Analyzing the Long-term Effect of Unemployment on Economic Security
Between 1999 and 2009, one third of American families experienced unemployment. A recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts analyzes the substantial impact that unemployment has on families and their resources. In order to manage periods of unemployment, individuals often rely on personal savings, home equity, family and friends, institutional resources, and more risky options like payday loans. In many cases, these alternative income options deplete resources set aside for retirement and college payments and/or raise debt levels. To read the full report, click here.
Economic Security in a Changing Economy
"The Cornerstones of Economic Security for Resilient Workers: A Policy Framework for Shared Action", recently published by the National Governors Association, "explores the nature of ongoing economic changes, the meaning of economic security in today’s economy and the roles that government, business, the civic sector and individuals play to create a new approach better suited to current and future economic and social conditions." To read the report, click here.
Lower levels of wealth for Generations X and Y
“Today, people in their 20s and 30s (Generations X and Y) have accumulated less wealth than their parents when they were the same age about 25 years ago.” This decline in wealth is largely due to factors such as stagnant wages, diminishing job opportunities, lost home values, and large amounts of student loan debt. If this trend is not reversed, safety net programs could be stretched even further while exacerbating levels of wealth inequality in the U.S. To read more, click here.
Personal Finance for Low- and Middle- Income Families
The options available for higher income families to build economic security are very different than those options available to families in other income groups. For low- and middle- income families, human capital remains the most important asset. To develop this asset, policy makers can consider ways to lower high school drop out rates and encourage diverse initiatives like apprenticeship programs. The most important nonhuman capital asset is Social Security benefits, from which employees can benefit most if they have a steady work record. To read more about these economic opportunities and their potential benefits, click here.
New Report: Decreased Rates of Youth Incarceration Across the U.S.
A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that during the past 15 years in the U.S., the number of youth incarcerated on a single day has dropped from a high 107,637 to approximately 70,000. This decline was driven by efforts within states to create innovative reforms that improve outcomes for youth while also maintaining public safety and lowering costs. Despite these improvements, the majority of youth within the juvenile justice system are held for non-violent offenses and pose relatively low public safety risks. To read more, click here.
In Tennessee, Alternative Solutions Produce Results
Reports from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Justice Policy Institute show that between 1997 and 2010, the state of Tennessee experienced a significant 66 percent reduction in youth incarceration. During this period, Tennessee worked through its Department of Children Services to implement innovative youth crime prevention programs and reforms. Although the state has seen an increase in youth arrests, for non-violent crimes like truancy and violating probation, the state is pursuing alternative solutions. To read more, click here.
Payday Loans: Understanding Their Consequences and Individual Choices
In the U.S., 12 million Americans use payday loans annually. These loans present a quick, short-term solution to financial difficulties these individuals may face. However, the costs and duration of payday loans are unpredictable and often increase financial burdens in the long-term. Only 14 percent of payday loan borrowers can afford to repay their loan based on their monthly budgets. A recent report from The Pew Charitable Trusts explores the reasons why individuals choose this financing option and the ultimate consequences associated with this choice. To read the report, click here.
Affordable Housing in Decline for Working Households
In 24 states, affordability of housing has steadily declined for working households. Those working households earning less than 80 percent of area median income (AMI) experienced more severe housing cost burdens in the past few years. Most of this increased burden was due to the large decline in incomes and the simultaneous increase in housing costs. In particular, costs are steadily rising for renters while generally decreasing for owners. To read more, click here.
Economic Insecurity and Minority Seniors
More than half of African-American and Latino seniors are economically insecure. A majority of this insecurity comes from housing sources with 62 percent of minority seniors spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing expenses. In the U.S., few households with minorities are financially prepared for retirement. Economic insecurity has become the norm for many seniors and will persist unless efforts are made to improve asset building earlier in life. To read more, click here.
Strategies to Promote Workforce Development
Sector strategies is an effort to bring employers of one industry into partnerships with government, education, training, economic development, labor, and community organizations to address the workforce needs of their industry. These strategies are intended to promote policies and investments that help close the skills gap and improve the efficiency of existing programs for businesses and workers. A recent report from the National Skills Coalition explores these strategies further with a particular focus on the role of the state.To read more, click here.
EITC Awareness Day
For the seventh year straight, the IRS is celebrating Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day in an effort to inform the general population about the tax credit opportunities available for low-income families. To learn more about the EITC and eligibility requirements, click here. To read about how the EITC has helped low-income families, click here.
Child Welfare: A Priority for Colorado in 2013
After a recent investigation by the Denver Post into the Colorado child welfare system, a coalition of policy makers is pushing for a state audit to evaluate the current system. The investigation revealed that since 2007, 175 children in Colorado have died of abuse and neglect. In order to improve child welfare in their state, legislators are evaluting issues such as federal and state spending to investigate and prevent child abuse. Some of the policy makers within this coalition include Senator Irene Aguilar, Senator Linda Newell, and Senator Jeanne Nicholson. To read more, click here.
