Work plays a crucial role in helping people achieve economic security, mobility, and a sense of purpose. Urban Institute researchers are analyzing changing labor markets and employers’ needs to identify effective strategies for educating, training, and retaining workers. Our focus is on systemically marginalized and minoritized populations, such as Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities. We document workers’ obstacles to financial stability to help employers and policymakers build a more equitable and resilient labor market where workers and employers can thrive.

Our team offers expertise in:

• Knowledge development activities: writing document reviews, literature scans/reviews, and systematic evidence reviews; developing a theory of change/logic model
• Evaluation design and implementation: causal impact experimental and nonexperimental studies, mixed-methods designs, multicomponent designs, qualitative and quantitative analyses, and evaluability assessment to determine the level of readiness for impact evaluation
• Data collection and analysis: designing management information systems, obtaining and analyzing administrative data, designing and administering surveys, and collecting and analyzing qualitative data
• Policy and program assessments: summarizing the knowledge base on a specific policy or program and examining potential policy alternatives or programmatic areas for improvement
• Evaluation and programmatic technical assistance: strengthening evaluations and programs
• Dissemination: publishing and disseminating reports, briefs, infographics and other products through tailored communications strategies, including data visualization, digital communications, social media outreach, and events. 
   

Recent Work

• Job Quality and Race and Gender Equity
  While it’s generally accurate that higher education leads to better-paying jobs, a closer look reveals persistent disparities in job quality when considering race and gender. Despite decades of increased educational attainment among people of color, disparities in job quality remain.
• Career and Technical Education (CTE) CoLab
  The CTE CoLab, funded by ECMC Foundation, convenes a community of practice of technical and community colleges to build knowledge and develop tools addressing inequities for students of color in credit-bearing online CTE programs.
• Competency-Based Occupational Frameworks for Registered Apprenticeships  
  With funding from the US Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship, Urban is building national frameworks for registered apprenticeships in a wide array of occupations.
• Roadmap for Change to Support Pregnant and Parenting Students  
  In collaboration with a Leadership Council, we developed a roadmap to enhance practice, policy, research, and investment, enabling student parents to achieve their education and life goals with ample support.  
   

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