White Paper: Job Quality
Summary
ACCORDING
TO RESEARCH from Opportunity Insights, the Greater Philadelphia region ranks lowest among major U.S. metro areas in providing upward mobility for its residents. Addressing this urgent crisis will require a multi-faceted, coordinated response across sectors. Workforce development organizations must align their efforts with broader regional economic development strategies and focus on connecting participants to high-quality jobs. Only by prioritizing job quality can we generate lasting impact for individuals, families, and communities, and begin to shift the trajectory of economic opportunity in our region.
This paper explores strategies The Skills Initiative uses to connect participants with high-quality employment, a critical approach supported by a
KEY TAKEAWAYS
growing body of evidence, and details the development of a proprietary Job Quality Rubric that serves as a guiding force in The Skills Initiative’s work. A recent report from Brookings found that 38% of working families in Southeastern Pennsylvania do not earn enough to cover basic living expenses, including food, housing, childcare, and transportation. The burden of this economic insecurity is not evenly distributed: Black, Latino, and Hispanic families are disproportionately affected. These disparities underscore that job quality is not just an economic concern but a matter of equity and justice. Taken together, these factors reinforce the urgent need for workforce systems to shift their definition of success—focusing not just on the quantity of job placements, but on the quality and long-term impact of those opportunities.
• Job placement rates are insufficient and can be misleading if decoupled from job quality to measure the true effectiveness of workforce development programs. While placement is an important metric, it tells only part of the story.
• Job quality is a foundational driver of economic mobility. Stable, well-paying, and supportive jobs don’t just provide income — they offer opportunities for advancement, skill-building, and long-term financial growth.
• Data from The Skills Initiative shows a strong correlation between job quality and retention. Participants who are placed into high-quality roles are significantly more likely to stay employed long-term — a key indicator of both program and participant success.
• For workforce organizations, job quality is also tied to long-term sustainability. When graduates stay in their roles, it strengthens employer partnerships, improves program outcomes, and builds the case for continued investment from funders.
Background
THE SKILLS INITIATIVE (formerly known as the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative) evolved from a local internship program into one of the nation’s most successful workforce development organizations over the course of nearly 15 years. The Skills Initiative first emerged in response to a systemic gap: the absence of place-based, employer-driven workforce pipelines that center community needs. Its success can be attributed to strategic guidance from its parent organization, University City District, long-term investment from foundations, a commitment to continual, data-driven improvement, and the support of an extensive network of engaged and invested community partners.
In the organization’s early days, University City District (UCD) focused exclusively on maintaining and improving the physical realm of our community, a 2.4 square mile area in West Philadelphia. The organization soon recognized that investing in place
necessitated a parallel investment in its people. UCD believed deeply that powerful partnerships – with anchor institutions and neighborhood organizations – could translate into the kind of employer-driven, community-fueled workforce effort that changes lives and workplaces at scale.
And those beliefs have yielded incredible results. Since 2010, The Skills Initiative has served over 2,000 Philadelphians while maintaining a job placement rate of above 90%, which far exceeds the national average. Its employer-driven, customized, and cohort-based model has set a new standard in the field — consistently outperforming traditional benchmarks such as retention, promotion, and wage growth, while also pioneering innovations that are actively shaping the future of workforce development. This paper examines one such innovation that is creating powerful outcomes for Philadelphians – The Job Quality Rubric.
Quality Jobs for Quality Outcomes
THE SKILLS INITIATIVE is built on the premise of mutual benefit for its three key stakeholders: employers, participants, and funders.
• Employers seek reduced turnover and professional growth among their staff, knowing that higher retention lowers the long-term cost of hiring and training.
• Participants want more than just a job — they’re looking for stability, opportunity, and a clear path to advancement.
• Funders prioritize outcomes like wage growth, career mobility, and job retention, as these reflect meaningful improvements in people’s lives.
While The Skills Initiative is proud of its rigorous, well-designed curriculum, training alone isn’t enough to achieve these outcomes. Even the best workforce program can’t (and wouldn’t want to) inspire someone to stay in a low-paying role with poor working conditions. That’s why the program carefully evaluates employers, job opportunities, and participants to ensure alignment.
