Small Employers, Big Stakes 

Creating Opportunity in the Smallest Firms  

Very small businesses—those with fewer than 10 employees—employ millions of workers and anchor local economies, yet job quality solutions are rarely designed with their realities in mind. 

This data-to-dialogue webinar will share new, two-sided research on job quality in very small firms and convene practitioners and ecosystem leaders to explore what the findings mean for practice and policy. The session will open with a brief research presentation drawing on nationally representative employer and worker data, followed by a moderated panel discussion examining where the evidence aligns with lived experience, which trade-offs matter most in very small firms, and what kinds of shared infrastructure or supports could realistically improve job quality without undermining the strengths of small-firm jobs. 

This session is designed for: funders, policymakers, business support organizations, researchers, and others interested in job quality, small business support, and practical, systems-level solutions.