The Working-Class Push for Progressive Economic Policies

The following article by Alex Rowell and David Madland was posted on the Center for American Progress Progressive Action Fund website April 17, 2017:

Workers tour a construction site in Boston, May 2017. Credit: Getty/David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe

Pundits and policymakers are increasingly talking about the importance of reaching out to working-class Americans. Unfortunately, discussions of the working class are too often based on assumptions and stereotypes rather than evidence about who makes up the working class and what they want. Previous research from the Center for American Progress Action Fund showed that the working class—defined as the members of the labor force without a four-year college degree—is much more diverse than it is typically portrayed: It consists of large numbers of women, workers of color, and service-sector workers as well as the often-discussed white men in goods-producing industries.1 Continue reading “The Working-Class Push for Progressive Economic Policies”