• Latinos, hit hard by job losses, are making strong comeback, By Don Lee, February 5, 2012, Los Angeles Times: “After scraping by on handyman jobs for a year, Bert Qintana figured he’d have to leave his wife and teenage son at their home near Taos, N.M., and find work elsewhere. Then Qintana got a call last month from Chevron Mining, which runs a mine 20 miles away. Would he be interested in hauling muck from the molybdenum mine for $17.05 an hour? He leaped at the offer. ‘Thank God,’ said Qintana, 45, a Latino who had worked as a general contractor. ‘I was able to hang in there and not have to move.’ About a dozen other workers, most of them Latino, also were hired. Like Qintana, many Latinos with ties to the home building industry got slammed by the recession, which wiped out about 2 million construction jobs. But now, as the economic rebound picks up a bit of steam, Latinos are scoring bigger job gains than most other demographic groups and proving to be a bright spot in the fledgling recovery…”
• For some black women, economy and willingness to aid family strains finances, By Ylan Q. Mui and Chris L. Jenkins, February 5, 2012, Washington Post: “The Great Recession carried special pain for black women like Jane Ladson. She had always been the one her family turned to when they needed help, and she didn’t hesitate to give it. She helped pay for weddings and rent. She made room for her nephew when her brother died of AIDS. And even now in her 50s, she took in a baby that wasn’t her own. But help was easier to give when the economy was booming and Ladson was bringing home $4,000 a month as a mechanic at Amtrak. Even an injury on the job turned into a blessing in disguise when she collected a $700,000 settlement that allowed her to build her dream home in Clinton and help her longtime partner start her own hair salon. Then the recession hit, and fate twisted the other way…”
• Unemployment drop still leaves low skill workers behind, By Michael A. Fletcher, February 6, 2012, Washington Post: “The nation’s jobless rate has declined to its lowest level in three years, a fact that has left Jamie Bean, an unemployed air-conditioner repairman, feeling more left out than ever. Bean, 36, lost his job in December. Now he is scrambling to keep up with child-support payments to his wife, who is also unemployed. ‘As it stands now, I can’t afford to get divorced,’ he said, managing a wry smile. Bean’s predicament is not unlike that of many people who have a high school education or less. Not only were they hit especially hard by the recession but they have continued losing ground in the recovery that has followed. By disproportionate numbers, these Americans have given up looking for work, making the nation’s recovery appear better than it is. If the unemployment rate counted the 2.8 million people who want jobs but have stopped looking, it would sit at 9.9 percent rather than its current 8.3 percent…”

• Minimum wage rates may climb this year, By Paul Davidson, February 2, 2012, USA Today: “At least 17 states recently raised the minimum wage or are considering doing so in 2012, the most in at least six years. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney broke with GOP conservatives this week, renewing his call for automatic federal minimum wage increases to keep up with inflation. President Obama has backed raising the U.S. basic wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $9.50 and indexing future automatic increases to inflation. Many economists cite a growing divide between rich and poor. The federal minimum wage rate applies everywhere except in states that set higher minimum rates…”
• Washington state bills targeting minimum wage die, By Jonathan Kaminsky (AP), January 31, 2012, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Washington state lawmakers have shelved a series of bills that would lower wages at the bottom of the income scale in an effort to spur private-sector hiring.  The five Republican-sponsored bills failed to come up for a House committee vote Tuesday ahead of a key deadline.  Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, said his goal in sponsoring the bills was to encourage employers to hire more workers, particularly in struggling areas of eastern Washington. ‘The little guys are what’s getting hurt,’ said Condotta. ‘They can’t push the prices up any more. They can’t complete.’ Among the bills was one to implement a tip-credit allowing restaurant owners to pay waiters and other tipped employees less than the minimum wage…”

• U.S. jobless rate falls to 8.3 percent, a 3-year low, By Motoko Rich, February 3, 2012, New York Times: “The United States economy gained momentum in January, as employers added 243,000 jobs, the second straight month of better-than-expected gains. And in a separate measure, the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, giving a cause for optimism as the economy shapes up as the central issue in the presidential election. Measured by both the unemployment rate and the number of jobless - which fell to 12.8 million - it was the strongest signal yet that an economic recovery was spreading to the jobs market. The last time the figures were as good was February 2009, President Obama’s first full month in office…”
• Unemployment rate hinges on more than job gains or losses, Associated Press, February 3, 2012, Washington Post: “For most people, the 8.3 percent unemployment rate is the most visible sign of the economy’s health. The rate’s every movement is closely watched, especially in an election year. But when the rate declines, it’s not always because many more people were hired. The unemployment rate can rise or fall even when no jobs are created or lost. Last month, the rate fell because jobs were added. But that hasn’t always been the case in the 2½ years since the Great Recession ended. One reason for the rate’s decline is that fewer people are looking for work…”

• 99 week maximum for jobless benefits may drop as low as 59 weeks, By Olivera Perkins, January 26, 2012, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “People thrust out of work in Ohio might have to settle for a much shorter period of unemployment benefits. Jobless workers here have been able to count on 99 weeks of benefits, but the maximum could fall to as low as 59 weeks. That possibility raises a divisive question: Is 99 weeks — almost two years — too long to draw jobless benefits…?”
• Jobless benefits to expire unless Pa. House acts, By Laura Olson, January 31, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Thousands of Pennsylvanians will see their federally funded unemployment benefits expire after this week, with legislation to extend those checks lingering in the state House of Representatives. A pending measure, which passed the state Senate last week, would offer 13 additional weeks of benefits to the state’s jobless residents. The federal funding was approved by Congress in December but requires the state to tweak its unemployment compensation rules in order to receive those dollars. That bill is awaiting consideration by a House panel, which has a vote scheduled for Monday. Legislative staffers say the belatedly approved benefits would be retroactive, but pressures to also enact broader changes to the state’s unemployment compensation system could further hold up that assistance…”
• Study: Safety net misses many jobless in Nevada, By Ed Vogel, January 30, 2012, Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Las Vegans Dylan Wikoff and Jorge Suescun Hijuelos know firsthand the downward spiral that occurs once you lose your job and then exhaust your unemployment benefits without finding work. ‘I ended up homeless on Fremont Street,’ said Wikoff, a 36-year-old Marine Corps veteran who was laid off more than two years ago from a sales job at a construction supply company. ‘It was a slow downward spiral for me,’ said Hijuelos, 51, a longtime union construction worker who had never been without work for more than a few weeks until the completion of the CityCenter project. ‘I sold my car, sold my bedroom set, sold everything to pay my rent. I went from a beautiful condo to renting rooms by the week. I slept in a couple of fields.’ These polite and bright men are not unusual. They actually are some of the lucky ones in the never-ending recession in Nevada…”
• Tension rises over Maine bill tackling unemployment insurance fraud, By Steve Mistler, January 30, 2012, Lewiston Sun Journal: “A controversial bill that would increase the penalties for unemployment fraud and the qualifications to receive out-of-work benefits is meeting stiff resistance from worker advocates. The proposal, LD 1725, was presented by the Department of Labor, which argued that an increase in unemployment claims has been accompanied by an increased possibility of fraud. Additionally, employer advocates are championing a provision in the proposal that would stop exempting vacation pay from the waiting period to receive benefits. Opponents, however, say the bill’s proposal to increase potential criminal penalties for unemployment fraud from a maximum of one year to 10 years in prison is extreme for a state that has one of the nation’s lowest unemployment fraud rates. In addition, they say the bill’s increased work-search mandates will force unemployed workers to take a job well beneath their skill and wage level…”
• Senators want to end jobless benefits for fired workers, By Gina Smith, January 26, 2012, The State: “State senators said Wednesday that they want to make sure that workers who were fired cannot get state unemployment benefits in the future. A Senate panel Wednesday advanced a bill that would prevent workers fired for misconduct from receiving any state unemployment benefits. Under current law, these workers can get jobless benefits for from five to 20 weeks, depending on the type and severity of their workplace infraction. The fired workers still would be eligible for up to 58 weeks of federal unemployment benefits under the proposal…”

