Income, employment and wealth
Employment is the condition of having paid work, which provides income and often benefits such as health insurance and paid sick leave. Employment, and the income and benefits it provides, shape our choices about housing, child care, medical care and more. Wealth, or the accumulation of assets, makes it easier for people to manage job changes, emergencies, education costs and retirement. As employment, income and wealth increase or decrease for individuals, families and communities, so do opportunities for health.
Reviewed income, employment and wealth strategies are listed below. Click on column headings to sort by strategy, approach, evidence rating, or short description. Click on the strategy name for more information.
45 results (44 unique strategies)
| Strategy ↑↓ | Health Topic ↑↓ | Approach ↑↓ | Evidence Rating ↑↓ | Short Description ↑↓ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible scheduling | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Scientifically Supported | Offer employees control over an aspect of their schedule through arrangements such as flex time, flex hours, compressed work weeks, or self-scheduled shift work |
| Labor unions | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Scientifically Supported | Organize workers to bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions |
| Paid family leave | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Scientifically Supported | Provide employees with paid time off for circumstances such as a recent birth or adoption, a parent or spouse with a serious medical condition, or a sick child |
| Broadband initiatives for unserved and underserved areas | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Some Evidence | Expand broadband availability and adoption in unserved and underserved areas through initiatives that address infrastructure and cost barriers |
| Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Some Evidence | Provide confidential worksite-based counseling and referrals to employees to address personal and workplace challenges |
| Paid sick leave laws | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Some Evidence | Require employers in an affected jurisdiction to provide paid time off for employees to use when ill or injured |
| Telecommuting | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Some Evidence | Allow employees to work outside a central office, using technology to interact with others inside and outside the organization; also called remote work, telework, or flexible working arrangements |
| Workplace supports for breastfeeding | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Some Evidence | Support breastfeeding via private, well-equipped lactation spaces in workplaces, along with breastfeeding breaks, flexible schedules, professional lactation support, etc. |
| Rural transportation services | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Expert Opinion | Establish transportation services for areas with low population densities using publicly funded buses and vans on a set schedule, dial-a-ride transit, volunteer ridesharing, etc. |
| Job-sharing programs | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Insufficient Evidence | Offer flexible working arrangements, allowing the duties of a single full-time position to be covered by two part-time employees |
| On-site child care | Income, employment and wealth | Create supportive work environments | Insufficient Evidence | Provide employees with child care options at work; care may be provided free of charge, partially subsidized as part of an employee benefit package, or offered at market rates |
| Labor unions | Income, employment and wealth | Ensure workplace safety | Scientifically Supported | Organize workers to bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions |
| Child care subsidies | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Scientifically Supported | Provide financial assistance to working parents, or parents attending school, to pay for child care |
| Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Scientifically Supported | Expand refundable earned income tax credits for working individuals and families with low to moderate incomes |
| Full child support pass-through and disregard | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Scientifically Supported | Adopt policies that allow custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to collect all child support paid by the non-custodial parent; no portion is retained by the state |
| Living wage laws | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Some Evidence | Establish locally mandated wages that are higher than state or federal minimum wage levels |
| New Hope Project | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Some Evidence | Provided work supports for low income individuals and families (e.g., job search assistance, transitional jobs, subsidized child care, health insurance, etc.); participants worked at least 30 hours/week |
| Unemployment insurance (UI) | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Some Evidence | Increase compensation provided to unemployed workers looking for jobs by expanding eligibility, amount, or duration of benefits |
| Child tax credit expansion | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Expert Opinion | Expand federal or state child tax credits by increasing credit amounts, making credits refundable, decreasing or eliminating the earnings threshold, or creating a fully refundable supplement |
| Refundable child and dependent care tax credit | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Expert Opinion | Offer a refundable tax credit to working families with qualifying children or other dependents that receive care outside the home (e.g., a spouse with disabilities) |
| Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Expert Opinion | Explore ways to increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program benefit amounts for aged, blind, or disabled individuals, including children, with little or no income |