Georgia's Juvenile Justice System Might See Reform in 2013
In December of 2012, the governor-appointed council on juvenile justice reform in Georgia released its analysis of the current state of Georgia's juvenile justice system. The findings suggest that Georgia's current practices are not producing the intended results of promoting more public safety, lowering costs, and preventing recidivism. As a result, new legislation will most likely be presented in 2013 with the backing of Governor Deal that offers more alternatives to detention such as creating community-based treatment programs for nonviolent juvenile offenders. To read more, click here.
Affordable Housing and Child Poverty
In the U.S., affordable housing remains in a state of crisis with a particularly strong effect on child poverty. Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that over 20 million children live in households where more than 30 percent of the monthly income was spent on rent, mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, and/or related expenses. This housing situation diminishes the economic security of these households, limiting future opportunities for growth and prosperity. To view the data graphics, click here.
Income Inequality and the Plight of the Middle Class
Income inequality continues to be one of the greatest issues facing the middle class in the U.S. The income of a typical working-age family started falling in 2007 and continued to decrease through 2010. Capital income has grown substantially for the top one percent and since 1979, the top five percent has taken home half of total income growth. Taxes have fallen at the top and the minimum wage has fallen at the bottom, further expanding the income gap. To read more, click here.
How Does Asset Building Impact Foster Care Youth?
A recent study from the Jim Casey Foundation examines the financial lives of young people transitioning from foster care into adulthood. While participating in the study, youth also took part in Opportunity Passport, a Jim Casey initiative that provided financial training and services to the participants. The results show that transitioning foster youth often face many barriers to saving and general financial management but programs like Opportunity Passport can be a helpful resource to combat many of these problems. To read more, click here.
Missing Opportunities for Young Adults
A new KIDS COUNT report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation explains that young adult employment today is at its lowest level since World War II. The populations struggling the most to enter the workforce and stay in school include youth that are less educated, from low-income families, and belong to a racial or ethnic minority group. In 2011, black and Asian male teenagers faced the worst rates of unemployment. These youth are missing opportunities to enter the workforce early and gain job-readiness skills, which could pose dire implications for their futures. To read more, click here.
Asset Poverty in the U.S.
Asset poverty occurs when a family lacks enough resources to live at the federal poverty level for three months. According to a recent study by the Urban Institute, one out of five families in the U.S. was categorized as asset poor in 2010. The Great Recession increased the asset poverty level for both low-income and high-income families. Mid-aged (ages 30-61) individuals saw particularly large increases in asset poverty. To read more, click here.
Researchers Find Link Between Higher Medicare Spending and Joblessness
In the study, researchers linked increased unemployment rates, common in times of economic downturn, with rising Medicare spending. The study noted that "a one-percentage-point rise in the unemployment rate was associated with a $40 (0.7 percent) increase in Medicare spending per capita," or an increase of more than $9 billion among all Medicare beneficiaries between 2008 and 2010. ( Read More)
GoldieBlox: Giving Little Girls Tool Kits Instead of Dolls Could Help Close the Pay Gap
The gender pay gap is a complicated and hotly debated issue, but, believe it or not, baby toys could go a long way in solving the problem. There are many factors that contribute to the discrepancy between women’s pay and men’s, but one is the way little girls are conditioned to think that certain fields are boys’ territory – specifically higher paying fields like science, technology, engineering and math (referred to as STEM). ( Read More)
Gang Violence in Chicago
A study from Northwestern University finds that in Chicago, more than 80 percent of juveniles that enter the criminal justice system early in life have at some point belonged to a gang. Gang violence has resulted in a growing homicide rate and recidivism among youth with the average age of first gun use being 14 years old. As they enter adulthood, these individuals often face high rates of unemployment, continued incarceration, violent deaths, and psychiatric disorders. To read more, click here.
Pay Gap Between Men and Women Starts Right After College
A recent study by the American Association of University Women finds that the pay gap between men and women starts right after college. One year after graduation, women are making 82 percent of what their male counterparts are paid. Even after ontrolling for career choices (men tend to enter higher-paying fields), there still remains a 6.6 percentage-point gap. With this gap starting earlier in life, there is a greater chance for economic disparities to persist and expand later on. To read more, click here.
How Millennials Leaving Their Parents' Basements Could Save the Economy
"Young people are the lazy, smelly scapegoat of the recession. They're not working, they're living at home, they're constantly complaining about their debt, they're not buying cars or houses, and they're not even having babies. But there is an outside chance that The Twentysomething, the media's favorite economic whipping boy, is poised to become the hero of the recovery, and it all comes down to two words: Household formation." (Read More)
State Policies to Support Financial Security Are Still Lacking
A recent study from the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) details policy changes on financial security issues made after October 2011 through 2012 in every state and the District of Columbia in the U.S. The results indicate that while more opportunities are created in some areas, states still have a lot more work to do to help residents build and protect assets. To view the study, click here.
Image Source: CFED
The "American Dream" Remains Just a Dream for Many Americans
Most adults in the U.S. have higher family incomes than their parents, indicating that each generation is doing a little bit better than the one before it. However, this increase has not been significant enough to move many people into a higher income group. Studies show that Americans raised at the top and bottom of the income ladder are more likely to stay where they started with 70 percent of those raised below the middle staying there. In particular, African-Americans raised at the bottom are more likely to remain there as adults compared to other groups. To read more, click here.
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