IRS encourages people to apply for earned income tax credit, By Rachel McGrath, January 27, 2012, Ventura County Star: “The Internal Revenue Service is urging low- to middle-income earners in Ventura County to find out whether they qualify for a tax credit that could put thousands of dollars into their pockets. The earned income tax credit is intended to help those who work hard but don’t make much money, reporters were told Friday by Verlinda Paul of the IRS. An estimated one in five workers nationwide fail to claim the credit. One of the main reasons Americans don’t apply for the credit is because they don’t know about it, Paul said. The director of the earned income tax credit for the IRS, she spoke to reporters in a conference call. Ironically, many who might be eligible earn so little that they are not required to file a tax return and yet in order to claim the credit, a tax return must be filed and the credit applied for…”

Number of asset-poor Americans rising, By Becky Yerak, January 31, 2012, Chicago Tribune: “Luz Pagan, 45, has been working as a part-time cashier at a discount store in downtown Chicago for nearly three years, her requests to become a full-time employee with benefits having gone nowhere. The single mom and her 12-year-old son, Marvin, have been living in a $575-a-month studio apartment on the North Side since November. But with a work schedule averaging 15 to 20 hours a week, in a job paying about $8.75 an hour, Pagan is struggling to cover living expenses and has to scrape together money from friends and family. Her last paycheck netted $64. ‘I’m underemployed,’ said Pagan, who previously lived in a shelter for two months. She has an associate’s degree and would love an office job. Marvin’s dad helps with expenses, but she said she and her son - a mostly A and B student who wants to be a doctor - are living paycheck to paycheck, with no savings. Pagan’s plight is becoming more commonplace. Nationwide, 27 percent of households are ‘asset poor,’ meaning they don’t have enough money tucked away to cover basic expenses for three months in case of a layoff or other emergency that saps income, according to a study to be released Tuesday by the Washington-based Corporation for Enterprise Development…”

With focus on income inequality, Albany bill will seek $8.50 minimum wage, By John Eligon, January 29, 2012, New York Times: “The Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park is no more, but the focus it brought to income inequality is having an impact in Albany and beyond. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, plans to introduce a bill on Monday to raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, a 17 percent increase. The bill also calls for the minimum wage to be adjusted each year for inflation. Mr. Silver’s action follows similar steps by lawmakers across the country: Delaware recently passed a minimum wage increase, and raises are being considered in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and New Jersey…”

How Haiti is fighting poverty by killing cash, By Margo Conner, January 27, 2012, Christian Science Monitor: “In Haiti, cash is escaping from wallets and savings accounts are breaking free from brick-and-mortar banks. Two years after 2010’s devastating earthquake, mobile money has taken off in the island nation. While the country has seen setbacks in many areas and continues to struggle, one bright spot is the transformation of the country’s traditional banking sector. Physical banks were wiped away by the quake and subsequent hurricane, and a mobile banking network that uses cell phones has grown up in their place…”

Spain unemployment hitting nearly 1 of 4 workers, rises to 22.8 percent, Associated Press, January 27, 2012, Washington Post: “Spain’s brutal unemployment rate soared to nearly 23 percent Friday and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people - or almost one out of every four - out of work as the country slides toward recession. Spain’s National Statistics Institute reported that 5.3 million people were jobless at the end of December, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter - a jump in the unemployment rate from 21.5 percent to 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter. For those under age 25, the rate hit a whopping 48.5 percent, and the institute also reported that Spain now has 1.6 million households in which no one has work…”

Hawaii minimum wage could rise to $8.14 in January, Associated Press, January 25, 2012, CBS News: “A bill moving through the state Legislature could increase Hawaii’s minimum wage for the first time since 2007, but opinions are mixed as to whether elevating the wage floor would help or hinder Hawaii’s economic recovery. According to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the current $7.25 minimum wage is worth 84 cents less than when it was set five years ago due to inflation. A minimum wage increase would help Hawaii workers recover lost purchasing power and encourage more spending that can contribute to the state’s economic recovery, the Labor Department suggests. That’s not the way the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii sees it, however…”

• After a contentious political year, Republicans may moderate their approach, By John Gramlich, January 9, 2012, Stateline.org: “From the moment he took office last year, Florida Governor Rick Scott made clear that a new and unabashedly conservative administration had taken power in Tallahassee - just as it had in state capitals around the country following an historic election haul for Republicans in 2010. Scott, a Tea Party-backed Republican, stood before a cheering crowd and introduced a state budget that contained more than $4 billion in tax cuts for corporations and property owners, even as it slashed funding for K-12 education…”
• Washington and the states: a year of uncertainty and foreboding, By Pamela M. Prah, January 10, 2012, Stateline.org: “A long siege of deadlock and dysfunction in Washington has left states frustratingly unclear what to expect from the federal government in the coming year. About the only thing they know for sure is that it is not going to be a year of generosity. In fact, it’s likely to be quite the opposite. As a result of last summer’s deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, and the consequent failure of the congressional ’super committee’ to decide on budget cuts, states are bracing for automatic across-the-board cuts in education, social welfare and other programs for the upcoming 2013 fiscal year. Those cuts would come atop federal cuts in 2011 and 2012, not to mention the continuing wind-down of federal stimulus aid…”
• Medicaid: a year of excruciating decisions, By Christine Vestal, January 11, 2012, Stateline.org: “In health care history, 2012 will be remembered for the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the Obama administration’s health overhaul. But in the states, 2012 will likely be remembered less as an historic turning point than as a gradual continuation of their longstanding struggles to get Medicaid costs under control. That’s not to say the states aren’t watching the Supreme Court closely. The case set to be heard in March and decided in June was brought by 26 states who argued the federal law’s ‘individual mandate,’ as well as a massive expansion of Medicaid in 2014, were unconstitutional. While the outcome could have long-term consequences for states, it likely won’t change their most pressing short-term budget considerations…”
• Unions adapt to new rules, even as they fight to reverse them, By Ben Wieder, January 12, 2012, Stateline.org: “It took nearly a year for Dale Kleinert to negotiate his first teachers’ contract. When Kleinert started his job as schools superintendent in Moscow, Idaho, the talks were already underway. Then, discussions reached an impasse. There were disagreements over pay and health care costs, and the pace slowed further when first an outside mediator and later a fact-finder didn’t render a decision. It wasn’t until May of 2011 that Kleinert and his union counterparts finally reached an agreement. Just before then, while Kleinert and the teachers were still stuck, Republican lawmakers in Boise were finishing work on plans to take away much of the leverage that Idaho teachers had long enjoyed in these kinds of negotiations. So for Kleinert’s next round of talks with Moscow’s teachers, which began pretty much right after the previous ones wrapped up, the rules were very different…”
• At last, a state budget year when the sky is not falling, By Daniel C. Vock, January 13, 2012, Stateline.org: “During the depths of the Great Recession, states had to do many unsavory things to balance their budgets. But few things left a more bitter taste than Arizona’s decision to sell off the office space of its state Capitol complex. It helped lawmakers close a gap in one year’s budget, even though it meant taxpayers would essentially have to pay rent on the property for the next two decades. Now, Arizona’s budget outlook is showing some improvement: For the first time since 2006, the state finished its last fiscal year with a surplus, which came as a surprise to state financial forecasters…”