Initially, The Skills Initiative had to work hard to earn the trust of employer partners. But as the program proved its impact and built its reputation, staff gained the leverage to be more selective about employer partners, endeavoring to work only with those offering the highest-quality opportunities.
Developing the Job Quality Rubric
FROM THE 1980S through the early 2000s, many workforce development organizations measured success through the lens of “rapid attachment”—prioritizing quick job placement in alignment with the goals of the federal Welfareto-Work program. In contrast, The Skills Initiative has always prioritized longer-term interventions designed to create sustainable outcomes for participants. Although a focus on high-quality opportunities has always been central to the organization’s mission, in 2019, it became clear that a more systematic and data-driven approach to evaluating job quality was needed. At that time, the broader workforce development field had only just begun to recognize job quality as a core metric of success, and few existing evaluation tools addressed the specific needs of The Skills Initiative’s unique approach.
Rather than wait for a perfect solution, the Skills Initiative team developed its own methodology, The Job Quality Rubric, drawing on leading research from the United Nations’ Handbook on Measuring Quality of Employment: A Statistical Framework , The Corporation for a Skilled Workforce’s Benchmarking Project, and the Aspen Institute. This research emphasized a multidimensional, person-centered definition of job quality—recognizing that fulfilling work involves much more than just wages.
According to Patrick Bayer, a key Skills Initiative staffer who worked on the Job Quality Rubric, “Until 2019, we were primarily considering a limited set of criteria—wages, job location, and entry qualifications—when selecting employer partners and roles. But when we saw the UN’s approach, it really resonated with the team. The framework defines job
quality from the perspective of the worker, and it considers all the aspects of employment that affect our well-being.” As the UN states:
“Quality of employment is approached as a multidimensional concept, characterized by different elements, which relate to human needs in various ways… It refers to the entirety of aspects of employment that may affect the well-being of employed persons. This may differ from the point of view of the employer or the society as a whole.”
This person and worker-centered lens aligned closely with The Skills Initiative’s values and helped shape a more holistic approach to evaluating job opportunities.
Since then, additional research has continued to reinforce the value of this direction. Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights project highlights that early-career wages and job retention are key indicators of long-term economic mobility. Similarly, the Opportunity for Health Lab at the University of Pennsylvania has shown that access to stable, well-paying jobs can lead to improved health outcomes, reduced disparities, and greater overall community well-being.
Taken together, these insights affirm what The Skills Initiative has long believed: quality jobs are a cornerstone of not just economic success, but personal and community transformation.
A Deeper Dive: Understanding the Job Quality Rubric
WHEN DEVELOPING THE Job Quality
Rubric, The Skills Initiative team drew from over a decade of experience identifying the job characteristics that have mattered most to participants across the program’s history based on surveys, retention data, and qualitative feedback. The rubric reflects both lived experience and labor market data, serving as a tool to guide decision-making and maximize long-term outcomes for job seekers.
Data for the rubric is collected during The Skills Initiative’s preliminary needs assessment with employer partners and is supplemented with insights from Lightcast, a labor market analytics platform. Each
factor in the rubric is weighted according to its demonstrated importance to Skills Initiative participants, ensuring the tool remains participant-centered and grounded in real-world priorities.
It’s important to note that the Job Quality Rubric is intended to build upon, not replace, all legally required worker protections. Baseline compliance with federal, state, and local labor laws—such as OSHA standards, equal pay provisions, and anti-discrimination protections—is a fundamental expectation. Employers found to be out of compliance with these regulations are immediately disqualified from partnering with The Skills Initiative.
WHAT THE JOB QUALITY RUBRIC MEASURES
The Skills Initiative’s Job Quality Rubric considers the following factors when evaluating roles:
Income
Is the pay rate at least $19/hour?
• Average starting wage for Skills Initiative graduates in FY24: $21.99
• The hourly pay rate is the most highly weighted factor in the rubric.
Benefits
Does the job offer health insurance?
Is there access to a 401(k) or other retirement savings plan?
W hat is the waiting period for benefits, and are part-time employees eligible?
• Waiting periods longer than 90 days result in reduced score.
Leave
Does the benefits package include paid time off (PTO)?
Does it include paid parental leave?
Growth
Is there a formalized, published career pathway?
• E stablishes that pathways are publicly available and not theoretical.
Have 5 or more unique employers hired for this position in the past year?
