A Conference On Improving Low-Wage Jobs and Public Policies to Support Vulnerable Workers

I got into this field to help people but I never thought I would end up helping people in the workplace.  I also never would have believed that I would be working with organizations around productivity but I learned very early on in my career that this is the one place where you can have the most impact on peoples’ lives.  Whether good or bad, the workplace is where people spend most of their waking lives. 

Obviously in the last few months most of the news has centered on the workplace in terms of layoffs, added stress, health care issues caused by greater expenses being incurred by employers dealing with increasing premiums and decreasing quality of care.  Rising unemployment and continued layoffs continue to have a significant impact on the entire working population but even more so on low income working families who are generally the most vulnerable. 

On Saturday, March 7, 2009, The University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration (SSA) will present a day-long symposium highlighting its expertise at the intersections of social policy, labor markets, economics and family supports. This symposium “Putting Research To Work: Improving Low-Wage Jobs and Public Policies to Support Vulnerable Workers”  brings together many of the nation’s top social work and social policy scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of the changing labor market on low-income working families. Panelists will bring extensive knowledge about macroeconomic labor market trends, employer strategies and practices, and job conditions at the front-lines of today’s firms. The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies.  The symposium is designed to engage participants in a discussion of the relative merits of different avenues for improving low-wage jobs and public policies.

This seminar is for anyone who is interested involved in the workplace.  You can register online for this conference at http://ssacentennial.uchicago.edu/events/symposium-henly-lambert.shtml

Registration is $55. For those seeking the 6 CEUs available, registration is $70.