• SC Senate panel approves unemployment bills, By Seanna Adcox (AP), January 11, 2012, Charlotte Observer: “A Senate panel advanced bills Tuesday that would require people laid off in South Carolina to pass a drug test to receive unemployment benefits, then volunteer 16 hours weekly with a charity or public agency to keep receiving a check. Though the panel heard testimony that both proposals would likely conflict with federal law, its chairman, Sen. Kevin Bryant, said afterward that doesn’t matter…”
• Jobless may be forced to take drug tests and volunteer, By Tim Flach, January 11, 2012, The State: “A legislative tug-of-war started Tuesday over proposals to require laid-off workers to take a drug test initially and sign up for community service later to receive unemployment payments.  Both proposals won approval from a Senate panel despite warnings the steps probably would be challenged by federal labor officials as too harsh on many of South Carolina’s nearly 214,000 jobless. The drug-test requirement breezed to initial acceptance amid complaints it is punitive. Making a test a condition for benefits doesn’t send ‘the right message,’ said Sue Berkowitz, who runs a Midlands legal service for the poor…”

Quinn signs earned-income tax credit, By Sophia Tareen (AP), January 10, 2012, Springfield State Journal-Register: “Legislation aimed at helping poor Illinois families keep more of what they earn was signed into law Tuesday, a month after Gov. Pat Quinn signed companion legislation granting tax breaks and incentives aimed at keeping two big employers in the state. The new law, which is effective for the 2012 tax year, expands the state’s earned-income tax credit. It’s now 5 percent of the federal credit and will climb to 7.5 percent next year and 10 percent the year after. State officials said it would eventually translate to an average of about $100 a year per family. Currently about 900,000 families meet income guidelines in Illinois, but some advocates estimated 1 million will qualify this year…”

Middle class dropouts, By Tami Luhby, January 11, 2012, CNNMoney.com: “Nearly one third of Americans who were raised in the middle class dropped down the economic ladder as adults — and that’s before the Great Recession hit. ‘Being raised in the middle class is not a guarantee that you’ll have that same status as an adult,’ said Erin Currier, project manager at Pew’s Economic Mobility Project. ‘With all the economic turmoil in the past four years, there’s good reason to think that downward mobility is more severe.’ Pew looked at children born in the early- to mid-1960s and assessed their economic status roughly 40 years later. Being middle class in the parents’ generation meant a household income of roughly $33,000 to $64,000 in 1979. But their children had to earn between $54,000 and $111,000 to maintain their relative standing in society in the mid-2000s…”

• Extended jobless benefits likely to end soon for 4,777 in area, By Richard Craver, January 7, 2012, Winston-Salem Journal: “The final unemployment-benefit lifeline for about 23,000 North Carolinians appears likely to be cut off as scheduled on Jan. 28. Although Congress agreed Dec. 23 to extend federal benefits for two months, it appears unlikely that the General Assembly will agree to allow North Carolina to borrow more money from the U.S. Labor Department. As of Dec. 29, North Carolina had borrowed $2.67 billion from the federal government - the fourth-highest amount among 27 participating states - to pay up to 20 weeks of state-extended unemployment benefits. Those benefits are available only after claimants exhaust up to 26 weeks of initial state benefits and up to 53 weeks - representing four tiers - of federal benefits. There are 4,777 people in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina in the extended state benefit level. The state’s unemployment rate was 10 percent in November. The national rate was 8.5 percent in December, officials announced Friday…”
• Extra jobless benefits in peril, By Catherine Candisky, January 7, 2012, Columbus Dispatch: “More than 20,000 long-term unemployed Ohioans will lose up to 20 weeks of jobless benefits unless state lawmakers agree to take advantage of a more-favorable formula for determining which states qualify for the federal aid. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is urging legislators to make the fix, which will cost the state nothing because the benefits are funded entirely by the federal government, said Benjamin Johnson, spokesman for the state agency which oversees unemployment benefits. The Republican-controlled General Assembly is expected to oblige…”

Harder for Americans to rise from lower rungs, By Jason DeParle, January 4, 2012, New York Times: “Benjamin Franklin did it. Henry Ford did it. And American life is built on the faith that others can do it, too: rise from humble origins to economic heights. ‘Movin’ on up,’ George Jefferson-style, is not only a sitcom song but a civil religion. But many researchers have reached a conclusion that turns conventional wisdom on its head: Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe. The mobility gap has been widely discussed in academic circles, but a sour season of mass unemployment and street protests has moved the discussion toward center stage…”

• US ended year with a surge of hiring, adding 200,000 jobs; unemployment rate at 8.5 percent, Associated Press, January 6, 2012, Washington Post: “Four painful years after the Great Recession struck and wiped out 8.7 million jobs, the United States may finally be in an elusive pattern known as a virtuous cycle - an escalating loop of hiring and spending. The nation added 200,000 jobs in December in a burst of hiring that drove the unemployment rate down two notches to 8.5 percent, its lowest in almost three years, and led economists to conclude that the improvement in the job market might just last…”
• U.S. economy gains steam as 200,000 jobs are added, By Shaila Dewan, January 6, 2012, New York Times: “Maybe it is time to start calling the glass half full. The United States added 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a robust number that came on the heels of a flurry of heartening economic news. Consumer confidence has lifted, factories have stepped up production and small businesses are showing signs of life. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly two years. It was the sixth consecutive month that the economy showed a net gain of more than 100,000 jobs - not enough to restore employment to prerecession levels but enough, perhaps, to cheer President Obama as he enters the election year…”

• Jobless benefits change to start this week, By Josh Lintereur and Chad Dally, January 2, 2012, Wausau Daily Herald: “A new state budget provision requiring a one-week waiting period before unemployed workers can begin collecting unemployment benefits takes effect this week. The new provision will affect the newly unemployed and those already collecting benefits. In some cases, it will result in a laid-off worker receiving one less check than he or she would have in the past. State lawmakers made the change as part of the 2011-13 biennial budget, meaning Wisconsin will join more than three dozen states that already have instituted waiting periods. State labor officials said the delay will save an estimated $45.2 million a year by allowing additional time to determine eligibility and reduce improper payments, and by pushing the payment schedule back…”
• Many of state’s jobless struggle: No benefits, no job and no luck finding one, By Scott Davis, December 29, 2011, Lansing State Journal: “Thousands of Michigan’s unemployed have a renewed lifeline with last week’s extension of federal jobless benefits. But Virona Brown could be among the thousands who will begin the New Year with no job prospects, unreturned calls on employment applications and no unemployment check to pay basic necessities. Though Michigan’s unemployment rate dipped to 9.8 percent last month, the Lansing woman and several others say they are still struggling to find employment in the region…”