• Indicates cross-employer demand and skill portability (Lightcast data used to validate).
Have there been 50+ job postings for this role in the past year?
• Indicates cross-employer demand and skill portability (Lightcast data used to validate).
Stability
A re positions permanent rather than temporary or seasonal?
• Reflects the desire of Skills Initiative participants for permanent, year-round roles.
Is the field expected to grow by at least 5% over the next decade?
• E stablishes risk of layoff, upward mobility, and skills portability.
Is the job at high risk of automation in the next 10 years?
• Monitors the impact of AI on role.
Accommodations
A re work schedules posted at least two weeks in advance?
• Supports predictability and work-life balance.
Working Hours
Does the role offer at least 32 hours per week on average?
• Supports the desire of Skills Initiative participants to work full time.
Relationships
A re 10% or more new hires promoted or given a wage increase within one year?
• Signals growth culture and internal mobility.
Is the monthly turnover rate higher than 5%?
• High turnover may indicate low job satisfaction or poor management.
Fairness
A re workers represented by a union or collective bargaining agreement?
• Indicates worker voice and protection.
HOW THE RUBRIC IS USED
THE SKILLS INITIATIVE’S Job Quality
Rubric isn’t just a tool — it’s a strategic framework that helps reimagine how workforce systems define success. Rather than serving as a binary pass/fail filter, the rubric enables data-informed decisions, shapes participant expectations, and drives employer accountability. It’s designed to unlock alignment across three critical dimensions: participant empowerment, employer improvement, and program investment.
1. Empowering Informed Choices
The rubric enhances recruitment by providing participants with a transparent and realistic preview of the available jobs. If a position lacks paid parental leave or offers unpredictable scheduling, that information is shared upfront, not hidden. This clarity allows participants to make informed decisions about their training paths, leading to better alignment, stronger commitment, and improved retention. One participant in a Skills Initiative program designed in partnership with a biomanufacturing firm shared, “Knowing what to expect not just in the program but on the job helped me be successful. I was able to plan with my family on how I was going to handle 3rd shift way before I even started working. It wasn’t easy but I am proud I figured it all out and the Skills Initiative gave me the tools to do that.”
2. Influencing Employer Practice
Employers are often unaware of how their roles compare to others in the region or industry. When organizations experience challenges— such as high turnover—the rubric can help diagnose potential causes. Combined with labor market benchmarks from Lightcast, the rubric provides employers with a holistic view of how their roles stack up against industry peers. In several cases in the program’s history, employers have responded to insights and recommendations gleaned from the rubric by improving benefits, raising starting wages, and formalizing career paths. The rubric increases The Skills Initiative’s influence with employer partners, fueling an evolution of job quality driven by partnership.
3. Optimizing Return on Investment
As a steward of philanthropic and public resources, The Skills Initiative must prioritize programs that yield lasting economic outcomes. The rubric provides a systematic way to assess whether a given opportunity is likely to provide a high return on the investment. It guides where staff spend time, when and where to launch new cohorts, and when to say no.
The ability to objectively compare job quality across programs helps prioritize investments that most effectively support participant economic mobility and long-term success.
THE IMPACT OF the Job Quality Rubric is not theoretical – it’s supported by data from 44 programs. Our analysis reveals compelling correlations between job quality and key outcomes like retention, wages, and graduate placement.
Correlation, a measure that illustrates the extent to which two variables are related, is measured below on a scale from -1 to +1, with 1+ meaning a perfect correlation, 0 meaning no correlation, and -1 meaning a perfect negative correlation.
POSITIVE CORRELATIONS
Retention : A moderate and consistent positive relationship exists at 6 months (.31) and 12 months (.29) but jumps significantly at the 1-year mark (.793), highlighting the striking long-term payoff of placing participants in high-quality jobs.
Wages: A strong correlation (.44) underscores how better-quality jobs translate to better compensation, a central pillar of economic mobility. It’s also interesting to note that average starting wages in this sample were 7.64% higher than the advertised rates, with graduates ultimately earning an
NEGATIVE CORRELATION
Program Completion: A slight negative correlation (-0.23) between job quality and program completion rates, which may reflect more rigorous standards required for higher-quality jobs, translating to more rigorous program standards, making it more difficult for some participants to complete.
