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Building a Public Constituency for Workforce Issues
This report explores the urgent need for policymakers to involve the public in discussions about the economy and the labor market. It also suggests ways policymakers can increase public awareness of these issues. The document highlights a gap between public and policy leaders’ understanding of workforce issues, citing a 1991 study by the Public Agenda Foundation. For instance, while leaders prioritize productivity, the public focuses on job availability. The document argues that building a public constituency is crucial for sustainable economic change, as changes like adopting new work structures or providing training cannot be mandated without public consent.The authors propose a four-stage framework for building public consensus:
- Awareness: Helping the public recognize that there’s a problem with the future economy (e.g., declaring a crisis, dramatizing events, personalizing issues, using media).
- Definition: Helping the public understand what the issue means in their lives and in a broader economic context (e.g., eliminating jargon, being consistent, involving affected people, listening, using compelling visuals).
- Attitude: Fostering an emotional commitment to the issue (e.g., addressing negative perceptions, accentuating positives, recasting “either/or” issues as “both/and,” finding common values).
- Behavior: Motivating the public to take action (e.g., acknowledging complexity, providing opportunities for public input, creating behavior checklists, offering easy access to information for concrete actions).
The document emphasizes that policymaking should start by assessing the public’s current level of awareness, attitude, and commitment, rather than assuming their understanding. It suggests using surveys to measure awareness and focus groups for defining and understanding attitudes. Finally, it provides a list of polling organizations and publications as resources for policymakers.
