Our Impact
For more than 50 years, we’ve led the fight for a good-jobs economy. Our work has sparked improved power and increased income for workers and their families across the country.
We Fight for Workers' Rights
workers and their families have been impacted by our work over the last decade.
in additional unemployment insurance support achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession.
in annual raises secured for low-income workers since the Fight for $15 launched in 2012.
Our Mission is Increased Worker Power
Founded in 1969, the nonprofit National Employment Law Project (NELP) is a leading advocacy organization with the mission to build a just and inclusive economy where all workers have expansive rights and thrive in good jobs. Together with local, state, and national partners, we advance our mission through transformative legal and policy solutions, research, capacity-building, and communications.
Our victories over the last decade have impacted the lives of an estimated 100 million workers and their families. We lead and collaborate in fights for higher pay and just benefits, secure and safe jobs, and support at each stage in a worker’s life. We build worker power, and we challenge rules that allow corporate harm and undue power. We are transforming precarious work by raising the floor so that every job is a good job and everyone who wants a job can have one.
Together over the next decade, we will build Black, immigrant worker power and advance transformative solutions to achieve racial and economic justice.
We're Building a Good-Jobs Economy
Nearly half of all workers in the U.S. make less than $15 per hour. More people than ever are working in jobs that pay too little and offer too few benefits.
We’re leading the fight for a good-jobs economy, in which every single job is a good job, everyone who wants a job can get one, and everyone has economic security between jobs. A good-jobs economy is a just and inclusive economy in which all workers have the opportunity to thrive.
We won’t stop until every job is a good job.
Explore Issues That Impact Workers
Minimum and Living Wage
The federal minimum wage is $7.25. That's about $15,000 annually for a 40-hour work week, which is not nearly enough to support a family.
Unemployment Insurance
Workers deserve economic security between jobs. Yet millions of U.S. jobseekers struggle to survive with under-resourced state unemployment systems.
Contracted Workers
There are more temporary and contract workers than ever. All workers, including contractors, deserve livable wages, safe working conditions, and equitable treatment.
Health & Safety
Nearly three million workers are seriously injured on the job every year. Workplace injuries take an enormous toll and can force families into poverty.
Workers With Records
A conviction in one’s past shouldn’t be a life sentence to joblessness. People with prior arrest or conviction records deserve to work good jobs.
Download Our 2022-2023 Annual Report
We're proud to share our 2022-2023 impact report. Discover milestones and highlights in our fight for a good-jobs economy!
Download ReportPast Annual Reports
View past years’ annual impact reports.
2020 - 2021
2019 - 2020
2018 - 2019
2017 - 2018
Worker Voices: Stories From Across The Country
All stories
As a temp, they don’t care about your safety, or us as people. Everybody is expendable because the staffing agency can always get another person to work that position.
The workers who make these companies rich are real people — we aren’t just parts of an algorithm. We have lives to live.
Your donation transforms
- tomorrow's laws
- workers' jobs
- people's futures
- America's economy
Everyone deserves a good job. By giving today, you can support our work as we fight for a good-jobs economy in which every single job is a good job, everyone who wants a job can get one, and everyone has economic security between jobs.