Ruth Finkelstein

Your financial health can put your physical health at risk

In this interview for our An Equitable Recovery series with CWI Labs: Healthy aging expert Ruth Finkelstein
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Nonprofit CWI Labs, whose mission is to help underserved communities overcome workforce entry barriers, has partnered with WorkingNation to address the issue in a series of interviews for our An Equitable Recovery series.

We have invited experts in workforce development, labor economics, aging, racial equity and policy to discuss the challenges before our Nation. And, most importantly, to introduce thought-provoking solutions.

In this third of four interviews, Ruth Finkelstein, the executive director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, sits down with Ramona Schindelheim, the editor-in-chief for WorkingNation, to talk about the obstacles facing older job seekers, particularly those from underserved communities.

Our nation’s labor force is increasingly dependent on older workers who will soon represent the largest single segment—25%—of our labor force. After the last recession, older job seekers only had a 40% chance of finding a job within 18 months.

Ruth and Ramona discuss how COVID-19 fears and misinformation complicate efforts to include older workers in our recovery, and what employers and policy makers can do to overcome these challenges.

They also turned their focus to the troubling issue of low-income workers facing a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 for numerous reasons, from their need to work in public-facing jobs and the greater incidence of underlying health conditions.

In Case You Missed the Other Videos in the Series:

In this second interview in the series, Julia Pollak, labor economist for ZipRecruiter, sits down with series host Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief of WorkingNation, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on small business owners, particularly those of color.

Among the insights: minority owners are less likely to ask for, and receive, financial assistance, leaving them at risk of losing their businesses. Julia and Ramona also look at the overall impact of the pandemic on the economy and the workforce, and at what it takes to heal the damage.

In the first interview in our series, Malcom Glenn, the 2020 CWI Labs Senior Fellow and the director of public affairs at Better.com, joins Ramona to discuss the challenges facing Black job seekers and how employers and policy makers can address those challenges in the short-term and the long-term.

You can read more about the series here: CWI Labs: An Equitable Recovery

Download the transcripts:
CWI Labs: An Equitable Recovery, An interview with Ruth Finkelstein
CWI Labs: An Equitable Recovery, An Interview with Julia Pollak
CWI Labs: An Equitable Recovery, An Interview with Malcom Glenn