• 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…”

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…”

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…”

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…”

• 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…”

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…”

• Malloy touts new tax credit, By JC Reindl, November 23, 2011, The Day: “Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday joined Democratic lawmakers and social services advocates to herald the implementation of Connecticut’s new Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The credit was included in the governor’s biennial budget plan that passed the General Assembly this spring. The cost to the state is a projected $110 million this fiscal year. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia now offer some type of earned income tax credit. Under Connecticut’s program, the approximately 190,000 state households that are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit will receive an additional credit equal to 30 percent of the federal one…”
• Taxing the working poor back to starting line, Editorial, November 20, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “As much as younger pensioners may howl about the state income taxes they’ll have to pay come Jan. 1, the hardest hit group of people who file income tax forms may be the poorest — workers whose wages barely bring their families up to the poverty level. That’s because the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit will drop from 20% of the federal payment to 6%. Although this is better than nothing — which, in fact, was what Michigan had until three years ago — it will return the state to the unwelcome status of taxing some people back into poverty…”

• A vicious cycle in the used-car business, By Ken Bensinger, October 30, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn’t find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered. Lee figured she had no choice. She put $3,000 down and drove off in a 2007 Ford Fusion, agreeing to pay $387 a month for four years. The interest rate: 20.7%, nearly triple the national average for a used-car loan…”
• Investors place big bets on Buy Here Pay Here used-car dealers, By Ken Bensinger, November 1, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “The J.D. Byrider used-car dealership in Visalia, Calif., sits amid a jumble of tow yards, hubcap vendors and vacant lots littered with empty beer cans. It may not look like much, but selling aging cars to waitresses, secretaries and farmworkers is a lucrative business. That’s why private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners of Palo Alto bought the J.D. Byrider chain in May for a reported $50 million. Altamont’s offices, on the 10th floor of a luxury office tower overlooking Stanford University, are 200 miles and a world away from the Visalia lot. On a recent morning, a dozen executives could be seen huddled in a glass-walled conference room, reviewing a slide presentation on plans to buy some franchised Byrider lots. It’s part of a strategy to boost profit at the 135-lot chain, which had sales of $740 million last year…”
• A hard road for the poor in need of cars, By Ken Bensinger, November 3, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “No car, no work. That’s the conclusion Lisa Twombly reached as she fought to hang on to her job as a caretaker for an elderly San Diego couple. Taking the bus and bumming rides from friends wasn’t cutting it, and she was repeatedly late for work. Told she’d be fired if it happened again, Twombly put down $4,000 - all her savings - on a 9-year-old Chrysler Sebring with 95,000 miles. The dealership lent her the $2,600 balance at a steep 18% interest rate. A few months later, the Sebring broke down and she got into a dispute with the dealer over who should pay for repairs. Twombly quit making loan payments, and Dig’s Wheels of Escondido, Calif., repossessed the car. She again struggled to get to work on time and was fired. That set off a chain of events that left the 38-year-old single mother and her two children homeless for six weeks. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do,’ said Twombly, who is still out of work. ‘I lost my job because I lost my car.’ For more than a century, efforts to help the disadvantaged have focused on education, healthcare, nutrition and housing. Almost nothing has been done to help the working poor afford cars, despite research that indicates it would help alleviate poverty…”

State minimum wage rates to go up with inflation in 2012, By Pamela M. Prah, October 14, 2011, Stateline.org: “Increases in the minimum wage often involve protracted political battles, but no so for 10 states that will increase their rates in 2012. That’s because these states tie annual increases in their minimums to increases in the cost of living. The minimum wage will increase by 28 cents next year in Colorado; 30 cents in Montana, Ohio and Oregon; and 37 cents in Washington State. Other states that have laws requiring their minimum wages be adjusted annually are Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nevada and Vermont. Announcements regarding rate increases in those states are still to come. Nationwide, 18 states and Washington, D.C. have minimum wage rates that are higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, according to U.S. Labor Department data. Washington State has the highest hourly rate at $8.67, which will go to $9.04 next year when the new rate goes into effect…”

