Tennessee leads nation for minimum wage workers, By Lance Williams, March 25, 2014, The Tennessean: “About 7.4 percent of Tennessee’s workforce earns at or below the minimum wage, the highest proportion of minimum wage workers in the country, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, about 4.3 percent of the workforce – or 3.3 million workers – earn at or below the minimum wage. In Tennessee, about 117,000 workers earn about at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour…”
Month: March 2014
Kids Count Report – Colorado
- Child poverty rate in Colorado rises above prerecession years, By Zahira Torres, March 24, 2014, Denver Post: “Despite an improving economy, more Colorado children were living in poverty in 2012 than at the trough of the economic downturn, according to an annual report that evaluates the well-being of children in the state. ‘We see many areas in Colorado that have not yet begun to feel the economic recovery and are still struggling with the lingering effects of the economic downturn,’ said Sarah Hughes, research director for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, a nonprofit organization that produces the annual Kids Count in Colorado report…”
- Pueblo on low end in child wellness, By Loretta Sword, March 24, 2014, Pueblo Chieftain: “Statewide, children have made some gains in key areas — graduation rates are up and the teen pregnancy rate is down — but this year’s Kids Count in Colorado report also finds that more children are struggling in school, growing up in single-parent and homeless families, and have inadequate access to quality, affordable child care and nutritious foods. Colorado also has the fifth-highest rate of child fatalities related to abuse and neglect among all states, at 3.25 deaths per 100,000 children. The outlook on some fronts is worse in Pueblo County than the statewide rates, and fairly comparable in others…”
Long-Term Unemployment
- Only 11% of the long-term unemployed find work again a year later, By Ricardo Lopez, March 20, 2014, Los Angeles Times: “In a sobering new study, three Princeton economists found that only 11% of the long-term unemployed in any given month found full-time work a year later. The paper, presented Thursday at a Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, offered a comprehensive look at the profile of the long-term unemployed. The lead economist behind the study is Alan B. Krueger, the former chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors. The economists tested the hypothesis of whether a low supply of jobs or discrimination by employers contributed to long-term unemployment. The answer? Probably both…”
- Jobs scarce for U.S. long-term unemployed, By Josh Boak (AP), March 21, 2014, The Tennessean: “A new study documents the bleak plight of Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months: Just 11 percent of them, on average, will ever regain steady full-time work. The findings by three Princeton University economists show the extent to which the long-term unemployed have been shunted to the sidelines of the U.S. economy since the Great Recession. The long-term jobless number 3.8 million, or 37 percent of all unemployed Americans…”
- States have provided jobless benefits retroactively before — so why can’t they now?, By Stephen Koff, March 20, 2014, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The folks who administer unemployment compensation say that the start-stop-start nature of the latest jobless-benefits proposal in Washington would be unworkable in the states. That’s because, they say, it is the states, not the federal government, that must administer the benefits and deal with all the hassles, regardless of whether the benefits are paid for by the feds…”