By Joseph Martinez and Walen Ngo, United Way of Greater Los Angeles The EITC, or Earned Income Tax Credit, has been known for over thirty years to be one of the more successful anti-poverty programs in the nation. The tax relief program is geared toward only workers earning income below a certain income threshold andContinue reading “What Tax Time can do for the Working Poor”
Category Archives: Employment
Wall Street vs. Main Street part deux
I recently introduced the authors of the American Human Development Report at a presentation and made the point that just as the GDP has been criticized for not reflecting how the economy affects everyday people, the last year has driving home how out of touch stock market performance is with most regular folks. As thisContinue reading “Wall Street vs. Main Street part deux”
Labor Day fact sheet
In honor of Labor Day, here are some numbers on the state of working America, courtesy of the Economic Policy Institute: TOTAL JOBS LOST DURING THE RECESSION: 6.9 MILLION • New jobs needed per month to keep up with population growth: 127,000 • Jobs needed to regain pre-recession unemployment levels: 9.4 million UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 9.7%Continue reading “Labor Day fact sheet”
Steep rise in mass layoffs
Analysis by researchers at the Economic Policy Institute clearly shows the extent to which the economy is losing jobs. Mass layoffs – defined as letting go of 50 or more people by a single employer – have doubled over the last couple years and are at their highest level in the last 15 years. InContinue reading “Steep rise in mass layoffs”
Trends in LA and CA over the next few years
A common problem in trying to discern trends in poverty and inequality is that the data that we often have at hand are usually not particularly recent. The lag between when data are collected and publicly available can be significant, especially in a rapidly changing economy like we’ve been in over last several months. Also,Continue reading “Trends in LA and CA over the next few years”
Consequences of unemployment
We’re familiar with the normal consequences of layoffs and unemployment: lost income, health insurance and increased stress and anxiety. The LA Times had an interesting article this week highlighting how “California’s rising unemployment rate is driving a steep increase in child support cases, as the newly jobless appeal for increases in monthly payments or argueContinue reading “Consequences of unemployment”
The economy and gender discrimination
Most people are well aware that unemployment continues to rise to its highest levels in 25 years, above 8% nationally and approaching 11% in California. What is less apparent is that this rise is not evenly distributed for men and women. About 14 months ago, men and women had the same level of unemployment (aroundContinue reading “The economy and gender discrimination”
Yeah, it’s a slow economy
I went into my local bicycle store this morning to get a long-overdue tuneup and saw clear evidence of how the horrible economic situation is affecting retailers. First, I was the only customer in the store: this on a Saturday morning, when that store is usually filled with cyclers passing by the bike route inContinue reading “Yeah, it’s a slow economy”
Bill Pitkin 