Two key tax credit provisions in the COVID relief legislation that the House passed February 27 would provide significant help to those on the fault lines of some of the pandemic’s worst economic effects. People who have lower incomes, are Black or Latino, have less than a college education, or work in face-to-face service occupations… Read more »
Category: Workforce
The demographic case for investing in America’s children
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
Brookings reports that there is an important demographic rationale for investing in young people, from infants to teens. It has to do with the unprecedented aging of the nation’s population and the increased reliance of our rapidly growing senior population on a young population whose size will remain relatively stagnant. On top of this, demographic… Read more »
Employment Crisis Demands Proven Strategies Like Subsidized Jobs
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
In this article, CLASP argues that subsidized and transitional jobs programs are a proven strategy to help workers and families tackle the job crisis head on. The ongoing health and economic crises have revealed some stark truths. First, workers of color, immigrants, young people, women, workers in jobs paying low wages, and frontline workers are… Read more »
Institute for Women’s Policy Research asks women about their concerns and priorities
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
A February 2021 survey conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research asked women to identify their top policy priorities on which Congress and the Biden Administration should focus. Across the 1,452 survey respondents, healthcare was the top policy priority. Rounding out the top five priorities are: the economic recession, unemployment, racial justice or inequality,… Read more »
LGBT adults—particularly those of color—faced greater health and economic impacts in fall 2020 than non-LGBT adults
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
Researchers at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law investigated how LGBTQ+ adults were impacted by the fall 2020 COVID-19 surge. They used survey data collected between August and December 2020 by Ipsos’ weekly Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index (a representative and probability-based online panel of U.S. adults). The report shows important variation by sexual… Read more »
How family sustaining jobs can power an inclusive recovery in America’s regional economies
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
Brookings reports that before the pandemic hit, 44% of U.S. families in 2019 did not earn an income that was high enough to cover their families’ living expenses. Markedly, families headed by women (53%), Black (58%), and Latino or Hispanic (57%) individuals and individuals without a high school diploma (65%) are much more likely to… Read more »
Three ways the Biden administration can promote economic security for Black Americans
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
Brookings argues that now is the right moment for the Biden Administration to promote a mix of race-conscious and race-neutral reforms that set the stage for a more equitable economy. First, they should directly address the labor market’s well-documented racial discrimination by strengthening the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The administration should also act to broadly… Read more »
For low-income workers, a chance to learn new skills without paying a dime upfront
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
If white-collar employees develop a serious work-from-home habit in the post-pandemic world, what happens to the cleaners and dishwashers and taxi drivers who relied on these people coming in to the office? If online shopping becomes the norm, how will store clerks make a living? A national pilot program by a Boston nonprofit aims to… Read more »
Local city ordinances require larger grocery chains to provide hazard pay to employees
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
The City Council of Los Angeles, California is backing a plan to require larger grocery stores to temporarily increase workers’ pay by $5/hour as hazard pay. Although at the beginning of the pandemic last spring many grocery retailers had offered some kind of hazard pay to employees, most of these bonuses ended months ago. Despite… Read more »
Revisiting “stackable” credentials as a pathway to employment
Posted by Andy Colvin (Staff Admin) & filed under .
Amid the record unemployment rates of the pandemic, Brookings-affiliated scholars review the evidence for stackable credentials as a pathway to employment, especially for those who lack the flexibility to undertake long-term training or degree programs. This approach generally entails earning a shortterm certificate that can be put to work immediately, then returning to use some… Read more »