WorkRise aims to rebuild a more equitable and resilient labor market that expands opportunity and economic mobility for workers.
WorkRise aims to rebuild a more equitable and resilient labor market that expands opportunity and economic mobility for workers.
2023 Impact Report
The WorkRise Impact Report 2023 shares more about how we lead with rigorous yet actionable research and get it into the hands of the change makers best positioned to act on it.
WorkRise is a research-to-action network on jobs, workers, and mobility hosted by the Urban Institute.
For many Americans, earning a decent living has been elusive, with wages for workers in low- and middle-wage jobs remaining stagnant for the past 30 years. Opportunities to grow their earnings and advance their careers have been relatively scarce. Benefits such as paid sick time and retirement savings continue to remain out of reach, including for a growing share of “gig” workers. And when unexpected shocks to our economy strike, such as a pandemic, these persistent inequities are only exacerbated.
WorkRise, hosted by the Urban Institute, is a national platform for identifying, testing, and sharing bold ideas for transforming the labor market. We do this by funding research on promising practices, policies, and programs underway across the country as well as foundational research on labor market trends. We generate data and evidence that strengthens employers, informs policymaking, and provides genuine economic mobility and security for workers—especially Black and other people of color, including women and youth, who face systemic barriers to opportunity.
WorkRise convenes and collaborates with often-siloed groups—employers, worker advocates, practitioners, policymakers, scholars, and philanthropists—to ensure the solutions we deliver are relevant and scalable. We aim to be a trusted resource for the data, evidence, and tools today’s leaders need to shape a more equitable, resilient labor market.
The WorkRise Leadership Board is a diverse group of visionary leaders across industries and sectors who are committed to transforming the labor market for low-wage workers.
Former Members
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation seeks to unlock the possibility in every individual.
Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world.
Walmart
The Walmart Foundation works to strengthen communities around the globe.
Cognizant Foundation
The Cognizant Foundation inspires, educates and prepares people of all ages to succeed in the workforce of today and tomorrow.
AARP
AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people to choose how they live as they age.
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies is a global organization that seeks to improve lives, strengthen communities and advance equity.
The James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation’s singular focus is a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically.
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The Kauffman Foundation seeks to build inclusive prosperity through a prepared workforce and entrepreneur-focused economic development.
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation supports nonprofit organizations working to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage throughout the world.
Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s children by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places.
General Motors
General Motors works to create sustainable solutions that improve the communities in which we live and work around the world.
JPB Foundation
The JPB Foundation and our partners work to advance opportunity and justice in the US by reducing poverty, sustaining and enriching our environments, and furthering breakthrough medical research.
The Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy that invests in public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.
Our Partners
WorkRise partners with a wide range of 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 valuable thought leadership, and support dissemination of our research to key actors with the power to put evidence into action towards improving the economic well-being of workers.
Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the greatest challenges of our time.
Burning Glass Technologies
Burning Glass Technologies delivers job market analytics that empower employers, workers, and educators to make data-driven decisions.
Business Roundtable
Business Roundtable CEOs lead America’s largest companies employing over 19 million workers and help sustain and grow tens of thousands of communities and millions of medium- and small-sized businesses.
Opportunity@Work
Opportunity@Works aims to rewire the U.S. labor market so that all individuals Skills Through Alternative Routes (STARs) can work, learn, and earn to their full potential.
PolicyLink
PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by lifting up what works.
R Street Institute
The nonprofit, nonpartisan R Street Institute’s mission aims to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government.
Reimagine Main Street
Reimagine Main Street is a multi-stakeholder, cross-sector initiative focused on advancing and uplifting innovative solutions to ensure that Main Street is at the center of our recovery.
Rework America Alliance
The Rework America Alliance is opening opportunities for millions of unemployed and low-wage workers to move into good jobs, particularly people of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the current economic crisis.
Roosevelt Institute
Drawing on the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor, the Roosevelt Institute champions new ideas and new leaders to make our economy and democracy work for the many, not the few.
TIME’S UP Foundation
The TIME’S UP Foundation is the industry and impact arm of TIME’S UP, an organization that insists upon a world where everyone is safe and respected at work, where women have an equal shot at success and security, and where no one lives in fear of…