University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations

The Labor Education Program created the Project for Middle Class Renewal to complete the following mission: to investigate the working conditions of workers in today’s economy and elevate public discourse on issues affecting workers with research, analysis and education in order to develop and propose public policies that will reduce poverty, provide forms of representation to all workers, prevent gender, race, and LGBTQ+ discrimination, create more stable forms of employment, and promote middle-class paying jobs.

The PMCR addresses many workers’ rights issues in their published reports, and most recently addressed the barriers to Chicago workers who are looking for higher job quality. Results from a recent report, Workers’ Rights in Workforce Development: Successes and Struggles of Chicagoland Workforce Practitioners Pursuing Higher Job Quality, show concrete ways Chicago area workforce development agencies are helping workers. Through connecting workers’ rights education to job readiness programming, educating staff and community partners about labor laws and resources, and by using good jobs tools and metrics to rate potential employer partners, Chicago workforce development professionals are on the frontline of educating and protecting the region’s most at-risk workers.