| Universal basic income | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Expert Opinion | Provide all individuals with regular cash transfers, without conditions, over their lifetimes |
| Minimum wage increases | Income, employment and wealth | Increase or supplement income | Mixed Evidence | Increase the lowest hourly, daily, or monthly compensation that employers may legally pay to workers |
| Adult vocational training | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Scientifically Supported | Support acquisition of job-specific skills through education, certification programs, or on-the-job training, often with personal development resources and other supports |
| Transitional and subsidized jobs | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Scientifically Supported | Establish time-limited, subsidized, paid jobs to help individuals with barriers to employment transition to unsubsidized employment |
| High school equivalency credentials | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Some Evidence | Offer programs to help individuals without a high school diploma or its equivalent achieve a high school equivalency credential |
| Sector-based workforce initiatives | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Some Evidence | Provide industry-focused education and job training based on the needs of regional employers within specific sectors |
| Summer youth employment programs | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Some Evidence | Provide short-term employment opportunities for youth, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds |
| Bridge programs for hard-to-employ adults | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Expert Opinion | Provide basic skills (e.g., reading, math, writing, English language, or soft skills) and industry-specific training with other supports; also called occupationally contextualized basic education programs |
| Career pathways programs | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Expert Opinion | Provide occupation-specific training for low-skilled individuals in high-growth industries, with education and supports, usually with stackable credentials and work experience opportunities |
| Certificates of employability | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Expert Opinion | Issue certificates of employability to individuals with criminal convictions who have met pre-specified standards of rehabilitation; also called certificates of relief, reentry, good conduct, rehabilitation, recovery, etc. |
| Youth apprenticeship initiatives | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Expert Opinion | Provide participating high school students with professional opportunities that combine academic and on-the-job training or mentorship |
| Ban the Box | Income, employment and wealth | Increase worker employability | Mixed Evidence | Prohibit criminal history questions on job applications and postpone background checks |
| Debt advice for tenants with unpaid rent | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Some Evidence | Offer debt advice from trained providers to tenants with unpaid, overdue rent to help repay debt and increase financial literacy |
| Financial education for adults | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Some Evidence | Provide education on basic budgeting, bank use, credit management, bankruptcy, credit building and counseling, homeownership, retirement, divorce, etc. |
| Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Some Evidence | Support subsidized asset accumulation programs in which deposits by participants with low and moderate incomes are matched by program sponsors; withdrawals must be used for qualified expenses to retain matching funds |
| Matched dollar incentives for saving tax refunds | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Some Evidence | Support programs that provide matched dollar incentives for low or moderate income individuals to place some or all of their tax refund in a savings account |
| Baby bonds | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Establish publicly funded investment accounts for every newborn, accessible at age 18 |
| Child development accounts | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Build assets through child development accounts (CDAs) with contributions from a sponsoring organization, such as government agencies or nonprofits, and family, friends; also called children’s savings accounts (CSAs) |
| Community Development Financial Institutions | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Support financial institutions providing services to underserved and disadvantaged communities |
| Housing reparations | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Apologize for discriminatory housing policies; increase subsidies, financing, and paths to homeownership for people of color; and invest in systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods |
| Land return for tribal restitution | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Return the rights to land, property, and resources to Native people as part of policies and initiatives that promote tribal sovereignty |
| Microfinance & microenterprise | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Support programs that provide small loans, usually to individuals with lower incomes, to start or expand a small business, often with business development training and other technical assistance |
| Reparations for Black descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Expert Opinion | Apologize for the history and legacy of slavery and provide direct payments or community investments to Black descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. |
| Payday loan regulations | Income, employment and wealth | Support asset development | Mixed Evidence | Regulate short-term loans that must be repaid by a borrower’s next pay day via bans, caps on maximum interest rates and loan amounts, or require minimum loan terms and credit cost |