Françoise Carré, Research Director at the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, spoke this spring at a symposium hosted by the MIT Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative. The symposium examined job quality across industries. Carre reviewed the findings and recommendations from her recently published Russell Sage book, Where Bad Jobs are Better.

Carré’s policy recommendations included raising the minimum wage, which would improve the quality of retail jobs, since retail workers hold about one-fourth of all minimum wage jobs in the U.S. She also recommends limiting the “hours arms race” that pressures stores to stay open overnight. She proposed policy changes to hours regulations targeted by geographic area and type of store.

Read more about Dr. Carré’s research and presentation here.