The Burning Glass Institute

We’re excited to announce the release of the 2024 American Opportunity Index! This annual project of The Burning Glass Institute, the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work, and the Schultz Family Foundation, reveals how the corporate practices of top companies shape career advancement and support a stronger middle class.   Key insights from this year's Index show a stark contrast in employee experiences based on where they choose to work. Compared to workers in the same role at companies in the bottom-100 in the rankings, employees at top-100 firms: 💰 Pay: Earn 2.3 times more than workers in the same roles at bottom-quartile companies. 🏅 Promotion: Gain promotions 2.5 times more frequently. 📈 Career Growth: Are 4 times more likely to move into better roles, even at other companies.   Top-quartile companies also: Retain employees 1.6 times longer. Promote from within 1.9 times more often. Are 4.4 times more likely to hire without prior experience. Are 2.8 times more likely to hire candidates without a college degree.   Companies leading this year's list include: Grainger, Costco Wholesale, Capital One, Meta, ServiceNow, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, MetLife, and Bank of America. With 30 industries represented in the Top 100 Employers of Choice, the data shows that a firm’s business model doesn’t dictate how much opportunity they can create for their workers.   Thank you to our wonderful partners Joseph Fuller at HBS, Rajiv C., Marie Groark, and Kris Goddard at the Schultz Family Foundation, along with the amazing BGI team, Matt Sigelman, Luke Chen, Nik Dawson, Shrinidhi Rao, Gad Levanon. Many thanks also to Glassdoor for sharing data used in this research, including the new AOI-Glassdoor Employee Sentiment Score, and to Lightcast for the job postings data used in weighting factors applied to the index.    You can check out Matthew Boyle's excellent feature coverage in Bloomberg here: https://lnkd.in/g7KW3iTK To explore the Index, including a range of tools for analyzing company performance, visit https://lnkd.in/egetsYAc   #management #aoi #workermobility #bgi #humanresources #careers

As the labor market softens, the 2024 American Opportunity Index shows that where you work matters more than ever. Top employers pay their workers 2.3x more for the same work and are 2.5x more likely to promote them. Yet only 20% of firms increased promotion opportunities vs. last year, while 60% fell back. Similarly, although top employers are 2.8x more likely to hire people without degrees, almost half of all firms have decreased their hiring of people who either lack college degrees or meaningful previous work experience even as more and more firms commit to skills-based hiring. A project of The Burning Glass Institute, the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work, and the Schultz Family Foundation, the American Opportunity Index is different from other measures of employer quality which are based on surveys, qualitative evaluation, or the data companies themselves provide. Instead, it assesses how well 395 of America’s largest companies promote, pay, hire, and retain their workers based on an independent, comprehensive data analysis of the career trajectories of more than 5 million of their employees. Topping this year’s ranking are Grainger, Costco Wholesale, Capital One, Meta, ServiceNow, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, MetLife and Bank of America. The Index’s Top 100 Employers of Choice list span 30 sectors, proving that business model isn’t destiny when it comes to how much opportunity firms create for their workers. When workers rise, companies rise with them. Just one example: top firms retain their employees 1.6x longer than their peers. Now in its third year, the 2024 American Opportunity Index offers a critical benchmark for companies to assess how they foster opportunities and drive mobility, providing a data-driven yardstick for identifying the practices that build value in the workforce. By offering good jobs and opportunities for growth, top-ranked employers aren’t just supporting their employers, they’re building a stronger foundation for the future. I am grateful to Joseph Fuller at HBS and Rajiv C. and Marie Groark at the Schultz Family Foundation for their partnership, along with Burning Glass Institute colleagues Luke Chen, Shrinidhi Rao, Nik Dawson, and Gad Levanon and SFF's Kris Goddard. Many thanks as well to Glassdoor for making available compensation insights used in constructing the Index - including a new AOI-Glassdoor Employee Sentiment Score and to Lightcast for the use of job postings data used in weighting factors computed based on the Institute’s career history database. Check out Matthew Boyle's excellent feature coverage in Bloomberg. https://lnkd.in/eeqDMwpk To explore the Index, including a range of tools for analyzing company performance, visit https://lnkd.in/egetsYAc #management #humanresources #careers

Big week at the Retail Opportunity Network meeting at Walmart and happy to be here. Excited that we got to release our new paper “How Advanced Data Systems Can Do More to Drive Economic Mobility” — exploring how we expand and drive the skills first economy forward. Matt Sigelman introduced the field to the paper today. Shout out to all of the great work to make it a reality Debbie Wasden Katherine Townsend Kiernan Harin Contractor Gwynn Guilford Also wonderful to hear Peter Beard talk about the work we have been doing with UpSkill Houston and the Greater Houston Partnership to pilot building and implementing a data informed, skills-first job market and educational ecosystem in Houston. Thank you for a wonderful convening so far Patti Constantakis Sean Murphy and Julie Gehrki https://lnkd.in/gYh7rf9Z