• Rise in full-time workers receiving food stamps, By Jere Downs, October 12, 2011, Louisville Courier-Journal: “On her day off from work one recent Friday, Angela Carter stopped at Shively Area Ministries to pick up four bags of free food. She figured the noodles, bratwurst, cereal, canned goods, milk and beef stew would see her, her husband and two sons through until $350 is deposited in her food stamp account. ‘I have a full time job and I’m still broke,’ said Carter, whose paycheck for her $8.57-an-hour job as a Rite-Aid clerk comes twice a month. ‘One paycheck goes to rent, the next one goes to bills. I always run out of money for food.’ Her husband, seeking assembly line work, has brought home only three paychecks in the last 3 months. As the 13 Kentucky and Southern Indiana counties in the Louisville area experitence the end of a third year of more than 9 percent unemployment and flat wages, the working poor like Carter figure prominently among a sharp rise in the number of households receiving food stamps, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture…”
• N.J. relaxes rules on food stamps, By Ken Serrano, October 8, 2011, Asbury Park Press: “Faced with an increasing number of people receiving food stamps, some states, like Kansas, have toughened eligibility requirements for their federally funded food assistance programs. But New Jersey has done the opposite. Gone is the requirement that people must list assets to apply. The annual gross income limit for a single person in New Jersey to be eligible to participate in its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was raised in April 2010 from $14,701.50 to $20,146.50. Deductions for things like utility bills figure into the limits. The maximum allowable income for a family of three to participate went from $23,803 per year to $34,281…”
• Fingerprinting those seeking food stamps is denounced, By Kate Taylor, October 11, 2011, New York Times: “Taking aim at a practice she called unnecessary, costly and punitive, the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, is asking the Bloomberg administration to justify requiring applicants for food stamps to be electronically fingerprinted. New York City, where 1.8 million people receive food stamps, is one of only two jurisdictions in the country that require applicants to be fingerprinted, according to Ms. Quinn’s office. The other is Arizona. California and Texas recently lifted a similar requirement; New York stopped using fingerprinting for food-stamp recipients statewide in 2007, but kept it in New York City at the Bloomberg administration’s request…”

Minimum wage to rise, By Ilene Aleshire, September 16, 2011, Eugene Register-Guard: “Oregon’s minimum wage will go up 30 cents per hour, to $8.80, next year, state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian announced Thursday. The increase mirrors a 3.77 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index since August 2010, Avakian said. ‘Safeguarding the wages of low-income workers is especially critical in a tough economy,’ Avakian said in a statement. ‘Oregon’s economy will not rebound if we allow 144,538 minimum wage earners to fall behind inflation.’ Oregon’s current minimum wage is the second-highest among all 50 states, behind only to Washington state’s $8.67, according to the nonpartisan Oregon Center for Public Policy. Washington will announce its 2012 minimum wage on Sept. 30, Avakian said…”

• Researcher: Low-wage job numbers a ’cause for concern’, By Marcos Restrepo, July 26, 2011, Florida Independent: “That Florida unemployment remained steady during the month of June and added manufacturing jobs are positive signs, but according to researcher Emily Eisenhauer, jobs have been added in low-wage industries. Eisenhauer, an associate at the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University, says that Florida still has the fourth highest unemployment rate in the U.S., but unemployment has come down over the last six months. The state has adding more than 85,000 jobs, but according to Eisenhauer, Florida is still missing about 700,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession in December 2007…”
• High-pay jobs decline as low-pay jobs increase, By Alana Semuels, July 27, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “John Soto said he felt like he got “punched in the gut” when BMW announced that it planned to lay off him and other workers at an Ontario parts distribution warehouse and give their jobs to contract workers provided by a third-party company. “They wouldn’t do this in Germany,” said Soto, 46, referring to the labor-friendly policies in the country where BMWs are manufactured…
• “Lower-paying jobs dominate recovery, By Alana Semuels, July 26, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “The majority of jobs being created in this economic recovery are lower-paying ones, while higher-paying positions have been slow to return, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Employment Law Project. Lower-wage occupations such as sales and office clerks, cashiers and food preparation workers grew 3.2% in the first quarter of 2011 from a year earlier, the report said. In contrast, higher-wage jobs such as registered nurses, engineers and finance workers declined by 1.2%. Mid-wage positions such as paralegals, customer service representatives and machinists grew by 1.2%…”