• Minimum wage milestone: Why Washington State surpassed $9 an hour, By Aaron Lester, January 2, 2012, Christian Science Monitor: “Low-wage earners have a little more to celebrate this new year, at least in eight states. In those states, 2012 means a higher minimum wage, under laws that peg the wage floor to inflation. The increase makes Washington the first state to set its minimum wage higher than $9 an hour. Why Washington? Why now? Simple. Washington pegs its minimum wage to the consumer price index, says Paul Sonn of the National Employment Law Project. That means whenever the cost of living increases, so does the minimum wage there  Nine other states do the same. (One of them, Missouri, opted for no change this year, and Nevada’s increase won’t kick in until midyear, leaving eight states where the minimum wage rose as of Jan. 1.) But Washington has been using that CPI-based formula since 2001, longer than any other state, and that’s why its hourly wage is highest…”
• Raising the minimum wage: Whom does it help?, By Martin Kaste, January 3, 2012, National Public Radio: “For some of America’s lowest-paid workers, the new year means a pay raise. Some states set their own minimum wages, above the federal rate of $7.25 an hour, and that rekindles an old debate over whether minimum wages make sense - especially at a time of high unemployment. Like several other states, Washington state’s minimum wage is indexed to the cost of living. This year, the formula has raised the statewide minimum from $8.67 to $9.04 an hour, making it the nation’s highest statewide rate…”

Wisconsin one of few states that will raise taxes on poor, By Michael Louis Vinson, December 28, 2011, Appleton Post-Crescent: “As Wisconsinites await W-2 forms and related tax documents, hundreds of thousands of low-income families are bracing for a state budget change that will mean less money in their wallets next year. Last summer, the state Legislature reduced the amount of money low- income families can receive in tax credits by $56.2 million. That places Wisconsin among only a handful of states that will effectively raise taxes on their poorest residents in 2012, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank…”

Wage floor is increasing in 8 states in new year, By Catherine Rampell, December 23, 2011, New York Times: “Eight states will ring in the New Year with a higher minimum wage, under state laws that require wage floors to keep apace with inflation. San Francisco, one of the few cities that sets its own minimum wage above the federal level, is also raising wages for the lowest-paid workers in the new year. It will become the first big city in the country to require companies to pay their workers more than $10 an hour. The minimum wage increases in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington will be 28 cents to 37 cents an hour, according to the National Employment Law Project. That is an extra $582 to $770 a year for a full-time minimum wage worker, and resets these states’ minimum wages to $7.64 to $9.04 an hour…”

• Unemployment fell in 43 states in November, By Martin Crutsinger (AP), December 20, 2011, Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Unemployment rates fell in 43 states in November, the most number of states to report such declines in eight years. The falling state rates reflect the brightening jobs picture nationally. The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in November to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009. The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row - the first time that’s happened since 2006, before the Great Recession. Only three states reported higher unemployment rates in November, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Four states showed no change…”
• Bills to restructure Michigan jobless, workers comp insurance systems signed, By Dawson Bell, December 20, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation Monday to restructure Michigan’s unemployment and workers compensation insurance systems, changes he said would ‘ensure their solvency and integrity.’ The bills, approved earlier this month by the Legislature, authorize the issuance of revenue bonds to pay off the state’s $3-billion federal unemployment insurance debt, saving the state about $117 million in 2012 and sparing employers more than $270 million in federal penalties, administration officials said. The debt arose from a decade of high unemployment in Michigan, as unemployment taxes assessed on employers have not kept pace with claims made by Michigan workers…”

Florida minimum wage inches up, By Tim Engstrom, December 18, 2011, News-Press: “Florida’s lowest-paid workers will get a raise on Jan. 1 with an increased Florida minimum wage, but local employers say most workers - except tipped employees like restaurant servers - won’t notice because they already earn more. Florida’s minimum hourly wage will jump 4.9 percent to $7.67 an hour. That becomes an extra $14.40 for a 40-hour week for a total gross pay of $306.80 for the week. That adds up to annual pay of $15,953.60. The minimum hourly wage for tipped employees jumps to $4.65…”

Congress weighing length of jobless benefits, By Tom Raum (AP), December 14, 2011, Boston Globe: “Is there any downside to extending federal jobless benefits, as Congress is about to do? The benefits are a crucial lifeline to the longtime unemployed. But they also can be a disincentive to looking for work and prolong joblessness, economists say, as lawmakers weigh shortening them. If Congress does nothing, the current law that provides federal benefits to augment state assistance that last for only 26 weeks will expire at the end of this month. As a result, more than a million out-of-work Americans could lose their benefits in January, and a total of five million could lose them by year’s end. The Republican-led House has passed a bill that extends the coverage but gradually reduces the ceiling on federal and state benefits combined from 99 weeks to 59 weeks by mid-2012…”

More custodial parents fall below poverty line as child support payment rates drop, By Marjorie Cortez, December 11, 2011, Deseret News: “A growing number of custodial parents fell below the poverty line in 2009 as fewer received the full amount of child support owed to them. A new Census Bureau report showed that nationwide, 41.2 percent of noncustodial parents received the full amount of child support owed them in 2009, down from 46.8 percent in 2007. The report, ‘Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2009,’ also found that the proportion of parents owed child support and received either full or partial payments fell from 76.3 percent to 70.8 percent over the same period…”

• Dave Camp: Bill would reduce federal unemployment benefits, crackdown on welfare fraud and abuse, and create jobs, By Barrie Barber, December 12, 2011, Saginaw News: “U.S. Rep. Dave Camp has introduced broad legislation to reduce the maximum number of weeks of federal unemployment compensation, extend a payroll tax holiday, reform some Medicare provisions and extend a welfare program set to expire at the end of the year. Camp, R-Midland, said the provisions, among other changes, would encourage employers to hire new employees, and crackdown on fraud and abuse in welfare and tax credit programs…”
• Unemployment benefits remain hot topic in Michigan, By Tim Martin (AP), Detroit Free Press: “In Michigan, where the unemployment rate has soared above the national average for years, any proposal with the potential to affect jobless benefits stirs emotions at the state Capitol. That’s certainly the case with Republican-sponsored legislation recently approved by the Senate and awaiting a vote in the House. The bills would help stabilize Michigan’s sagging unemployment trust fund, which because of the high jobless rate has shelled out more money in benefits than it has collected in payments from employers financing the system. Michigan has borrowed money from the federal government to help make jobless benefit payments, racking up a $3 billion debt…”
• Unemployment benefits on the chopping block in D.C., By Daniel Malloy and Dan Chapman, December 12, 2011, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Laid off from her temp job in Virginia last March, Lynette Green moved with her two kids to Atlanta in June in search of a job. She ran through her state unemployment payments and got a federal extension. ‘The benefits are very important; they help me pay my bills,’ said Green, 32, who lives in Atlanta’s West End and finally found work three weeks ago. ‘I used the money mainly for my kids, for their transportation and clothing when they started school.’ Extended federal unemployment benefits, which can last up to 73 weeks, expire Dec. 31. The U.S. House will vote Tuesday on continuing to pay the benefits through January 2013. Supporters of the extension say it’s needed in the toughest job market in generations. Those who want to reduce the benefits, mainly Republicans, say payments that can run nearly two years are disincentives to work…”
• The state of the long-term unemployed, By John Ydstie, December 12, 2011, National Public Radio: “Millions of Americans wake up each morning without a job, even though they desperately want to work. It’s one of the depressing legacies of the financial crisis and Great Recession. NPR and the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll of people who had been unemployed or with an insufficient level of work for more than a year. The results document the financial, emotional and physical effects of long-term unemployment and underemployment. The federal government currently counts 5.7 million Americans as long-term unemployed, which it defines as people out of work for 27 weeks or more. The NPR/Kaiser poll used a slightly different measure, surveying people out of work for a year or more…”

