Last year, the U.S. government took a historic step forward in combating climate change when they committed nearly $2 trillion to support our country’s transition to a clean energy future. The challenge? Our workforce is currently millions of specialized workers short of the total needed to take on the jobs that will be created by the clean energy transition and there is no guarantee that these new jobs will meet the wage, benefits, and other standards of the good jobs movement.

The Families and Workers Fund sees these historic spending bills and the millions more in private funding the government dollars will unleash as an opportunity to support job training initiatives to prepare individuals to take on these newly created, economic mobility-boosting jobs and support the country through the upcoming infrastructure upgrades. Through collective action, we can ensure that this wave of opportunities meet the skill, benefits, and pay scale standards of the good job movement – all while supporting state and local governments as they transition to a clean energy future and create new onramps to family-sustaining jobs for overlooked talent.

We know that climate change will not resolve on its own. And as it continues to warm the planet, people living low-income communities – both rural and urban – are disproportionately impacted by challenges related to global warming. The government’s historic investment, along with the private investment it will release, is expected to create 9 million jobs over the next decade – most of which are good, economic-mobility boosting careers aimed at greening energy and infrastructure. This moment is a crucial opportunity for those who have been historically excluded from our country’s prosperity to secure long term financial stability, improve infrastructure in their own communities, and, in turn, deepen public support for the climate movement.

The U.S. workforce has been underinvested for more than a decade, with women and people-of-color facing the greatest consequences. Without an effective, equity-centered workforce strategy quickly put in place, there is a risk that these momentous policies could perpetuate inequities or even fail altogether – just as we’re getting started.

Here’s how we plan to seize the moment:

• Inclusion, equity, and access: Ensure that training is accessible to all, especially people living on low incomes, people of color, women and gender minorities, young people, and others who have historically faced barriers and inequities in pursuing climate and infrastructure careers. Invest in catalytic training initiatives and accessible career on-ramps and retention strategies that improve access to clean energy and infrastructure.
• Scalable training and quality jobs: Activate our big-tent philanthropic model to scale training models to prepare workers to place into, advance, or experience improved job quality in clean energy and infrastructure careers. Ensure these new, climate jobs are good jobs by supporting worker-centered organizations and partnerships with government and business to align job quality goals.
• Local planning and implementation support: Invest in state/local workforce planning, implementation, and innovation to help the public sector quickly build resources and access partners and investments. Deliver coordinated, strategic grants and partnerships to leverage public investments and help those dollars achieve their best and highest use for both people and the planet.

In June 2022, the Families and Workers Fund and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) gathered in D.C. with hundreds of government leaders, workers, and allies to discuss, plan for, and commit to tangible goals around improving job quality for workers and families throughout the country. With 4,000 people attending in person and online, the inaugural Good Jobs Summit marked the largest federal government event dedicated to advancing good jobs. 

Since then, we’ve built on the work conducted at the Summit by publishing an evidence-based Good Jobs Champion Statement defining the qualities that make up a good job. This definition was endorsed by nearly 250 signatories – from Fortune 500 companies to labor unions  – making it the most widely endorsed definition of job quality. 

Simultaneously, we produced a Reimagining Job Quality Measurement report to synthesize job quality data from across industries to capture the holistic experience of the workers who power our economy and make recommendations about how best to improve working conditions. Our work on job quality has been featured in media like the New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, U.S. News, among others. 

We are proud of our collaborative work with government, employers, and workers to develop creative solutions to knock down the biggest obstacles between workers and economic mobility. This work to define and measure job quality provides a foundation for our ongoing efforts to scale job quality through our Powering Climate & Infrastructure Careers for All Initiative, Recover Up, and future initiatives.