Fewer families get health coverage from workplace, By Jackie Crosby, June 28, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “The number of Minnesotans who get health insurance through employers has dropped 10 percentage points in the past decade, outpacing the decline nationwide, according to a study released Tuesday by the University of Minnesota. A decade ago, about 8 in 10 workers and their families received health benefits from a company-offered plan. By 2009, the most recent year available, 71 percent of Minnesotans were covered through the workplace. The shift parallels a trend in which growing numbers of Minnesotans earn lower wages and the ranks of those living in poverty swells…”

Pensions: Low-paid ‘face pension poverty’, ONS says, June 22, 2011, BBC News: “Low earners face ‘potential poverty’ in old age because they are not building up pensions or savings to supplement the state pension, a report has warned. Only 16% of men and 27% of women employed full-time on less than £300 a week are in a pension scheme, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Its latest Pension Trends report said that many people are ’stretched’ by the cost of living and are unable to save…”

Budget slashed for jobs for older, low-income workers, By Walker Moskop, June 20, 2001, San Antonio Express-News: “Even with the food stamps she received, Sandy Hipp was barely making enough money when she lived on a minimum-wage salary working 24 hours a week at a senior apartment complex in Seguin. Then, in April, Congress slashed the funding for the program paying her wages, and her hours were cut back to 18. Hipp, 58, said she’ll have to find another job soon and will apply to work at a plant nursery in Seguin. For older, low-income jobseekers, the task of landing work is now a greater uphill climb. The Senior Community Service Employment Program, the national program that gives grants to organizations to train workers, connect them with employers and pay their wages, has seen its budget slashed from $825 million for 2010-11 to $450 million for 2011-12 - a 45 percent cut…”

N.H. fights over minimum wage, By Michael McCord, June 20, 2011, SeacoastOnline: “Gov. John Lynch’s recent veto of a House bill to repeal the state’s minimum wage law created a unique ideological role reversal. Republican House Speaker William O’Brien defended the bill by saying the state should follow federal minimum wage guidelines and the four-term Democratic governor took a state’s rights stand, saying the state should keep its options open…”

Lynch vetoes bill eliminating state minimum wage law, By Garry Rayno, June 9, 2011, Union Leader: “Gov. John Lynch Thursday vetoed a bill doing away with the state’s minimum wage law which instead tied it to the federal law. In his veto message, Lynch said by repealing the state law, New Hampshire would be ‘effectively ceding state control and authority to the federal government.’ House Bill 133 passed both the House and Senate by more than enough votes to override the governor’s veto. Lynch said the bill would make New Hampshire one of only a handful of states completely deferring to the federal government and not establishing their own minimum wage…”

Conn. poised to be first state to mandate sick pay, By Jennifer Ludden, June 6, 2011, National Public Radio: “As many Americans watch their job benefits shrink amid tight budgets, Connecticut is about to defy the trend: It’s set to become the first state to mandate paid sick days for some low-wage workers. Across the country, 40 million people have no paid sick time, and advocates now see momentum for a national movement. Connecticut’s Democratic governor, Dan Malloy, campaigned on this issue and has said he’ll sign the bill that passed its final legislative hurdle early Saturday morning, after a daylong debate. It would provide up to a week of paid sick time, largely to service workers in companies with 50 or more employees…”

New study: You can’t live on minimum wage, By L.L. Brasier, May 30, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Cameo Thomas of Jackson works two jobs as a nursing home aide to support her 4-year-old twin sons. One job pays $9.50 an hour, the other $13.05. Sometimes she works 60 hours a week to make ends meet — hard physical labor, most of it on her feet. ‘Sometimes I get off work and think, ‘Man, I’m going to need a new pair of shoes,” the 23-year-old said. Working harder and longer may not be enough to support a family in Michigan, particularly for employees in low-paying jobs such as retail sales, clerical work and home health care, according to a new study released today…”