SF becomes first US city to top $10 minimum wage, By Beth Duff-Brown (AP), December 12, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle: “David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America. Come New Year’s Day, he’ll have a few more coins in his pocket as San Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale a $10 minimum wage. The city’s hourly wage for its lowest-paid workers will hit $10.24, more than $2 above the California minimum wage and nearly $3 more than the working wage set by the federal government. It won’t put much more in Frias’ wallet. But it gives him a sense of moving on up…”

Unemployment benefit applications fall to 9-month low, latest sign of improving job market, Associated Press, December 8, 2011, Washington Post: “A steady decline in the number of people applying for weekly unemployment benefits is the latest signal that the economy has strengthened and businesses may be poised to step up hiring. Applications fell last week fell to a seasonally adjusted 381,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the lowest level since late February. And a four-week average for applications, which smooths week-to-week fluctuations, fell for the ninth time in 11 weeks to an eight-month low. The downward trend in unemployment benefit applications bolsters the view that the economy has improved from its spring slump, when many feared another recession was likely. Consumer confidence is up, retailers reported a strong start to the holiday shopping season and the unemployment rate fell last month to its lowest point in two and a half years…”

• Income gap stays wide in District, narrows in suburbs, By Carol Morello and Ted Mellnik, December 7, 2011, Washington Post: “The income gap between whites and blacks living in the District is one of the widest in the country, new census statistics show. That stands in stark contrast to the Washington suburbs, where the gaps have become some of the nation’s narrowest. The per capita income for whites in the District is more than triple what it is for blacks, and the difference has only widened since 1990. In several suburbs, including Prince George’s, Loudoun and Stafford counties, incomes for blacks and whites are closer than ever, and today whites earn $1.30 or less for every $1 that blacks earn. Demographers and city activists say the difference reflects four decades of upper- and middle-class blacks abandoning the city for the suburbs, coupled with a more recent resurgence of affluent whites moving to the District. Some speak of the city’s middle class as a vanishing phenomenon, propelled in part by rising housing prices…”
• Census: Widening income gap as blacks leave cities, By Hope Yen (AP), December 8, 2011, Detroit News: “Affluent black Americans who are leaving industrial cities for the suburbs and the South are shifting traditional lines between rich and poor, according to new census data. Their migration is widening the income gap between whites and the inner-city blacks who remain behind, while making blacks less monolithic as a group and subject to greater income disparities. ‘Reverse migration is changing the South and its race relations,’ said Roderick Harrison, a Howard University sociologist and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau. He said a rising black middle class is promoting a growing belief among some black conservatives that problems of the disadvantaged are now rooted more in character or cultural problems, rather than race. But Harrison said most black Americans maintain a strong racial identity, focused on redressing perceived lack of opportunities, in part because many of them maintain close ties to siblings or other blacks who are less successful…”

• In Ohio’s poorest county, people do what it takes, By Jessica Alaimo, December 4, 2011, Coshocton Tribune: “Brock Brewster’s truck dominated the single-lane road in western Pike County and rumbled over an extension cord. This extension cord has been strung across this Latham road for two years. It powers the lights of a white-and-brown trailer, using the electricity from a home across the road. It’s the only source of electricity for the trailer’s owner, who said she uses it to power her lights. She uses a wood stove to stay warm…”
• The new poor: Situational poverty on the rise locally, By Kristina Smith Horn, December 3, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald: “For most of his life, Gilbert Turner was a successful businessman. At 16, his family moved from Mississippi to Danbury Township, where he worked two jobs — one at U.S. Gypsum and one at the now-closed Standard Products. Turner worked hard, saved his money and built a prosperous hotel and restaurant business in Port Clinton and Toledo that he ran with his wife. Turner, who still retains a bit of the Southern drawl of his youth, reminisces about buying a new car in the 1940s and parking it in downtown Port Clinton…”
• Education a fresh start for those in poverty, By Kurt Moore, December 6, 2011, Marion Star: “When Kalya Wiseman got pregnant as a teen, her first plan was to be a young housewife. ‘It totally didn’t work out,’ she said. The search was on for a new plan. ‘I realized I needed to get an education so I could go to college and have a better life for me and my son.’ Wiseman, 20, is among students enrolled at Marion County Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates. Its students refer to it as their second chance, and sometimes as their only hope as many struggle to not fall into a cycle of poverty…”
• Poverty: Charity care on rise in county, By Leonard Hayhurst, December 6, 2011, Coshocton Tribune: “Coshocton Hospital won’t turn a patient away. But with the economy still struggling, fewer come in with adequate medical insurance or the money to pay. Uncompensated care at the hospital has risen more than $3 million since 2008, hospital spokeswoman Mary Ellen Given said. Factoring inpatient and outpatient charity care and cases where the hospital absorbed the leftover cost from Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, the hospital spent $8.8 million in 2010 for uncompensated care compared with $7.1 million in 2009 and $5.1 million in 2008…”
• Poverty: Mental illnesses compound issue, By Russ Zimmer, December 5, 2011, Lancaster Eagle Gazette: “Tim Schrack walks 20 minutes, rain or shine, to his second-shift job coating and shipping seat-belt brackets. He’s estranged from almost his entire family and on his own for the first time in his 56 years of life. Schrack is bipolar, a condition he’s ignored — to his detriment — for decades. Schrack, by his own account, is the happiest he’s ever been. ‘I just never thought I could make it on my own,’ a grinning Schrack said inside his new apartment…”
• More Licking County kids getting lunch aid, By Seth Roy, December 4, 2011, Newark Advocate: “The soles of a student’s shoes were coming apart one day at school, and a teacher asked when he might get a new pair. ‘He said, ‘We’re poor; we can’t get new shoes,” Stevenson Elementary art teacher Shannon Montgomery said. ‘At this age, the kids are much more open about it.’ Schools across the country have seen their population of students in poverty rise in recent years. Heath’s population of students receiving free or reduced price lunches rose from 26 percent to 37 percent from 2006 to 2010; 42 percent of Stevenson’s population receives some lunch assistance…”
• Seasonal employment makes winter difficult, By Kristina Smith Horn, December 5, 2011, News-Messenger: “Each year, Val Kochensparger is laid off from her job just before Christmas. She collects unemployment for 8 to 10 weeks, and she and her husband rely on his income to help get them through the winter. When the ice clears off Lake Erie, usually in March, Kochensparger goes back to her job managing the ticket booth at the Miller Boat Line on Catawba Island…”

