Poverty numbers are grim in N.J., By Alfred Lubrano, May 20, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “More New Jersey residents lived in poverty in 2010 than ever before, according to a report released Sunday. A record 885,0000 people in the state, nearly 300,000 of them children, lived below the poverty line, say authors of an analysis by the Legal Services of New Jersey Poverty Research Institute in Edison, which is based on the most recent numbers available. Overall, the poverty rate increased from 8.7 percent in 2008 to 9.4 percent in 2009, and finally to 10.3 percent in 2010. (By comparison, the percentage of Pennsylvanians living in poverty jumped from 11.6 in 2007 to 13.4 percent in 2010, according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.) The report offers a portrait of a New Jersey devastated by recession and unemployment, particularly among adults aged 18 to 24, whose jobless rate was nearly 15 percent, compared with 9 percent for all adults in the state. More than half the total unemployed population of New Jersey had been out of work for more than six months…”
Tag: New Jersey
State Minimum Wages
- NY, NJ, CT politicians seek minimum wage increase, Associated Press, March 7, 2012, CBS News: “Legislative leaders from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are pushing a novel, unified approach to promote higher minimum wages, hoping to spur a national movement and eliminate a major argument of opponents in the Northeast who say hikes hinder a state’s competitiveness. The Democrats want to increase the minimum from $7.25 an hour to about $8.50 in New York and New Jersey, and to about $9.75 over two years in Connecticut, where it’s $8.25. There are several active proposals in the states. New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his counterparts, Speaker Sheila Oliver in New Jersey and Speaker Chris Donovan in Connecticut, want to defuse the argument by critics and business groups that a state puts itself at a disadvantage if it increases the minimum when neighboring states don’t…”
- Bill slashing tipped minimum wage dies in Senate, By Sandra Pedicini, March 6, 2012, Orlando Sentinel: “A bill that would have cut the hourly pay of restaurant servers and other tipped employees by more than half has died in the Florida Senate – a development that drew cheers from hourly workers. ‘To hear it has died is phenomenal,’ said Cheryl Hennessey, a server at Epcot’s Garden Grill restaurant. ‘[I’m] thrilled to death.’ The measure (SB 2106) never got a House companion and stalled after getting approval from the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee. Sen. Nancy Detert, who heads that committee, declared the bill’s demise…”
- Republicans vote to repeal state’s minimum wage, By Howard Fischer, March 6, 2012, Arizona Daily Sun: “Using the soft economy as a lever, House Republicans voted Monday to ask voters to repeal the state’s minimum wage. House Majority Leader Steve Court acknowledged that the original measure was approved six years ago on a nearly 2-1 margin. That law requires the Industrial Commission to consider inflation and make annual adjustments in the minimum that companies doing business here can pay their workers. The result is a current minimum wage of $7.65 an hour, 40 cents more than required under federal law. Court said, though, the economy in 2006 was quite different than it is now. And he said that employers cannot afford the extra costs…”
Poverty and School Funding – New Jersey
Acting N.J. education chief reconsiders using school free-lunch programs to measure poverty, By Jessica Calefati, February 26, 2012, Star-Ledger: “Tucked into an 80-page report on Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to overhaul distribution of state aid to public schools is a proposal that could have greater implications on school funding than anything else the governor has pitched, experts say. In New Jersey and across the nation, the number of students living in poverty is determined by how many of them qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, a federal program run by the Department of Agriculture. But the count is not just about the federally subsidized meals – schools with poor students in the lunch program receive up to 57 percent more state aid than their peers. Citing growing concerns with the program’s susceptibility to fraud and error, acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf is calling for a governor-appointed task force to study whether there’s ‘an alternative way to measure New Jersey’s at-risk student population.’ The move has the potential to shift where the money goes in the state school system, rekindling New Jersey’s long debate over school funding for needy children…”