Help wanted: Jobs for the disabled, series homepage, Columbus Dispatch: “Thousands of adults with Down syndrome, autism and other developmental disabilities work in Ohio at jobs that pay less money than a teen-age babysitter earns. Some say the low pay is immoral; others view the federal law as a godsend…”

House rejects minimum wage hike, By Rebekah Metzler, May 25, 2011, Morning Sentinel: “The Maine House voted 77-69 along party lines Tuesday to reject a proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $8 an hour over the next two years. The vote marked a change from recent years, when Democratic majorities in the Legislature routinely approved increases. Republican lawmakers, now in the majority, argued Tuesday that an increase would serve as a mandate that harms businesses. Democrats said struggling low-wage workers could use the extra $10 a week to buy necessities…”

New version of Snyder tax plan saves Earned Income Tax Credit for working poor, By Dawson Bell, May 10, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Michigan’s working poor would continue to receive supplemental income from the Earned Income Tax Credit - albeit at a significantly reduced level - under the latest revision to Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed business and income tax overhaul plan. The credit, currently set at 20% of the federal EITC, would be reduced to 6%, under a proposal announced by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley this morning during a Senate committee hearing on the overhaul. That would mean about $108 million in relief to low-income wage earners in 2012, down from a projected $360 million under current law…”

• Low pay linked to poverty rates, By Catherine Candisky, May 7, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “Of Ohio’s 10 largest occupations, only one pays enough for a family of three to pay for food, housing and other basic needs: nursing. A report released yesterday found a job doesn’t always pay enough for families to be self-sufficient. Despite full-time employment, many still rely on food stamps, subsidized child care or other types of government assistance to make ends meet. ‘Poverty persists because … we have a lot of lower-paying jobs,’ said Philip E. Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, which commissioned the analysis. ‘We need to focus on jobs with good benefits.’ Cole said he thinks Ohio is investing more than any other state into creating jobs, and he commended Gov. John Kasich for his efforts to attract and retain employers. But planned cuts to the state’s subsidized child-care program will make it more difficult for many low-wage workers to keep their jobs because they can’t afford to pay someone to look after their kids, Cole said…”
• Report: Parents with low pay rely on aid, By Russ Zimmer, May 7, 2011, Zanesville Times Recorder: “Eight of the 10 largest occupations in Ohio do not pay enough for an adult with a young child to live without public assistance, according to a report released Friday. In fact, the median hourly wage in the state, $15.72, doesn’t allow a single earner with a baby to live free of welfare, according to Diana Pearce, the author of the report. Pearce based her findings on the self-sufficiency standard, a metric she developed 14 years ago that calculates the costs of basic living needs and the earnings required to cover them. The problem is a lack of good jobs, but Pearce added that Ohio’s situation is not unlike other states. The eight top jobs — fast-food worker is No. 1 with 151,000, and retail sales and cashiers round out the top three — represent about 18 percent of all workers in Ohio…”

State approves tax credit for working poor, By Stephen Singer (AP), May 5, 2011, Stamford Advocate: “Connecticut’s new earned income tax credit will provide needed financial help to as many as 190,000 low-income workers, supporters say. Critics dismiss it as welfare. The tax credit, part of the $40 billion, two-year budget signed Wednesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, is a major victory for the Democratic governor and Democrats who run the Legislature after being blocked for years by then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Malloy’s Republican predecessor. Sen. Martin Looney, the Democrats’ leader in the state Senate, called it an economic stimulus for low-income workers…”

