Labor & Unemployment
COBOLing together UI benefits
An era of rapid change in the economy and how we work—from automation to the gig economy—is transforming the middle class. As the benefits of our changing economy become less and less evenly distributed, many middle class Americans are feeling left behind. On May 8, the new Future of the Middle Class Initiative at Brookings and the Biden Foundation co-hosted a forum on the future of the middle class, featuring a keynote address by former Vice President Joe Biden.
The first panel—moderated by Camille Busette, director of the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative at Brookings—discussed the many ways we define “middle class,” and how middle-class challenges are experienced differently across various demographics. The second panel, which was moderated by Ben Harris of the Biden Foundation, detailed barriers to competition in the workforce and identified forward-looking proposals to improve conditions for the American middle class.
You can learn more about the Biden Foundation here, and more about the Biden Forum here. The Biden Forum is the Foundation’s ongoing discussion on policies to advance the middle class.
Panel 2: Barriers to middle class prosperity
Keynote address: Vice President Joe Biden
Agenda
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May 8
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Welcome and Introduction
Ted Gayer President - Niskanen Center, Former Executive Vice President - The Brookings Institution -
Panel 1: Defining the Middle Class
Moderator
Camille Busette Interim Vice President and Director - Governance Studies, Director - Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative @CamilleBusettePanelist
Kilolo Kijakazi Institute Fellow and Director, Integrated Financial Coaching Project - Urban Institute
Janet Gornick Director of the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality; Professor of Political Science and Sociology - The Graduate Center, City University of New York @janetgornick -
Panel 2: Barriers to middle class prosperity
Moderator
Ben Harris Vice President and Director - Economic Studies, Director - Retirement Security Project @econ_harrisPanelist
Michael R. Strain Director and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy - Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute @MichaelRStrain
Melissa S. Kearney Nonresident Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, Center for Economic Security and Opportunity, The Hamilton Project @kearney_melissa
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Keynote address: Vice President Joe Biden
Keynote
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Former Vice President of the United States of America
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