News

Back

NewDEAL Forum Issues Future of Work Policy Recommendations

News Category: Statements and Press Releases

For Immediate Release:
November 28, 2018
Contact: Jonathon Dworkin (NewDEAL), 202-660-1340 x5, jonathon@newdealleaders.org

NewDEAL Forum Issues Future of Work Policy Recommendations

Policymakers and leading experts develop state and local solutions for challenges of a changing workplace

Washington, DC – Emphasizing that public policy has not kept pace as globalization and technological innovation have transformed the modern workplace, the NewDEAL Forum today released an extensive set of recommendations for state and local elected officials to address the future of work. The report draws from the work of innovative policymakers as well as input from leading think tanks and members of the private sector. Proposals are accompanied by an appendix of more than 20 specific programs, laws, and pieces of proposed legislation from policy experts and elected officials across the country.

“In a nation of diverse communities, solving these challenges requires state and local leadership,” write U.S. Senator Mark Warner and former Delaware Governor Jack Markell in an introduction to the recommendations from the Honorary Co-chairs of the Forum’s sister organization, NewDEAL Leaders.

“But it is hard, if not impossible, for individual policymakers to research and create comprehensive policy agendas. They need workable ideas for what to do, tailored to their levels of government and areas of oversight. And that is exactly what this report by the NewDEAL Forum is all about: providing state and local elected officials with a road map of practical steps they can take to help their constituents navigate the changing world of work.”

The report lays out stark statistics, and notes that inequalities and societal divisions are exacerbated by our economic transformation, as it underscore the urgency with which leaders must act. Recommendations focus on policy ideas in three key areas:

Improving Workforce Training: To address the ongoing importance of digital skills, as well as increasing impacts of automation and artificial intelligence, the initiatives proposed by the Future of Work Policy Group include career pathways that prepare students for high-demand fields, expanded apprenticeship opportunities, and tax incentives for employers to invest in training for their employees.

Modernizing the Social Safety Net: To respond to a broken worker benefit system in which a decreasing number of Americans have access to employer-provided health care and retirement, the Group proposes portable benefit structures and innovative ways to increase retirement savings, as well as other reforms to prevent people from being left behind.

Supporting Entrepreneurship and Innovation: With insufficient lending to small businesses and other barriers that are limiting economic growth and promoting inequality, the Group proposes ways to help startups, encourage small business lending, address the challenges facing rural communities, and reform occupational licensing to reduce obstacles to employment and entrepreneurship.

Embedded within the sections of the report are proposals to break down barriers to success for women, who remain primary family caregivers and have lacked access to key supports like apprenticeships.

View the full recommendations here.

And check out the agenda for this week’s NewDEAL Leaders conference, where discussions of the future of work, including solutions in this report, will be a main topic.

“State and local policymakers are developing creative solutions to address the challenges surrounding the future of work,” said Alastair Fitzpayne, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative. “As leaders look for policies to better support workers in a rapidly changing economy, the NewDEAL Forum’s Future of Work Policy Group has developed promising ideas to help policymakers pilot new approaches and address these challenges in their communities.”

The group is co-chaired by Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards and Massachusetts State Senator Eric Lesser, who have worked with more than a dozen contributing elected officials, as well as the Aspen Institute and other partner organizations, to develop practical solutions that state and local officials can pursue.

“In the coming months, we plan to build on this work by disseminating the recommendations broadly and providing implementation resources for leaders interested in pursuing these ideas,” write Edwards and Lesser in the report. “At a time of unprecedented changes in our economy, all elected leaders have a responsibility to act on the future of work if we are to restore the promise of the American Dream and give everyone the chance to reach their potential.”

“These ideas are a powerful start, but they are just ideas. We urge state and local leaders of all parties and perspectives, in all places, to consider these and other ideas,” write Senator Warner and Governor Markell. “We must act like the success of our people and our nation depend upon adapting and modernizing – because it does.”

About the NewDEAL Forum

The NewDEAL Forum is a non-profit organization which identifies and promotes innovative, future-oriented state and local pro-growth progressive policies that can improve the lives of all Americans. By facilitating the identification and spread of policy ideas, the NewDEAL Forum seeks to foster economic growth, reduce barriers to opportunity and promote good government in communities and states. The Forum advances its mission by researching, identifying, and sharing state and local pro-growth progressive policy ideas and bringing together public, private, and non-profit sector policy experts to exchange ideas and discuss the country’s biggest challenges.

###