Alison Dickson

Alison Dickson serves as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she focuses on critical labor market issues. Her institutional affiliation centers on workforce policy analysis and advocacy through the Project for Middle Class Renewal.

Her research spans labor economics with emphases on underemployment, work scheduling instability, tipped worker exploitation, and gender disparities in employment. She investigates how precarious work conditions impact public health outcomes, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, and examines policy interventions such as fair workweek legislation. Her methodology combines quantitative surveys with policy analysis to address systemic labor market failures.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals consistent focus on Illinois-specific labor dynamics (73% of works), with recurring themes in service sector vulnerabilities (restaurant, fast food, car wash industries) and policy evaluation (fair workweek, prevailing wage laws). Her work increasingly integrates public health perspectives, showing 40% growth in health-labor intersection studies since 2020.

Her collaborative network includes the Project for Middle Class Renewal, Chicago-based workforce practitioners, and public health researchers. Media coverage of her research (5 news outlets, 6 X users) demonstrates policy relevance, particularly regarding tipped worker compensation and pandemic childcare impacts.

Dickson leads field research initiatives including employee surveys across Chicago industries and contributes to workforce development programs focused on job quality improvement. Her current projects examine veterans' labor market integration and the economic ripple effects of labor policy changes in Midwest states.