• Minnesota rental affordability worst in Midwest, May 3, 2011, Alexandria Echo Press: “According to a national report released Monday, a Minnesota family must have 2.2 minimum wage earners working full-time - or one person working 87 hours per week at minimum wage- to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment in Minnesota. Of the 12 states in the Midwest, Minnesota ranks the worst for rental affordability among low-wage workers. The report, Out of Reach 2011, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, D.C.-based housing policy organization, and for Minnesota, the Minnesota Housing Partnership. The report provides housing affordability data for every state, metro area, and county in the country…”
• N.J. rental costs among highest in the nation, By Sarah Portlock, May 3, 2011, Star-Ledger: “A household in New Jersey must earn at least $51,044 annually - the fifth-highest amount in the nation - to be able to afford rent and utilities for a ’safe and modest’ two-bedroom rental property, according to a study released yesterday. Statewide, a typical renter earns about $32,905, according to the report, which was released by two housing advocacy groups. The fair market rent for a two bedroom-apartment in New Jersey is $1,276, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the report found New Jersey families are paying much more than the recommended 30 percent of income on housing and utilities…”
• Harvard report finds housing ‘affordability crisis’, By Megan Woolhouse, May 3, 2011, Boston Globe: “Philip Frabetti wants to move his wife and two children out of their cramped apartment in the North End, but finding a bigger place that’s affordable has been difficult. Frabetti, a project manager at Fidelity Investments, said the asking rents of $2,500 or more a month in Newton, Arlington, and Belmont would eat up at least half of his monthly income…”
• Typical renter can’t afford one-bedroom apartment in Seattle, By Aubrey Cohen, May 2, 2011, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “The typical renter in the Seattle-Bellevue area could afford a one-bedroom apartment a year ago but just a studio now, according to a new report. That’s because that renter is earning 5.1 percent less, while fair market rents compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have risen 11.3 percent, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual ‘Out of Reach’ report. This means the typical renter would have to work 44 hours a week, with no vacation or sick days, to pay for a one-bedroom apartment (up from 37 hours a week in 2010)…”

• Snyder agrees to $25 per child tax credit, By Paul Egan, April 20, 2011, Detroit News: “The Snyder administration has agreed to a House lawmaker’s proposal that would restore part of the Earned Income Tax Credit, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley said today. Calley said Gov. Rick Snyder is prepared to support a proposal from Rep. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac, that would give a tax credit of $25 per child for families that would have been eligible for the EITC. Snyder’s Feb. 17 budget proposed eliminating the state version of the credit, which is equal to 20 percent of the federal credit for the working poor. Adding the $25-per-child credit is expected to cost about $20 million, Calley said. He said changes Snyder made to his proposal for the Homestead Property Tax Credit give another $80 million in relief to low-income earners. Eliminating the EITC is expected to save the state about $340 million. Families that received the credit received an average of $432 last year…”
• Gov. Rick Snyder agrees to restore part of Earned Income Tax Credit, By Dawson Bell, April 20, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “A new change agreed to in Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to overhaul Michigan’s tax code would restore a portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor, administration and legislative officials said today. The administration has agreed to give EITC-eligible income tax filers a $25/child credit, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley said in testimony before the House Tax Policy Committee. Coupled with changes to Snyder’s original proposal announced last week that more narrowly target the Homestead Tax Credit to low-income filers, the revised proposal would provide about $100 million in payments to the working poor…”

Building wealth in rural America, By Ray Lopez, April 19, 2011, Daily Yonder: “Residents of rural communities face different challenges than their urban counterparts when they try to build assets or take steps to achieve financial security. The reasons are many and familiar. Rural communities have seen their share of economic struggles in recent years. Nearly one in six people living in rural America fell below the poverty line in 2009, according to U.S. Census data. Of the nearly 3 million Texas residents who were classified as rural by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, 19.5 percent were below the poverty line. That is 3 percentage points higher than in urban Texas. Unemployment and educational attainment levels were also worse in rural Texas than in urban Texas…”

Job cuts puts seniors in jeopardy, By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer (AP), April 17, 2011, Contra Costa Times: “For $700 a month, 65-year-old Esmeralda Calderon cares for children part time through a federal community service job that’s in jeopardy because of cuts to the proposed federal budget for 2011. It’s the only source of income for a woman who has no one to rely on and lives alone in public housing in a gritty Hollywood neighborhood. Under the Department of Labor’s Senior Community Service Employment Program, more than 75,000 elderly Americans living in poverty in all 50 states earn their keep by the slimmest of margins. To qualify, participants must be over 55 and earning less than 125 percent of the federal poverty level - $13,600 a year. In the budget bill signed Friday by President Barack Obama, the program was slashed by 45 percent, from $825 million to $450 million a year. Advocates say it could mean as many as 58,000 fewer jobs if states or national groups are forced to discontinue the program because of the reductions…”