📊 New research, in partnership with the Future Forward Institute, The Burning Glass Institute, and JUST Capital, examines the workplace policies of 355 Fortune 500 companies aligned with the Win-Win Workplace framework—and their profitability over the past two years. The findings reveal a strong link between worker-centric strategies and financial growth. Key takeaways: 55% of companies excelling in fostering mutualistic working relationships also report strong valuation outcomes. 56% of companies that reimagine employee benefits show improved valuation performance. 👏 Huge thanks to Dr. Angela Jackson and the Future Forward team, Kyle Albert, and our Burning Glass Institute colleagues Guy Berger, Ph.D., Olivia Gunther, and Ashley Yuan for this incredible work! Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gN_7i2RR Don't forget to stop by: https://lnkd.in/gmEaFQRn

Announcing the latest edition of Labor Matters! We created a new dataset tracking tech startups across the U.S. using the The Burning Glass Institute career histories database. Startups are key indicators of future tech trends, helping us spot shifts in technology and market dynamics early on. In this edition of Labor Matters, Ashley Yuan and I highlight a few exciting regional insights and trends. Dive into this edition of Labor Matters to explore these insights! #TechStartups #Innovation #LaborMatters #labormarkets #recruitment #tech #startups #nyc

You’ve probably relied on data from Lightcast (formerly Emsi Burning Glass) sometime in your professional life--whether it was designing economic or workforce development investments, public policy recommendations, or human capital strategies. Lightcast is a critical labor market tool for public and private sector leaders alike. I’m honored that the man behind this revolutionary tool is supporting my book. Matt Sigelman is the former CEO of Lightcast, the president of The Burning Glass Institute, and a visiting fellow at the The Project on Workforce at Harvard. Here’s what he thinks about “Reinventing the Heartland.” Thank you for the support, Matt! You can check out the book here: https://lnkd.in/gPfXxC-W #inclusivegrowth #econdev #workforcedev #talent #futureofwork #urbanism #books #innovation

🚀 The job market is evolving fast, and the role of skills and degrees is more critical than ever.    In a recent episode of Inside Higher Ed with Ben Wildavsky, Matt Sigelman, President of Burning Glass Institute, discussed "degree inflation"—when companies start requiring degrees for jobs that didn’t need them before. Matt and Ben also explored why most employers are still slow to adopt skills-based hiring and how real-time data can help bridge the gap. Finally, they discussed why "power skills" are key for workers in the age of Generative AI.    Don’t miss these insights into the future of work! Listen to the full episode here:  https://lnkd.in/gpxdRA6k   #FutureOfWork #SkillsBasedHiring #PowerSkills #GenerativeAI

🌟 Join BGI President, Matt Sigelman, as he speaks at the Human Potential Summit, in Denver from October 14-16, 2024! 🌟 In today's rapidly changing job market, both employers and workers face significant but interconnected challenges. To help drive actionable solutions, the Human Potential Summit will convene employers, career-connected educators, and innovators building the future of work and learning.  The purpose of the Summit is to elevate the most innovative approaches to find, retain, and support talent. Interactive sessions will cover new practices, systems, and models to develop a thriving workforce and invest in individuals to drive business outcomes. It’s not just another conference; it is a movement towards redefining education and work systems to be more inclusive, innovative, and aligned with both individual and company success. With a focus on real-world applications and actionable insights that participants can apply, the Summit is a must-attend for anyone passionate about transforming our education and work systems. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to be part of a movement that’s redefining work and education. Registration is open - grab your spot while tickets are still available! 📅 Dates: October 14-16, 2024 📍 Location: Denver, Colorado 🔗 Register now: https://lnkd.in/eBRncMqf #HumanPotential #HumanPotentialSummit #FutureofWork #FutureofLearning #CareerConnectedEducation #WorkforceDevelopment A big thank you to Taylor McLemore and all at the Human Potential Summit

For high school graduates entering the job market, choosing the right employer can have a huge impact on their future economic success. Today, we’ve released a new ranking of the top 50 employers offering the best career paths and pay for recent high school grads.   Using data from the American Opportunity Index, a partnership between BGI, the Schultz Family Foundation, and Harvard Business School's Project on Managing the Future of Work, we identified the best large companies for high school graduates to start their careers. We based this analysis on the career progress of hundreds of thousands of entry-level workers over the past five years to gain insight into the real career experiences of recent high school graduates as they entered and progressed in the job market.    While many young people who don’t attend a four-year college struggle to advance, our data show that nearly one in five workers without degrees earn more than the median college graduate. Choosing the right employer is a critical decision to unlocking future economic prosperity for these recent high school graduates. #AOI2024 #economicmobility #careers #workers #futureofwork See coverage in Axios below or check out the full list at: https://lnkd.in/ggBS5bDg https://lnkd.in/guc3RqAY

💥 WE'RE STILL HIRING! Yesterday we posted an opening for a Machine Learning Economist at The Burning Glass Institute, but our LI job posting is malfunctioning. If you're interested in the role, please apply! If you know someone who is interested, let them know we are hiring. The application is via email (instructions are at the bottom of this post). You can read about the role here: https://lnkd.in/g2CqmTYK 📝 Instructions for applying: 1/ Please submit your resume to research.hiring@burningglassinstitute.org with the subject line "Machine Learning Economist - [First Name] [Last Name]." 2/ Additionally, please fill out this questionnaire in place of a cover letter (https://lnkd.in/gRUsbzsB)