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A tight job market dangled opportunity. Instead, workers found burnout and uncertainty.

Despite low unemployment, many feel they lack 'agency' and 'dignity' at work, a new study from the Federal Reserve found.

Starbucks workers who have been organizing unions in recent years have complained of understaffing and other job-quality issues, which similarly arose in the Federal Reserve's recent focus groups with low-income and moderate-income workers. In this photo, Starbucks Workers Union members picket at a store on South Street and 22nd Street in Philadelphia on Nov. 17, 2022.
Starbucks workers who have been organizing unions in recent years have complained of understaffing and other job-quality issues, which similarly arose in the Federal Reserve's recent focus groups with low-income and moderate-income workers. In this photo, Starbucks Workers Union members picket at a store on South Street and 22nd Street in Philadelphia on Nov. 17, 2022.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer