Research Area: Employment

The Urban Institute has tracked job trends for four decades, following unskilled workers during the 1990s boom, welfare leavers taking jobs, and, more recently, older workers during the recession.Our experts study workforce development, disability and employment, and the low-skill labor market.

Much of our employment research focused on low-wage workers—the most vulnerable group in a troubled economy. Low-wage and unemployed workers could find more stable, secure employment if they upgraded their job skills. Putting money back into job training, where federal spending has shrunk in the past 30 years, could jumpstart new state and local strategies to train low-income workers. Workforce development programs have raised earnings for low-wage workers, but federal spending has dropped by more than 70 percent since 1979.