Brief What's Important in a Job? An Analysis of What Matters and for Whom
Molly M. Scott, Batia Katz
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Workers are facing many immediate concerns right now—such as access to health care, job security, and flexible scheduling—that are all elements of job quality that may vary significantly by job, employer, and industry. Workers may value aspects of their job differently in varying circumstances. For example, workers with significant child care responsibilities may have a greater need for flexible scheduling, whereas young people just starting out their career may have a greater desire for training and advancement opportunities. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic recession, workers’ issues are at the forefront of many policy spaces and, more than ever, it is important to understand what individual workers need from their jobs. In this brief, we analyze how preferences for different job quality elements vary based on worker characteristics, as well as how employers and policymakers might think about how to bundle these elements to create and sustain “good jobs.”

Research and Evidence Family and Financial Well-Being Work, Education, and Labor Research to Action
Expertise Wealth and Financial Well-Being Higher Education Workforce Development Labor Markets Families Upward Mobility and Inequality
Tags Employment and income data Wages and nonwage compensation Wealth inequality Mobility Work supports Work-family balance Beyond high school: education and training Building America’s Workforce
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