Every Step Seems Down: The Chaos of Labor Market Entry and Promotion

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Argument examines the labor market from the perspective of working families and argues need to change dramatically how labor market think about “good jobs.”

It suggests that U.S. is approaching the demands of the 21st century with the ideas and expectations of the mid-20th century. “This paper seeks to untangle the dynamics of entry and promotion in the contemporary labor market to give families and their organizations a deeper understanding of this additional source of their anxieties about work.

Its hope is to give them, and their allies among employers, policy-makers, union leaders, and community leaders, the tools to re-shape labor market structures to recreate effective paths from their families to good jobs.” Policy proposals include European models of skill standards curriculum that would provide students with additional certifications and hard skills as well as “School-to-work” programs that allow students to enter to job training/apprenticeships alongside their studies.

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