In some states, working poor could pay more taxes, By Pam Fessler, April 11, 2011, National Public Radio: “Several states want to scale back or eliminate a tax credit for the working poor, as they try to balance their budgets. Anti-poverty groups say some of these same states also want to cut taxes for businesses. Governors say they’re trying to balance the need to promote jobs with deficit reduction. But advocates say the poor are being asked to bear an unfair share of the burden. The tax break is called an earned income tax credit, or EITC. About half the states offer residents an EITC on top of a similar credit available from the federal government…”

Minimum wage debate gains momentum in Md., By Lorraine Mirabella, April 10, 2011, Baltimore Sun: “Bridget Highkin works as hard now as she did two years ago. But then she brought home $800 a week from her waitressing job and today she’s lucky to clear $300. For now - until she completes a part-time nursing program and can find a job as a nurse - financial relief for her family hinges on a proposal to increase Maryland’s hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.75 over three years. A few more dollars an hour would allow her to stop receiving assistance for day care and food, Highkin says. ‘I live just under paycheck to paycheck,’ said Highkin, 25, who works at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Bel Air and is a single mother of two. ‘At the end of each week, I’m scraping together my last pennies in hopes that the next week I can do it again.’ Proponents of the minimum wage increase see momentum growing in its favor. Though proposed legislation has gone nowhere in the General Assembly session that ends Monday, backers say they have built support for another try next year. They also say low wages are dragging down not only individuals and their families but the broader economic recovery…”

Wage for Ind. servers among the lowest in the US, By Dana Hunsinger Benbow, April 8, 2011, Indianapolis Star: “Customers ask for ice water with lemon. And then more lemons. Oh, yes. Some sugar, too, please. They ask to split a meal - half the sandwich with mayonnaise and tomato, the other with mustard and onion. Make that a Caesar salad on one plate and fries, no salt, on the other. When it’s all said and done and the meal is over, waiter Thomas Ievoli said he’s at his tipping point. Unfortunately, his customers aren’t. ‘People are expecting more service and paying less for it,’ said Ievoli, a server at Old Pointe Tavern and a bartender at Lockerbie Pub. ‘They do all kinds of special requests. They will sit there forever. They special-order and then tip you 10 percent - if not less.’ In the economic downturn, lower tips have made it tough for waiters and bartenders to survive. In Indiana, it’s especially tough because it, along with 17 other states, has the lowest minimum wage for people who depend on tips in the nation: the federal standard of $2.13 an hour. While the federal minimum wage has steadily increased over the years to $7.25 an hour, the $2.13 mark for tipped employees has remained in place since 1991…”

Many low-wage jobs seen as failing to meet basic needs, By Motoko Rich, March 31, 2011, New York Times: “Hard as it can be to land a job these days, getting one may not be nearly enough for basic economic security. The Labor Department will release its monthly snapshot of the job market on Friday, and economists expect it to show that the nation’s employers added about 190,000 jobs in March. With an unemployment rate that has been stubbornly stuck near 9 percent, those workers could be considered lucky. But many of the jobs being added in retail, hospitality and home health care, to name a few categories, are unlikely to pay enough for workers to cover the cost of fundamentals like housing, utilities, food, health care, transportation and, in the case of working parents, child care. A separate report being released Friday tries to go beyond traditional measurements like the poverty line and minimum wage to show what people need to earn to achieve a basic standard of living…”

