Research

New national survey offers unprecedented look at job quality in the U.S.

First report highlights widespread lack of high-quality work schedules

June 24, 2025

Institute research focuses on labor markets by addressing several core areas: the causes of unemployment and the effectiveness of social safety net programs in mitigating its effects; education and training systems to improve workers’ employability and earnings; and the influence of state and local economic development policies on local labor markets. The Institute also assesses emerging trends affecting workers and labor markets in its core research areas.

Topics

Resources

Foreign workers helped firms survive COVID, boosted local economies 
June 18, 2025
Hiring of foreign-born workers drops: New Hires Quality Index for June
June 4, 2025
Research points to smarter, cheaper ways to create jobs in struggling communities
Timothy J. Bartik
May 15, 2025
Job Quality & Economic Security

Our research explores not just the number of jobs, but also the quality of those jobs and how well they support stable households and communities.

A Honolulu Skyline train departing Hālawa (Aloha Stadium) station, Eli Fessler https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
Public transit delivers large gains for the local economy
Tired barista at work shift
New national survey offers unprecedented look at job quality in the U.S.
Construction workers work on a roof
Foreign workers helped firms survive COVID, boosted local economies 
Woman facing another woman in an interview setting, holding a clipboard
Employers' negotiating separately with each worker fuels gender pay gap
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Social Insurance & Safety Net

Examinations of social safety net programs are central to the Upjohn Institute’s mission to address causes and solutions to unemployment. Our research assesses effectiveness of current social insurance programs and explores other strategies to keep people in stable jobs and minimize the effect of economic downturns.

Gabrielle Pepin portrait
With simple changes, tax credit for care could help working families thrive
Aaron Sojourner mug
Making more child care available: conversation with Aaron Sojourner
Aaron Sojourner
Children learning in child care
Tax credits can increase child care usage and enable more mothers to work
Gabrielle Pepin
Tired mother holding baby, with baby clawing at mom's face, as they do
Welfare changes could set states out of federal compliance: ASSA research focus
Gabrielle Pepin
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Education & Workforce Development

Building and maintaining skills for the labor force is a lifelong process, starting with prekindergarten programs and continuing throughout a worker’s career. The Upjohn Institute’s research elucidates how each learning stage and program contributes to a strong workforce.

Bookshelves in library
Conference showcases next generation of employment researchers
University library exterior, with people gathered around the base
New slate of grants supports dissertation research on policy-relevant employment issues
Grand Vallley State University L. William Seidman Center, exterior, on a sunny day
Spotlight is on aligning leadership as experts convene around creating good jobs
Graduate's parents walk behind her holding hands
Latest data for The Kalamazoo Promise released
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Economic Development

Upjohn Institute research offers insight into specific industries and the labor market as a whole, from locally to nationally and internationally and from both the supply and demand sides. Focal areas include manufacturing, tax incentives and regional collaboration.

Grand Vallley State University L. William Seidman Center, exterior, on a sunny day
Spotlight is on aligning leadership as experts convene around creating good jobs
Woman works on laptop on patio with man
Each dollar spent drawing remote workers to Tulsa delivers $4 benefit to current residents
Timothy J. Bartik
Factory workers on cardboard line
Research points to smarter, cheaper ways to create jobs in struggling communities
Timothy J. Bartik
Workers mounting an engine on B-25 bomber, Inglewood, 1942. Alred Palmer, public domain, Library of Congress
WWII factories boosted local workers for decades. What are the lessons for manufacturing today?
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Working Papers
Causal Effects of Schooling on Memory at Older Ages in Six Low-and-Middle-Incom…
June 2025
Author(s):Vikesh Amin, Jere R. Behrman, Jason M. Fletcher, Carlos A. Flores, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, Iliana Kohler, Hans-Peter Kohler, and Shana D. Stites
Higher schooling attainment is associated with better cognitive function at older ages, but it remains unclear whether the relationship is causal. The authors estimate causal effects of schooling on performances on the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) word-recall (memory) test at older ages in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa. Their results indicate that increasing schooling from never attended to primary had long-lasting effects on memory decades later in life for older adults in five diverse low-and-middle-income countries.
Does Schooling Improve Cognitive Abilities at Older Ages? Causal Evidence from …
June 2025
Author(s):Vikesh Amin, Jere R. Behrman, Jason M. Fletcher, Carlos A. Flores, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, and Hans-Peter Kohler
The authors revisit much-investigated relationships between schooling and health, focusing on schooling impacts on cognitive abilities at older ages using the Harmonized Cognition Assessment Protocol in the Health & Retirement Study (HRS) and a bounding approach that requires relatively weak assumptions. Their estimated upper bounds on the population average effects indicate potentially large causal effects of increasing schooling from primary to secondary; yet, these upper bounds are smaller than many estimates from the literature on causal schooling impacts on cognition using compulsory-schooling laws.
The Parenthood Gap: Firms and Earnings Inequality after Kids
April 2025
Author(s): Brian J. Asquith
Housing wealth is the largest component in most older Americans’ portfolios, and they may seek to recoup losses by working longer to help smooth consumption in retirement. Asquith performs three different analyses to approach this question and finds that all three concur that older homeowners do not significantly change their labor supply or Social Security claiming behavior in response to unexpected housing wealth gains or losses. Subgroup analyses suggest that college-educated workers may be the most responsive, even though housing wealth makes up a lower share of their total wealth, probably due to their comparably greater employment resiliency in weak labor markets.
How Much Can Families Afford to Pay for College?
April 2025
Author(s): Peter Hinrichs
This paper studies families’ capacity to pay for college in the United States, focusing on changes over time and differences by race and socioeconomic status. I use data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) to document changes over time in the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The results suggest that the EFC has been rising over time, and that this has been driven primarily by families in the upper quartile of the income distribution. I then use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to calculate alternative measures of the ability to pay for college. I find that it is possible to alter the distribution of who pays what amount by changing details of the EFC calculation, but the extent of this depends on details of the implementation.
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