WorkRise, hosted by the Urban Institute and supported by a multi-funder collaborative, is a national platform for identifying, testing, and sharing bold ideas for transforming the labor market. WorkRise aims to rebuild a more equitable and resilient labor market that expands opportunity and economic mobility for workers.

WorkRise funds research on promising practices, policies, and programs underway across the United States as well as foundational research on labor market trends. Data and evidence are generated to strengthen employers, inform policymaking, and provide economic mobility and security for workers—especially Black and other people of color, including women and youth, who face systemic barriers to opportunity.

WorkRise partners with institutions representing key labor market stakeholders: employers, small business, workers’ advocates, practitioners, policymakers, and the research community. These partnerships inform WorkRise’s research agenda, provide thought leadership, and support dissemination of its research to key actors with the power to put evidence into action towards improving the economic well-being of workers.

Partners include:

• Aspen Institute
• Burning Glass Technologies
• Business Roundtable
• Opportunity@Work
• PolicyLink
• R Street Institute
• Reimagine Main Street
• Rework America Alliance
• Roosevelt Institute
• TIME’S UP Foundation

Examples of Work

• Advancing Worker Mobility and Well-Being through Microbusiness
  • Surveys and interviews microbusiness owners and employees to see the opportunities and limitations of microbusinesses from all perspectives and identifies how community development organizations can support best practices.
• Increasing Hispanic Workers' Access to Paid Family Medical Leave
  • Gathers evidence on how to design paid family leave programs that are more accessible to Hispanic workers and small businesses.
• Do Labor Unions Improve Working Conditions for Health Care Workers?
  • Investigates if unionization plays a role in improving wages and working conditions for frontline, health care staff as well as examines the differences in outcomes from unionization for Black workers.
• Workforce Almanac: Shaping Inclusive Investments in Workforce Systems
  • Aims to identify how the workforce development sector is serving and underserving communities and shift resources for systematic change toward equity.

Resources

Funded Projects

Worker Mobility and Well-Being

Paid Family Medical Leave

Working Conditions for Health Care Workers

Workforce Almanac