Increasing Wages is an Effective Poverty Reduction Tool
Broad-based wage growth—if we can figure out how to achieve it—would dwarf the impact of nearly every other economic trend or policy in reducing poverty. Even in 2010, the bottom fifth of working age...
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Raising the Minimum Wage: Get Local
Last month, The White House and the Department of Labor announced a new federal contracting rule that would help tackle income inequality by raising the minimum wage for contract employees. According...
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Three Ways to Create Jobs and Lower Poverty
The market is not providing enough jobs. There are 9.5 million people without work; six million children are living with at least one unemployed parent. The jobs that are available are too often...
View ArticleA Historic Executive Order for Good Jobs
Today is a great day for American workers. President Obama will sign an executive order that in essence demands that companies clean up their acts and comply with labor laws if they are to receive...
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Something we can all get behind: Subsidized Jobs
“How can we get more low-income adults into jobs, so they can better support their families and move up the economic ladder? … One approach to achieving this goal is through supporting subsidized...
View ArticleThis Labor Day, Let’s Remember Those Who Can’t Afford a Day Off
In a recent New York Times article, reporter Jodi Kantor describes the challenging lifestyle of Jannette Navarro, a 22-year-old single mother who is a Starbucks barista with an erratic work schedule....
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Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class
Yesterday, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual figures on income, poverty, and health insurance. It revealed that four years into the economic recovery, economic insecurity remains widespread,...
View ArticleOut of the shadows and out of poverty: Reducing poverty through immigration...
The Census Bureau recently released new data on poverty in the United States. While the coverage that followed provided an overview of the new numbers, and in the case of TalkPoverty examined policy...
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Fostering the Power of Universities and Hospitals for Community Change
Communities across the country are recognizing the tremendous resources nonprofit anchor institutions—such as hospitals and universities—can provide as engines of inclusive and equitable economic...
View ArticleNever Convicted, but Held Back by a Criminal Record
Tyrae T. and N.R. needed what any thirtysomething American without regular income needs: a well-paying job. They were both ready and eager for work, yet both were turned down for numerous entry-level...
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President’s Budget: Increasing Mobility and Opportunity for All
In his State of the Union address, President Obama put a laser-like focus on “middle-class economics”, calling for policies that ensure every American has a fair shot at economic security. While the...
View ArticleFight For $15 Expands to a Fight for Good Jobs
On Wednesday morning, holding a sign that read “Show me $15 and a union,” Letrice Donaldson marched with around 200 people under gray skies through East Memphis, Tennessee. Letrice, 34, is an adjunct...
View ArticleNew York City Limits the Use of Credit Checks in Hiring
One of the recurring—and troubling—themes of TalkPoverty posts has been the overwhelming number of misguided policies that kick people while they’re down: from asset limits that tell poor people not to...
View ArticleWorkers and Georgetown Students Stand Up to Aramark
At Georgetown University this year, students became aware of stark differences in treatment between Aramark’s Georgetown and American University food services employees. At American, food service...
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Fast Food CEO Blames Low-Wage Workers for Poverty
To be “poor” in America isn’t an identifying characteristic or a defining trait, like being forgetful or creative or tall. Being a low-income American comes from being paid a low income. It seems like...
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A Worker’s Take on the New Overtime Proposal
As a manager for a national auto supply chain, Lora McCrary puts in between 50 and 70 hours a week remodeling stores across the country. But because she’s a salaried employee, she’s ineligible to earn...
View ArticleWhy a Pro-Worker Agenda is an Anti-Poverty Agenda
Labor Day is a time to honor America’s workers and their contributions to our economy. It is also a time to reflect upon the state of workers’ economic position, and how that position has faltered in...
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How Employment Agencies Abuse Jobseekers
If you don’t have a job, or you want a better one, advertisements like these may seem promising: CLEANERS – NOW STAFFING – F/T & P/T, no exp needed. Up to $29.00 per hour. The U.S. economy...
View ArticleWhy Conservatives’ Plans for Pregnancy 401(k)s Fall Short
Eighty-seven percent of workers lack paid family leave, including the vast majority of low-income workers. Fortunately, some conservatives have offered a bold new solution: pregnancy IRAs. That’s...
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The Obama Legacy: Creating More, Better Jobs
During his 2016 presidential campaign, president-elect Donald Trump promised that if he was elected, “the American worker will finally have a president who will protect them and fight for them.”...
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Trump Kicked Off His Presidency By Literally Cutting Jobs
On Monday, as one of his first acts as President, Donald Trump announced an immediate hiring freeze across the federal government. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the goal behind the...
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The Shutdown Shook Faith in Government Jobs, and That’s Bad For Everyone
The federal government has reopened after the longest shutdown in history, which caused federal workers to miss two paychecks and cost the economy $11 billion dollars — $3 billion of which will never...
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Debt Collecting Promises High Pay. All It Costs Is Your Soul.
Trevor Powell* was a high school student working part-time at Target in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2007 when he first heard about job openings for collections agents at First Premier Bank from a...
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Graduation Is Coming. The Jobs Aren’t.
As the estimated four million college graduates of the class of 2021 prepare to enter post-graduate life, they will face a job market that has lost 8.4 million jobs between February 2020 and March...
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