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Labor Market Policies

Labor market policies and programs shape the rules governing the dynamics between employers and employees

Labor market policies and programs have important impacts on low- and moderate-income workers. Policies on occupational licensure and non-compete contracts—when poorly designed—can reduce opportunities to access good jobs. Workforce services programs and unemployment insurance aim to support workers while they look for those good jobs. We conduct research to provide leaders with high-quality information as they seek to remove barriers and improve outcomes for workers and the overall labor market. Our focus is on the impacts of both long-established labor market policies and new initiatives, such as guaranteed basic income programs.

Minneapolis Fed evaluation of the City of Minneapolis Guaranteed Basic Income pilot

In 2022, the City of Minneapolis began a guaranteed basic income pilot that included $500 monthly payments to 200 recipients over a two-year period. To learn what effects this pilot may have on its participants, the city selected the Minneapolis Fed to conduct a rigorous evaluation through a randomized controlled trial. The Minneapolis Fed’s role in this project is as a neutral, trusted research body working in the public interest to study policies affecting labor market dynamics in low- and moderate-income communities. Program evaluation and research insights are intended to inform policymakers, researchers, and others who seek to understand the potential impacts and tradeoffs of basic income programs.

Project resources:

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Framed by a gap in the shelving inside a warehouse, a female employee is seen inspecting boxes and checking their labels against a list she's carrying on a clipboard. She's wearing a light-blue, short-sleeved shirt and a white hard hat and has a neutral yet focused expression on her face.
Minnesota’s ban on non-competes marks historic change for low- and moderate-income workers
In a medical laboratory, a technician standing before a microscope uses a pipette to place a sample in a petri dish. She is Asian, has long dark hair that's partially pulled back from her face, and is wearing a white lab coat and blue latex gloves.
Occupational licensing can detour immigrant physicians’ career paths
Collage illustrating a large hand distributing money to a large population of people to support their basic needs
One year of basic income in Minneapolis
Staff Reports
Evaluation Plan: Enhanced Services Pilot of the Montana Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment Program
A paramedic loading a patient into an ambulance
Addressing Obstacles to Opportunity for Foreign-Born Workers
A female speech therapist works with an elementary-school-age boy in a clinic setting. They are seated at a table, looking at flash cards that are spread out before them, and the therapist is pointing out one of the cards to the boy.
Who has an occupational license in the United States?