Economic Updates
Check back often for the latest articles and reports about the U.S. economy and economic policy and how they affect working families.
Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth, and America's Future
Laying the Foundation for National Prosperity: The Imperative of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
After 75 Years, the Working Poor Still Struggle for a Fair Wage
Latest Immigration Wave: Retreat: An Illegal Worker Realizes Dream, Briefly; Fewer Are Sneaking In
Money Sent Home by Mexicans Drops 12%
Special Issue of The Nation includes many articles about economic inequality in the U.S.
Metro Raise: Boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit to Help Metropolitan Workers and Families by the Brookings Institute. This report includes a set of recommendations for ways the federal government can modernize and expand the EITC and provides estimates of how proposed changes would benefit lower-income tax filers in local communities across the United States.
Ownership, Rental Costs and the Prospects of Building Home Equity: An Analysis of 100 Metropolitan Areas by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition. This study compares ownership and rental costs in the 100 largest metropolitan areas. It also makes projections for the potential for accumulating home equity in these markets. The report demonstrates the wide diversity of housing markets across the country and emphasizes the need to stray away from one-size-fits-all solutions to the housing crisis.
Facing Deficits, Many States are Imposing Cuts that Hurt Vulnerable Residents by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This paper reviews cuts various states are implementing or proposing which affect the well being of vulnerable residents, such as cuts to public health, elderly and disabled services, education and state workforce.
The Child Tax Credit Gap: A Snapshot of Families Left Out by First Focus. This brief points to the importance of lowering the income floor for the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and provides key demographic information on the working families who are unable to claim any part of the CTC.
