EDUCATION, TRAINING & LABOR
HKS faculty reimagine our future work lives
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only wreaked havoc on lives and economies across the globe, it has also wiped out conventional norms and assumptions about how we work. Kennedy School faculty members, led by Academic Dean Iris Bohnet, are taking on one of the most daunting challenges of the pandemic—how to ensure that jobs in a post-COVID-19 world are inclusive and offer fair wages, prospects for advancement, and protections in times of crisis. We examine research and ideas from faculty across the School about how to create a better future for workers. Bohnet, for example, who heads up the Women and Public Policy Program’s new Gender Action Lab, is conducting research on how to create a more inclusive workplace. At the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Director David Deming is leading the new Project on Workforce, an interdisciplinary collaboration with Harvard Business School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education that focuses on improving job training and education, while Professor Daniel Schneider’s Shift Project is tackling challenges faced by hourly workers, including low pay and unpredictable schedules. Professor Rema Hanna and researchers at the Center for International Development’s Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) program, meanwhile, are developing a new hub for labor market innovation in Morocco. The Morocco Employment Lab will provide policymakers with data-driven tools to address a number of challenges, including situations where the country’s labor market isn’t providing enough high-skill jobs to employ all of its highly educated workers. |