Making Bad Jobs Better: Lessons From Retail

policyshop.net — The United States has two problems when it comes to jobs: There aren't enough jobs, as we all know; and a great many jobs are lousy -- a problem we hear about far less. A lousy job is one with low wages, minimal benefits, and few opportunities to move up. About a fifth of jobs in the U.S. fit this description. And given how many workers that is -- people who work but are barely making it -- turning bad jobs into good jobs is arguably as important as creating more jobs. That's why new research by the MIT professor Zeynep Ton deserves attention. Ton has spent 10 years studying retail jobs and, in particular, exploring how some retailers are providing much better jobs than others and reaping benefits from treating their workers better.

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