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Low-Wage Work (general)
General
Extending Tax Credits for Low-Income Families
(Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity - July 19, 2010)
Elaine Maag, research associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and the Urban Institute advocates for extending important improvements to refundable tax credits for low-income families. Without legislative action, the Making Work Pay credit and key improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit will expire in 2011. These improvements were part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The commentary includes useful charts demonstrating the impact on family income if the credit improvements made under ARRA are allowed to expire.
High Unemployment Rates Continue to Disproportionately Affect High School Dropouts
(Alliance for Excellent Education - June 28, 2010)
High school dropouts are more than three times as likely to be unemployed than college graduates based on the May 2010 numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released earlier this month. Overall, the unemployment rate inched down to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April thanks in large part to the hiring of 411,000 temporary employees to work on the Census 2010.
Low-Income Families on the Frontlines of the State Fiscal Crisis
(Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity - June 23, 2010)
Nicholas Johnson, director, and Erica Williams, research analyst of the State Fiscal Project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, describe how states are seeking to balance budgets. Some are taking a balanced approach that includes raising revenues through tax increases instead of relying entirely on cutting essential programs and services. But other states exacerbate poverty by taxing people living below the poverty line. The authors recommend steps at the federal and state level to help states maintain vital programs and support families as they seek to weather the recession.
Cheaper Than You Think—Why Smart Efforts to Spur Jobs Cost Less Than Advertised
(Economic Policy Institute - May 18, 2010)
EPI's policy memo shows that while the Local Jobs for America Act, introduced by Rep. George Miller (D. Calif.), would spend $75 billion over two years to create and preserve jobs in local communities around the country, more than half of that price tag would likely be offset by higher tax collections and reduced safety net expenditures.
The paper, by economist Josh Bivens and researcher Kathryn Edwards, takes estimates from the Education and Labor Committee on the number of jobs that would be retained or created, and then uses that data to estimate the impact that these jobs would have on government spending on unemployment insurance and on government revenues from increased income and payroll tax receipts. It finds that reduced safety net spending and higher tax receipts would substantially reduce the bottom-line impact on federal budget deficits.
The Labor Market Impacts of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 on Workers Across Income Groups
(Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity - April 12, 2010)
This commentary, by Andrew Sum, professor of economics and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, argues that the recession of 2007-2009 seriously threatened the economic security of American workers, but the economic crisis took an especially harsh toll on low-income Americans. Sum examines the impact of the recession on workers across a range of 10 income groups and finds extreme gaps in the rates of unemployment and underemployment.
A Profile of the Working Poor
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor - March 2010)
A study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) finds that in 2008, approximately 8.9 million adults were classified as “working poor,” an increase of 1.4 million since 2007. BLS defines the working poor as individuals who have spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force but whose incomes remain below the official federal poverty level. The report finds that in 2008, 3.9 percent of full-time workers and 13.7 percent of part-time workers were among the working poor. The report also provides data on the working poor by gender, race, educational attainment, occupation type and family characteristics.
Unemployed wait longer and longer for jobs
(Economic Policy Institute - March 10, 2010)
The current jobs crisis is unusually severe not only for the high level of unemployment, but also for the amount of time it is taking workers to find new jobs. Today, the median length of time a laid-off worker spends unemployed is almost five months, longer than any other time on record.
Job Creation: Creating Work and Learning Opportunities for Low-Income Populations
(CLASP - Nov. 18, 2009)
The current economic and job crisis requires that additional steps be taken to create employment and training opportunities for those hardest hit by the recession. Experts and policymakers have proposed numerous strategies to create and retain jobs such as tax credits, public service employment and the expansion of work-sharing/short-time compensation options under the Unemployment Insurance program. This fact sheet from CLASP offers a number of ideas for how the public Workforce Investment and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families systems could be mobilized to create new work opportunities for low-income, unemployed workers.
Women and Men's Employment and Unemployment in the Great Recession
Based on analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, this Briefing Paper from the Institute for Women's Policy Research finds many families are relying on women's earnings when men are unemployed and that unemployed men and women are experiencing an average of 29 weeks of unemployment before finding a new job.
This Working Poor Families Project report profiles how states can shape policies and program efforts to both 1) boost the supply of skilled workers by connecting low-income, low-skilled adults to construction-related skills development programs, and 2) increase employer commitment and demand for hiring these workers and paying them family-sustaining wages.
State-Level Data Show Recovery Act Protecting Millions From Poverty
This report, by Arloc Sherman of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, is based on Census data and shows that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is keeping large numbers of Americans out of poverty in states across the country.
Recession widening underemployment among various demographic groups
As an example of the rising underemployment rates among various demographic groups, Economic Policy Institute researcher Kathryn Edwards charts the increasing underemployment rates among black, Hispanic and various education groups. The charts show that pre-existing disparities among some groups within the labor market have become more pronounced over the course of the recession.
Community Benefits Agreements: Policy for the Twenty-First Century Economy
This report, by The Mobility Agenda, finds that over the past decade, community benefits agreements--legally binding agreements negotiated between developers and broad-based coalitions of community and labor organizations--have strengthened local labor markets by transforming thousands of low-wage jobs into good, living wage, and/or union jobs.
Beyond Stimulus: Shoring Up the Safety Net, Securing the American Dream
As Congress and the new President consider what actions to take, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) calls for a package that goes beyond stimulus aimed at temporarily boosting consumer demand. This paper outlines actions that Congress should take immediately to strengthen safety net programs that provide critical assistance to vulnerable workers and families and to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to share in the benefits of recovery.