A minimum wage that makes more sense, By Jared Bernstein, June 27, 2014, New York Times: “Travel around this country a bit and, assuming your purchases are not confined to airports and big hotel chains, you will find that prices vary a great deal. Prices in New York State are 15 percent above the national average, while those in Arkansas are 12 percent below average. Housing is about twice as costly in Massachusetts as in Mississippi. These estimates arrive courtesy of the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ regional price parities, or R.P.P.s. The much better known Consumer Price Index, or C.P.I., tells us how national prices change over time. The R.P.P.s tell us how prices differ at a particular time across the country. . .”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty