Creating quality jobs or improving the quality of existing jobs in communities sits at the heart of BIL, IRA and related investments. Job quality is made up of a set of interconnected principles:
- Earnings
- Schedules
- Safety and security
- Purpose and meaning
- Environment and culture
- Benefits
- Learning and development
- Voice and representation
Each principle speaks to characteristics that are crucial to the protection and advancement of diverse workers and equitable outcomes for their communities. See a sample job quality framework, and check out Results for America’s Job Quality Playbook and its Economic Mobility Catalog strategy protecting worker well-being.
These principles can be used to:
Support the expansion of good infrastructure jobs in the community. This includes prioritizing available infrastructure funding for improving the quality of existing jobs within the sector, as well as creating, through organic growth or company attraction, new jobs in the community. Changes to a) policies such as wage, schedule, safety standards or local hire agreements, procurement requirements, b) requiring or incentivizing the use of project labor agreements (PLA) and community-based agreements (CBA), and c) inclusive program design, such as earn and learn models, supportive services and employer incentives, can all help to achieve this goal.
Help infrastructure employers address pain points related to attraction, retention, advancement or productivity through careful job design that embeds job quality principles in the HR process. This can include implementing skills-based hiring, using tax or other incentives to reduce training costs, and target availability of capital to explore business process improvements or feasibility studies, such as implementation of employee ownership models.
Create accessible pathways to existing good jobs and address the disparities of experiences within jobs based on race, gender or other demographics through work-based learning and employer partnerships. Programs can include a mix of pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship and on-the-job training coupled with essential skill development to broaden the labor pool and provide transformative opportunities within communities.
Embed uplifting practices in every interaction with businesses by using existing licensing requirements, access to capital, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety checks, municipal tax filings and more as an opportunity to educate business leaders on the importance of good jobs, connect them to job design resources, and make them aware of their responsibilities in supporting workers. Standard processes can include a mix of incentives, such as favorable filing timelines or interest rates, as well as reporting requirements such as disaggregated race, gender, wage and benefits data.