Investing in People Is Not a Good Idea

This season of Better Life Lab, we’ve been taking a close look at work stress and the future of work and wellbeing. 

Parts of the American economy are looking tough for many workers — even “dystopian. People are quitting their jobs at record rates.

We know what many of the problems are. Yet the fixes are not so simple. So on this closing episode of our fourth season, we ask: Are bad jobs an inherent part of the workplace — or can we actually do what it takes to make the jobs of the future good jobs, big enough to support real human life for all of us?

Guests

• Rep. Jim Himes, D-Ct, chair of the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth
• Zeynep Ton, founder, Good Jobs Institute
• Warren Valdmanis, private equity investor and partner with Two Sigma Impact, who will only invest in companies that provide good jobs
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Resources

• What if Progress meant Wellbeing for All?, The Metropolitan Group
• Making wellbeing a policy priority. Lessons from the 2021 World Happiness Report, Carol Graham, Brookings, 2021
• The Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote an Economy that Serves All, 2019
• Hearing Recap: Our Changing Economy: The Effects of Technological Innovation, Automation and the Future of Work, House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, Nov. 2021
• Economists pin more blame on tech for inequality, New York Times, January 2022

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