• 160,000 jobless Michiganders at risk of losing safety net, By Katharine Yung, December 5, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Unless Congress acts to continue extended unemployment benefits, it could be a grim holiday season for nearly 160,000 Michiganders. An end to the extended benefits would immediately impact 61,000 state residents who are getting this federal aid after exhausting their 26 weeks of state-funded assistance. Another 98,743 people who are receiving state benefits would no longer get additional help if they are still jobless after 26 weeks…”
• Jobless benefits a holiday uncertainty, By Catharine Candisky, December 4, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “For the second year in a row, thousands of unemployed Ohioans face the holidays uncertain about whether their jobless benefits will continue into the new year. Nearly 77,000 jobless Ohioans - more than a quarter of whom rely on unemployment to pay their mortgages, utility bills and grocery bills - will exhaust benefits in early January unless Congress agrees to fund another extension of federal assistance. By early April, 107,000 more workers would fall off the rolls, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said…”
• Clock ticking on Mainers’ unemployment benefits, By Susan McMillan, December 4, 2011, Morning Sentinel: “Maine is bracing for a new wave of need as extended federal unemployment benefits near their end. If Congress does not reauthorize extended benefits, 17,000 Mainers will see their benefits run out by May, Department of Labor spokesman Adam Fisher said. The department and its 12 regional Career Centers will increase outreach to unemployment claimants and add workshops to help the long-term unemployed find work…”

• For jobless, little hope of restoring better days, By Motoko Rich, December 1, 2011, New York Times: “People across the working spectrum suffered job losses in recent years: bricklayers and bookkeepers as well as workers in manufacturing and marketing. But only a select few workers have fully regained their footing during the slow recovery…”
• U.S. unemployment rate falls to 8.6% in November, raising hopes for growth, By Neil Irwin, Washington Post: “The unemployment rate plummeted to its lowest level in more than two years in November, as employers hired at a steady clip, according to new report that offers hope for the job market entering the holiday season. The jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, from 9 percent in October, the lowest level since the economic free-fall of March 2009, the Labor Department reported Friday morning. But the improvement in the job market was not quite as strong as that drop would suggest: About half the decline was attributed to people dropping out of the labor force, no longer counting themselves as even looking for work…”
• Signs of hope in jobs report; unemployment drops to 8.6%, By Catherine Rampell, December 2, 2011, New York Times: “Somehow the American economy appears to be getting better, even as the rest of the world is looking worse. In the midst of the European debt crisis, lingering instability in the oil-rich Middle East and concerns about a Chinese economic slowdown, the American unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped last month to 8.6 percent, its lowest level in two and a half years. The nation’s employers modestly increased their hiring, too, the Labor Department said Friday. The figures come just a few months after economists were warning that the economy’s prospects were waning…”

More than 1 in 5 Americans are economically insecure, By Tami Luhby, November 28, 2011, CNNMoney.com: “More than one in five Americans saw at least a quarter of their available household income vanish in the Great Recession, yet lacked a sufficient financial cushion, according to a report released Monday. The situation has left them economically insecure, according to the report, which updates an Economic Security Index created by Jacob Hacker, a political science professor at Yale. More than 20% of the nation was in this condition in the three years spanning 2008 to 2010, a sharp increase from 14.3% in 1986. Some 62 million Americans faced economic insecurity last year. The Great Recession is also prompting deep losses among the insecure, with the median drop in income for this group hitting a record 46.4% in 2009…”

• Older, suburban and struggling, ‘near poor’ startle the Census, By Jason DeParle, Robert Gebeloff and Sabrina Tavernise, November 18, 2011, New York Times: “They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by. Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called ‘near poor’ and sometimes simply overlooked - and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood. When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people - one in three Americans - either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it…”
• Counting the poor in America proves difficult, controversial, By Elizabeth Stuart, November 18, 2011, Deseret News: “How many poor people are there in America? It depends how you ask the question. The official U.S. Census Bureau report released in September put the number at 46.2 million. In a second, unofficial report published last week, the bureau estimated the number is closer to 49 million. The official measure, devised in 1964 to measure progress in President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” is based on the idea that families spend one-third of their income on food. To establish federal poverty lines, experts calculated the lowest annual cost of feeding a family and multiplied it by three. Poverty experts have long criticized the method as outdated and simplistic. The measure does not account for money received in food stamps and other benefits or the money lost to taxes and medical care. It also doesn’t account for regional differences in cost of living. The new report, known as the supplemental poverty measure, attempts to address these factors…”

Businesses penalized for state unemployment insurance debt, By Pamela M. Prah, November 18, 2011, Stateline.org: “Employers in 20 states will have to shell out more in taxes next year as a penalty for the states not paying back federal loans that kept unemployment programs afloat during the recession. Altogether, states still owe $37.6 billion to the feds that they borrowed when their unemployment insurance trust funds sank to zero. Most states have dealt with the problem by raising state payroll taxes on employers, making benefits to workers less generous; or a combination of the two. A handful, though, have opted to issue bonds. Idaho did it earlier this year, and Texas did it last year. And just this month, Illinois lawmakers approved legislation allowing the state to issue bonds to pay back the $2 billion the state owes the federal government for unemployment relief. Governor Pat Quinn has applauded the UI package and has indicated he will sign the measure. The state figures it will get an interest rate lower than the 4 percent it would have to pay the federal government, saving the state and businesses millions of dollars…”

Record-low percentage of Americans moved between 2010 and 2011, By Daniel B. Wood, November 15, 2011, Christian Science Monitor: “There are many casualties of the Great Recession, including jobs, homeownership, retirement savings, and consumer confidence. Those issues are well known, but here’s one that isn’t as frequently discussed: Americans’ mobility. In a nutshell, bad times mean staying put, demographers and economists say. Uncertainty means clinging to the familiar, which more often than not means maintaining the residence you already have. The issue affects Americans’ aspirations about getting married and having a family. And it can be a big factor as they think about what constitutes a dream home, when to retire, and where to move in retirement…”

Many states cut Medicaid payments as stimulus ends, By Doug Trapp, November 16, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “Fourteen states and the District of Columbia cut Medicaid physician pay for fiscal year 2011, down from 20 states in fiscal 2010. But continuing state budget deficits could lead to more new fee cuts than those already adopted for fiscal 2012, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The foundation’s 11th annual survey of state Medicaid programs concluded that continued Medicaid budget pressure on many states led them to expand cost-saving measures in 2011 and 2012. These moves included increasing enrollment in Medicaid managed care, reducing or ending optional benefits such as dental care, tightening prescription drug formularies, enacting or hiking co-payments and, most frequently, reducing Medicaid fees to doctors, according to the Kaiser report, released on Oct. 27…”

State uninsured jumps by 22 percent; 18.4 percent of Weld residents lack insurance, By Erica Gonzalez, November 15, 2011, Greeley Tribune: “The number of Coloradans without health insurance has risen by 22 percent in the last two years, with 829,000 residents now uninsured, according to a survey released Tuesday. In Weld County, the percentage lacking insurance jumped from 10.6 percent in the last two years to 18.4 percent. The 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey shows that the poor economy has made carrying health care coverage increasingly difficult for state residents. Two years ago, when the last survey was conducted, 678,000 residents lacked coverage…”

