Will the creation of minimum wage jobs with no benefits really help U.S. workers out of a cycle of poverty? Domestic impact investment is growing fast, with a number of funds focusing on job creation. There is a great case to be made for maximizing impact by investing in quality jobs and helping portfolio companies manage toward better jobs over time. Last year, Transform Finance supported Pi Investments and Huntington Capital (now HCAP Partners) in an effort to develop job quality standards for implementation around sustainable livelihoods, benefits, opportunities for advancement, and opportunities for ownership with a "floor-and-ladder" approach. This work turned into a major initiative to help asset owners and fund managers contribute to the creation of good jobs - not just by investing in best-in-class employers, but focusing on the potential for improvement in job quality that a committed investor can support.
In this webinar we reviewed the work that brought together Transform Finance, TFIN founding member Pi Investments, and HCAP Partners, a $90+ million fund focused on job creation. We also reviewed the broader efforts in the job quality standards arena that Transform Finance is involved in as well as other sector-wide initiatives. For background information on this topic you may want to read Morgan Simon's SSIR piece on managing versus measuring impact.