While it is encouraging that the Skills Initiative has developed access to high-quality jobs, it also means we need to evolve the program to ensure accessibility without compromising rigor. To address this, the Skills Initiative has developed a few interventions with the intention of minimizing attrition and maximizing the number of people accessing the highest quality jobs.
• Bridge Programs: By partnering with educational and training providers with expertise in contextualized numeracy and literacy programming, the Skills Initiative can offer bespoke bridge programs to participants. Attrition can be reduced by addressing academic readiness challenges that may prevent
average of $21.71 per hour compared to the advertised $19.90 per hour. This suggests that employers may recognize the value Skills Initiative graduates bring and are willing to offer higher compensation accordingly.
Graduate Placement: A fairly strong correlation (0.375) between job quality and the likelihood of job placement, meaning that those who do complete these high-quality programs are more likely to be connected to jobs.
an otherwise qualified participant from completing a program by stitching together the resources already available in the ecosystem.
• Enhanced Coaching and Retention Support: Professional coaching has been a core component of the Skills Initiative approach since its inception. However, we have acknowledged that certain programs may require increased one on one touchpoints or different types of engagement such as industry-based mentors. Additionally, by partnering with other organizations that can provide crisis-based support such as rapid housing placements, we believe we can increase completion rates.
In summary, the data suggests that job quality plays a significant role in retention and wages and is positively correlated with graduate placement, while also acknowledging that more selective hiring practices and higher job requirements could slightly impact program completion.
Implications & Looking Forward
THE SKILLS INITIATIVE is proud of its long-term commitment to job quality, and the organization’s journey from neighborhood internship program to nationally recognized model demonstrates the transformative power of placing job quality at the center of workforce development. The creation of the Job Quality Rubric has allowed for a data-driven approach to connecting participants with meaningful employment, resulting in long-term economic mobility.
The Skills Initiative’s findings are clear: job quality matters – not just for individual workers, but for the success of workforce programs, the health of employer partnerships, and the long-term strength
of our regional economy. For too long, the field has over-emphasized short-term placement numbers at the expense of meaningful, durable outcomes that move the needle on economic mobility. It is time for a reset.
At The Skills Initiative, we believe that workforce development must shift its definition of success. We cannot measure impact primarily by the number of people placed into jobs. Instead, we must focus on the quality of those jobs – their wages, benefits, stability, career pathways, and alignment with worker well-being – and the extent to which they offer real mobility for individuals and families.
1. Job Quality Must Become a Core
Metric of Workforce Success
It is no longer sufficient to ask, “Did someone get a job?” We must ask:
• Will they be able to stay in that role?
• Will they earn enough to support their family?
• Will they grow, advance, and build wealth over time?
Public and philanthropic funders should embed job quality metrics into their evaluation frameworks. Workforce organizations must adapt their internal measures, incentives, and strategies accordingly.
2. Employers are Not Just Partners – They Are a Critical Part of the Solution
Workforce organizations have an opportunity and a responsibility to influence employer practices. The Job Quality Rubric is one example of how we can hold up a mirror to our partners, identify where roles could be improved, and collaborate on
improvements. This is especially critical in Philadelphia, where economic insecurity is pervasive and racial disparities in employment outcomes are stark. Workforce organizations must use their position to advocate for better jobs, not just more of them.
3. Economic Mobility Is the Ultimate Goal – and Workforce Systems Must Align to Support It
Improved wages, access to benefits, skill development, and upward mobility are not aspirational extras – they are essential to addressing entrenched inequality and building inclusive
prosperity. In a region that ranks last in the nation for economic mobility, this is not just a technical challenge – it is an imperative.
THE WORK AHEAD IS CLEAR. WE MUST:
1. A lign regional economic development with job quality goals
2. Equip participants with the tools to make informed choices and advocate for themselves
3. Invest in workforce models that prioritize quality and retention, not only speed and volume
4. D evelop accountability systems that include the experiences of job seekers and workers, not just employer satisfaction
At The Skills Initiative, we are committed to leading this shift –and to working with others who believe that everyone deserves access not just to work, but to work that works for them.
Authors
Cait Garozzo, Executive Director, The Skills Initiative
Sarah Steltz, Senior Vice President of Strategy, University City District
Please contact Sarah at ssteltz@universitycity.org with questions and inquiries.