• Jobless-benefit checks phased out, By Chad Livengood, November 15, 2011, News Journal: “Paper unemployment insurance checks will be virtually nonexistent in Delaware by mid-2012. The Delaware Department of Labor plans to do away with almost all paper checks by June, when it begins issuing debit cards to jobless workers who don’t choose to receive their unemployment benefits via a direct deposit into their bank accounts. ‘As far as the paper check, it’s going to go the way of the dinosaur,’ said Tom MacPherson, director of the division of unemployment insurance. There may still be some paper checks issued to people claiming unemployment benefits for the first time, MacPherson said, but only until a direct deposit can be activated with their bank…”
• Branstad praises results of closing 36 unemployment offices, By Jason Clayworth, November 14, 2011, Des Moines Register: “Gov. Terry Branstad’s decision that’s being challenged as unconstitutional to close 36 Iowa unemployment offices was praised today by himself and his administration as ‘a significant success.’ ‘Our tracking data indicates that services are equal to or greater than what they were available at this time last year. I see this as a significant success and commend Director (Teresa) Wahlert and Iowa Workforce Development for their good work,’ Branstad said. Branstad in July vetoed portions of Senate File 517 that would have prohibited closure of the 36 Iowa Workforce Development offices across the state. Branstad wrote in his veto letter that the legislation would have prevented the department from putting together a more efficient system for assisting unemployed Iowans…”

• Most of America’s unemployed no long receiving benefits, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), November 5, 2011, Denver Post: “The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent - a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America’s 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more. Congress is expected to decide by year’s end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states. If the emergency benefits expire, the proportion of the unemployed receiving aid would fall further. The ranks of the poor would also rise. The Census Bureau​ says unemployment benefits kept 3.2 million people from slipping into poverty last year. It defines poverty as annual income below $22,314 for a family of four. Yet for a growing share of the unemployed, a vote in Congress to extend the benefits to 99 weeks is irrelevant. They’ve had no job for more than 99 weeks. They’re no longer eligible for benefits…”
• Thousands of Oregon jobless will lose unemployment insurance if Congress doesn’t renew federal benefits, By Richard Read, November 3, 2011, The Oregonian: “Thousands of Oregonians will lose their unemployment benefits early next year if Congress doesn’t extend emergency coverage, state projections show. Now, about 2,000 Oregonians a month exhaust their jobless benefits, having failed to find work after as long as 99 weeks. But that number would jump to 13,400 in January and 12,500 in February, according to the projections by the Oregon Employment Department. Democrats in the U.S. House introduced a bill Thursday to extend the federally funded benefits another year, and Congress has never failed to pass an extension when unemployment rates were this high. But the measure — with a $45 billion price tag, plus a potential $7 billion to help states extend benefits — is not certain to pass given heavy public pressure to cut federal spending…”
• Oregon unemployed allowed to keep jobless benefits paid by mistake, By Richard Read, November 8, 2011, The Oregonian: “More than 600 Oregonians who received unemployment payments in error can keep the money — which totals $615,000 so far — under a state law passed this year. In each case, the Oregon Employment Department determined that recovering the overpayments from people enduring financial hardships would violate equity and good conscience. The total amount forgiven will increase under the system as more people request and receive repayment waivers. The money comes from a state jobless-benefits trust fund financed by employers, not taxpayers…”
• New jobless claims decline to lowest level since April, Reuters, November 10, 2011, New York Times: “New claims for jobless benefits in the United States fell last week to their lowest level since early April and the country’s trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in September, pointing to a slight improvement in the sluggish economy. The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell for the second consecutive week, dropping 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 390,000. That is still well above levels from before the 2007-9 recession, but economists say a level below 400,000 could prompt some acceleration in hiring…”

• Census data show wealth of older Americans is 47 times that of young adults, widest gap ever, Associated Press, November 7, 2011, Washington Post: “The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt. The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday. While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation…”
• Why the wealth gap between young and old is wider than ever, By Mark Trumbull, November 7, 2011, Christian Science Monitor: “The wealth divide between older and younger Americans has widened sharply in recent years - because of both the deep recession and longer-term trends. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis released by the Pew Research Center, which looked at an array of government numbers to reach its conclusions. In all, the typical household headed by someone younger than 35 has seen its net worth fall by 68 percent between 1984 and 2009, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Pew report released Monday. Those in the 35-to-44 age group also saw a decline in net worth over that period, a drop of 44 percent…”

Medicaid cost cuts planned, By Guy Boulton, November 6, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Wisconsin is not alone in dealing with the thorny task of trying to lower the cost of its health care programs for low-income residents. Massachusetts no longer pays for restorative dental care and dentures. Washington no longer covers eyeglasses and hearing aids. Minnesota no long covers chiropractic care. Illinois, Iowa and other states planned to require a $50 co-payment for unnecessary visits to emergency departments. And California has proposed a $50 co-payment for all visits to emergency departments and a co-payment of $100 for hospital stays that last one day and $200 for longer stays. Every state plans to implement at least one policy to control Medicaid spending this fiscal year, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In Wisconsin, the Department of Health Services has proposed dozens of changes in the BadgerCare Plus and Medicaid programs to close a $500 million gap in their budget…”

• Report shows gain in jobs but growth still sluggish, By Catherine Rampell, November 4, 2011, New York Times: “The United States economy created a modest number of jobs in October, the Labor Department reported Friday. Employers added 80,000 payroll positions on net, slightly less than what economists had expected. That compares to 158,000 jobs in September, a month when the figure was helped by the return of 45,000 Verizon workers who had been on strike. Friday’s report also showed that job growth in September and August was significantly stronger than the Labor Department initially believed it was, giving economists hope that October’s employment growth may have been better than this first estimate suggests, too…”
• Economy adds 80K jobs in Oct.; unemployment dips to 9%, By Neil Irwin, November 4, 2011, Washington Post: “The U.S. economy kept muddling along in October, according to new government data, as employers continued to hire at a sluggish pace and the unemployment rate fell slightly to its lowest rate since April. The jobless rate fell to 9 percent in October from 9.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday morning, with more people reporting that they had a job in a survey of households. Employers created 80,000 net new jobs last month…”

Consumed by payday loans: State legislators offer haven for lenders deemed ‘predatory’, By Karen de Sá, October 30, 2011, San Jose Mercury News: “Facing government crackdowns around the country, payday lenders are thriving in lightly regulated California, where they lure hundreds of thousands of desperate borrowers a year despite punishing, triple-digit interest rates. Seventeen states and the U.S. military have effectively banned payday loans, which attract low-income borrowers who need a cash advance on paychecks. Georgia has declared payday lending to be felony racketeering. But in California, payday storefronts outnumber Starbucks coffeehouses. Neon-splashed businesses touting slogans like ‘Cash as Easy as 1, 2, 3!’ promise hassle-free, short-term loans, while few borrowers heed the fine print: A two-week loan will saddle them with what amounts to an annual interest rate of 460 percent. Now, the multibillion-dollar industry is looking for more help from a state Legislature that has protected payday lenders for years…”

Oregon overpays $392 million in unemployment benefits, fraud investigators swamped, By Richard Read, October 28, 2011, The Oregonian: “As unemployment insurance claims ballooned during the past few years, Oregon overpaid more than $392 million in benefits, a U.S. Labor Department analysis shows. That’s about 12 percent of almost $3.5 billion paid in benefits during the three years that ended in June. Some of the money went out the door innocently enough, paid before the Oregon Employment Department determined a recipient was ineligible for benefits. But other checks went to people who fraudulently collected unemployment without looking for work, or who found a job and continued claiming benefits. Either way, Oregon officials aim to recover the money, which originates from employers, not individual taxpayers. But they say fraud cases have swamped the Employment Department, where caseloads at one point reached 400 per investigator, up from 150 before the recession…”

