The chapter provided three metrics by which worker agency can be developed. Each of the three metrics considers both the labor and the employee agency, but there is often overlap in the ideas of labor and employee. Resilience is the first of these three metrics, and is defined by a greater public service mentality, and allowing people to get ahead on their goals. These are often marked by social safety nets, also known as welfare structures. Simply, it is the expectation for able-bodied off-age workers to contribute to the success of the individual, the family, and the community. However, a small portion of the earnings of the individual and the profits of the industry should be set aside to ensure that of those who are unable to participate in the traditional job market are able to make progress in their own regard by allowing them access to the monies and services necessary to maintain a dignified living status. Over the many decades since the installation of these social safety nets, a lack of political will has resulted in many of these structures falling into a state where they cannot be as helpful as they once may have been. As the chapter notes, reinvigorating these structures of resilience, allowing those that would otherwise fall off the consciousness of a well-to-do individual to become more in the forefront.
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