the skills and knowledge that people acquire through their lives, both as students and workers. Interest in verified resumes has grown in recent years with developments in blockchain technology that can reliably document skill verification by a distributed network of actors.

More Information

Public and Private Career Management Assistance

ACTOR:
Businesses
Workers in Transition

Public and private employment services should work together to provide career management assistance in the job search. Services could include support in cases of dismissal, legal advice on contracts, training, and career transition. This would help workers to find and retain jobs.

More Information

Reduction of Hours Instead of Layoffs

ACTOR:
Businesses
Workers in Transition

To cut costs, business can reduce the hours of multiple workers rather than laying off workers, a practice known as work sharing. When demand increases, work sharing allows firms  to increase the retained workers' hours as necessary. This gives business additional flexibility while allowing workers to avoid sudden unemployment.

More Information

Increased Lead Time Requirement for Layoff Notifications

ACTOR:
Businesses, Governments
Workers in Transition

When laying off workers, employers should give their employees a warning with enough time to ease the transition of employees looking for new work. Policymakers can mandate this via legislation like The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires businesses to notify workers and the government of at least 60 days in advance of a mass layoff event. Layoffs cannot always be avoided, but transition planning should include as many stakeholders as possible to mitigate negative impacts and to find mutually beneficial solutions.

More Information

Subsidies and Incentives for Hiring Underemployed Populations

ACTOR:
Businesses
Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Employers should use on-the-job training subsidies and tax incentives to hire individuals from underemployed groups. Private-sector recruitment strategies need to better address training and hiring of often overlooked populations of job seekers—including older, long-term unemployed job seekers, adults with disabilities, veterans, individuals with pastconvictions, opportunity youth (out of work & out of school)—and governments often provide underutilized programs and incentives.

More Information

Dislocation Reskilling Accounts

ACTOR:
Governments, Businesses, Education Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should expand access to skills training by making workers who lose their jobs eligible for a Dislocation Reskilling Account. The account would provide public funds to invest in training through an apprenticeship or other training program, with a community organization or at a community or technical college, to prepare workers who lose their jobs for new jobs created as a result of technological shifts in the workplace.

More Information

Research Past Transitions in Administrative and Clerical Work

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Data for Decision-Makers, Workers in Transition

Policymakers and employers must address the question of what good jobs will be created to replace the lost jobs in administrative and clerical work, especially those that do not require an advanced degree to earn a family-sustaining wage. They should conduct further investigations to understand how clerical workers weathered transitions and job dislocation during the last several decades, when automation shrank the number of administrative jobs. The resulting lessons can be useful in connecting this workforce to new opportunities and in helping administrative workers keep pace with technological changes.

More Information

Verified Resumes

ACTOR:
Governments, Education Institutions, Businesses
Workers in Transition, Workforce Development, Tools for Individuals

Governments, educational institutions, and employers should collaborate to explore the potential for formalized verified resumes. A verified resume is a document that records the skills and knowledge that people acquire through their lives, both as students and workers. Interest in verified resumes has grown in recent years with developments in blockchain technology that can reliably document skill verification by a distributed network of actors.

More Information

Stackable Credentials

ACTOR:
Governments, Educational Institutions
Quality of Work, Workers in Transition

Governments and educational institutions should prioritize the development, validation, and promotion of a broader ecosystem of stackable skills-oriented credentials, such as microcredentials, badges, and short-term certificates. Stackable skills-oriented certifications can fill the signaling problem for workers without diplomas or degrees by capturing employability skills and other noncognitive skills. They also benefit students by not penalizing program noncompletion as harshly and offering credit and certifications for obtaining intermediate skills.

More Information

Worker-Owned Job Matching Services

ACTOR:
Workers, Governments, Businesses, Labor Unions
Workforce Development, Workers in Transition, Quality of Work, Inclusive Workforce

Governments should support the expansion of worker-owned and -controlled job-matching services, which would give workers power in the job-matching process and allow them to establish floors for wages and benefits and otherwise improve workplace standards, all while creating an empowered worker community.

More Information

Union Membership Based on Ideological Alignment

ACTOR:
Labor Unions
Quality of Work, Inclusive Workforce, Workers in Transition

Unions can experiment with a form of membership or affiliation founded on ideological alignment rather than provision of services—an organization of people who want to learn about and support unions but are not currently represented by a union—similar to the American Civil Liberties Union, Sierra Club or National Rifle Association. These diffuse supporters could be a source of leaders and support for efforts by working people to come together in a union or to bargain a fair contract, as well as for pro-worker policy initiatives.

More Information