• California gets OK for large cuts to Medi-Cal, By Anna Gorman, October 28, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “The Obama administration will allow California to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from Medi-Cal, a move doctors and experts say will make it harder for the poor to get medical treatment. California plans to reduce rates by 10% to many providers, including physicians, dentists, clinics, pharmacies and most nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday. The cuts ‘will have a real impact on Medi-Cal patients’ because fewer doctors will be willing to see those covered by the program, which serves 7.6 million poor and disabled Californians, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer group. The head of the California Medical Assn., which represents doctors, echoed the concern…”
• Medicaid costs balloon for cash-strapped states, By Tami Luhby, October 27, 2011, CNNMoney.com: “As stimulus funds dry up, cash-strapped states are facing steep rises in Medicaid spending, forcing them to slash services and trim costs. States will have to spend another 28.7% on Medicaid this fiscal year — by far the largest increase ever, according to new data released by the Kaiser Family Foundation Thursday. Much of the increase comes from the loss of more than $100 billion in federal stimulus funds, which helped buffer states from the massive jump in Medicaid enrollment during the Great Recession. But those federal funds ran out in June, leaving states to shoulder the burden of covering nearly 60 million people on their own…”
• State spending on Medicaid up sharply, By N.C. Aizenman, October 27, 2011, Washington Post: “The expiration of federal stimulus funding for Medicaid has dealt a blow to states still struggling to recover from the economic downturn, according to figures released Thursday. To compensate for the loss of extra federal Medicaid dollars this June, states have increased their spending on the program by an average of 29 percent in the current fiscal year. Nearly every state also has turned to tough measures to trim Medicaid costs, such as eliminating benefits, reducing payment rates to doctors and hospitals, and increasing the co-payments they charge the poor and disabled served by the program. Even so, more than half of state officials surveyed said there was a 50-50 chance their Medicaid programs - which are financed with a combination of state and federal funds - would face a budget shortfall as enrollment continues to rise…”
• Survey: States counting on lower costs as Medicaid enrollment slows, By Christine Vestal, October 28, 2011, Stateline.org: “As states were drafting their 2012 Medicaid budgets this summer, they faced the biggest leap in general fund spending since the program began - a whopping 29 percent increase. That’s mainly because federal stimulus dollars for the program dried up, leaving states to shoulder their traditional share of the bill - about 50 percent. As a result, state lawmakers authorized only a 2 percent increase in overall spending for the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people - one of the lowest growth rates on record. That’s according to a 50-state survey released Thursday (October 27) by the Kaiser Family Foundation…”

Facing hardship, jobless still say they have hope, By Michael Cooper and Allison Kopicki, October 26, 2011, New York Times: “The nation’s lingering unemployment crisis has forced many people without work to dip into their savings, borrow from relatives and do without necessities including health insurance, and most people who receive unemployment benefits said that the money was not enough to meet their basic needs, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll of jobless Americans. Still, despite enduring hardships and being even more pessimistic about the nation’s economy than the general public, unemployed Americans remained optimistic about eventually landing jobs. A little more than half of those polled said they were either very or somewhat confident they would find long-term employment in the next year, and a majority said they expected that when they did find permanent work, it would be at a similar or higher salary than they had received in the past. But the poll found deep unease about unemployment benefits…”

• Many who started in middle class find lifestyle slipping away, By Aldo Svaldi, October 23, 2011, Denver Post: “Joanne Spillman, 50, grew up in a large home in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood, never wanting for anything, and never anticipating she would achieve anything less in her life. ‘We were middle class, and our needs were met,’ Spillman said. ‘I always figured I would grow up and live the same lifestyle.’ But Spillman has struggled her whole adult life to reach the standard of living she once knew, a struggle that the recession and weak recovery have made much tougher. Nearly three out of 10 Americans, 28 percent, born in the middle class drop out of it as adults, according to a recent study on economic mobility from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The study defines middle class as those families making between $32,900 and $64,000 in 2010 dollars, which ranks between the 30th and 70th percentiles of income. The 30th percentile was used as a cut-off point because it is where families typically stop relying on government support to get by, said Erin Currier, project manager for Pew’s Economic Mobility Project…”
• Census: Share of Americans on the move falls to record low amid long-term housing and job woes, Associated Press, October 26, 2011, Washington Post: “Yet another symptom of the economic downturn: Americans aren’t moving. Young adults are staying put, often with their parents. Older people aren’t able to retire to beachfront or lakeside homes. U.S. mobility is at its lowest point since World War II. New information from the Census Bureau highlights the continuing impact of the housing bust and unemployment on U.S. migration, after earlier signs that mobility was back on the upswing. It’s a shift from America’s long-standing cultural image of ever-changing frontiers, dating to the westward migration of the 1800s and more recently in the spreading out of whites, blacks and Hispanics in the Sun Belt’s housing boom. Rather than housing magnets such as Arizona, Florida and Nevada, it is now more traditional, densely populated states - California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey - that are showing some of the biggest population gains in the recent economic slump, according to the data released Thursday…”

• Utah has nation’s lowest ‘income inequality’, By Lee Davidson, October 26, 2011, Salt Lake Tribune: “More than any other Americans, Utahns live among neighbors whose incomes are similar to their own. The rich live with the rich, and the poor with the poor. But the overall range of Utahns’ household incomes is relatively narrow, too, with comparatively few who are exceptionally high- or low-income. That’s according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau looking at ‘neighborhood income inequality’ between 2005 and 2009…”
• Income inequality lower than average in NW, says Census report, By Jessica Robinson, October 26, 2011, Oregon Public Broadcasting: “New numbers show the gap between the rich and poor has grown across the nation. But income inequality in the Northwest is lower than the national level. That’s according to an analysis released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Correspondent Jessica Robinson has more. The report is based on survey data collected between 2005 and 2009 — three years of economic growth, plus two years of recession. It uses three different measurements. And in all of them, Oregon, Idaho and Washington have lower-than-average levels of income inequality. That is, the spread between high wage earners and low wage earners…”
• Top earners doubled share of nation’s income, study finds, By Robert Pear, October 25, 2011, New York Times: “The top 1 percent of earners more than doubled their share of the nation’s income over the last three decades, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday, in a new report likely to figure prominently in the escalating political fight over how to revive the economy, create jobs and lower the federal debt. In addition, the report said, government policy has become less redistributive since the late 1970s, doing less to reduce the concentration of income…”
• The rich are getting richer, U.S. study says, By Jim Puzzanghera, October 27, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “The rich got richer over the last three decades - and the very rich got very much richer - according to a new government study. The top 1% of households saw their after-tax incomes grow by 275% from 1979 to 2007, said the study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That was more than quadruple the growth of the rest of the top 20% of the population during that period. Meanwhile, income for the 60% of households that make up the middle of the income scale increased by slightly less than 40%, the study found. The poor - the 20% of the population with the lowest incomes - saw just an 18% increase…”

Already financially hurting school districts brace for more cuts ahead, Associated Press, October 24, 2011, Washington Post: “Educators are bracing for a tough reality: As difficult as budget cuts have been on schools, more tough times are likely ahead. Even in a best-case scenario that assumes strong economic growth next year, it won’t be until 2013 or later when districts see budget levels return to pre-recession levels, said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators in Arlington, Va. That means more cuts and layoffs are likely ahead. ‘The worst part is that it’s not over,’ Domenech said. Already, an estimated 294,000 jobs in the education sector have been lost since 2008, including those in higher education…”