PERI's Globalization and Macroeconomics program provides research to promote sustained full employment and widespread prosperity for advanced and developing countries.

PERI's Labor Markets and Living Wages program examines the causes and consequences of rising wage inequality and declining living standards for low-wage workers, in the U.S. economy and other countries as well. This research integrates policy approaches to reverse these long-term trends, focusing on living wage initiatives (raising the quality of employment), employment-targeted macroeconomic policies (increasing the quantity of employment), and international labor standards as complementary measures.

PERI's program in Development, Peacebuilding, and the Environment breaks from the conventional framework of economic well-being measured in Gross National Product (GNP). In each of its components, DPE explores how democratization in the distribution of power - at the international, national, and local levels - can advance sustainable and secure livelihoods for all.