• Texas leads nation in minimum wage workers, By Steve Clark, March 28, 2011, Brownsville Herald: “If there’s anything faintly resembling good news in a just-released report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s that Texas’ share of hourly workers at or below minimum wage among U.S. states fell from 14.3 percent in 2009 to 9.5 percent in 2010. This just barely qualifies as a positive, however, since the number of Texas hourly workers at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage still increased by 76,000 over 2009. At 9.5 percent, Texas ties with Mississippi in terms of U.S. states with the highest proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. Texas and Mississippi take top honors, therefore, in terms of having the lowest paid workers among all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To be fair, low wages are partly a function of lower cost of living. In Cameron County and the Rio Grande Valley, low wages and low cost of living - by some measures - go hand in hand, and are both a blessing and a curse in the view of economic development officials…”
• Lone Star State ties Mississippi in low pay count, By Patrick Danner, March 28, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “Texas tied with Mississippi for states having the highest percentage of hourly paid workers earning the minimum wage or less. Some 550,000 Texans, or 9.5 percent of hourly paid workers, made the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less last year. That’s up 76,000 workers, or 16 percent, from 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported…”

States weigh cuts to earned income tax credit for working poor, By Pamela M. Prah, March 28, 2011, Stateline.org: “Rohnalda Hollon, a single mother of three in Beaverton, Michigan, and an Iraq war veteran, worries that state budget cutbacks will wipe out the refund she gets from a program aimed at helping the working poor. ‘The $400 from the Earned Income Tax Credit could mean the difference between paying my Consumer’s Energy bill or not,’ says Hollon, who works full-time for the Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors program, and has been put forward as one of the faces of an advocacy campaign called Save Michigan’s Earned Income Tax Credit. Hollan is typical of the recipients of the Michigan credit, which returns an average of $432 to families, most with children. Governor Rick Snyder wants to eliminate the program, along with a slew of other tax credits, in a bid to make the state tax system ’simple, fair and efficient.’ Eliminating the credits also would help close the state’s $1.8 billion budget deficit. Just scrapping the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, would save the state at least $340 million a year…”

• Walker’s budget slashes tax credits that aid poor, By Dee J. Hall, March 6, 2011, Wisconsin State Journal: “Low-income taxpayers in Wisconsin would lose hundreds of dollars in tax credits a year under Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget - at the same time the governor wants tax cuts for businesses and investors to boost jobs. Walker proposes cutting about $16 million a year from the program, which in 2009 paid 273,939 low-income Wisconsin residents a total of $133 million. Under Walker’s proposed biennial budget, a single mother with two children earning about minimum wage - $15,000 a year - would lose $302 of her $704 Earned Income Tax Credit next year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. A two-parent household with two children earning $30,000 a year would see its tax credit cut by $194 to $258, the alliance said…”
• Bill seeks to cut EITC percentage, By Matthew Clark, March 11, 2011, Pittsburg Morning Sun: “A bill spearheaded by a Kansas House committee has been proposed to decrease Kansas’ Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from its current 18 percent to 5 percent over the next four years. State Rep. Terry Calloway, a Pittsburg Republican, introduced the measure to the House Taxation Committee and it has already drawn sharp attacks from Democrats and other opponents who call the measure ‘counter-productive.’ The bill will generate an additional $56.3 million to the state’s General Fund initially in fiscal year 2012 and increase to $64.5 million by fiscal year 2016. It will reduce the amount of the tax credit - which is meant to benefit low-income individuals and families and also takes out a provision making the tax credit refundable. That means, if a family’s tax credit was higher than their tax liability, they would have the liability paid off, but would not get a check for the difference…”

Tax credit helps poor, but many unaware, By Rita Price, February 25, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “As a single mother who works and goes to college, Brandi Hardgrow adheres to a budget that leaves little room for wiggle - or for unexpected car repairs. But she gets by, and a big reason is her tax savvy. Hardgrow, 29, files for the Earned Income Tax Credit and then carefully manages a hefty refund - sometimes more than $2,500 - that keeps her household humming when her job as a Columbus-schools latchkey worker pauses for summer break. ‘It’s made a total difference in my life,’ she said. Researchers say the EITC is the nation’s best poverty buffer for low-income workers. It’s also an economic boon for their communities because recipients often need to spend a big chunk of their refunds right away…”

Bill would eliminate state tax credit for working poor, By Karen Bouffard, February 8, 2011, Detroit News: “Tax credits for Michigan’s working poor would be eliminated under a bill introduced in the state Senate today. The bill to repeal the state earned income tax credit (EITC) was met with strong opposition by Democrats and family advocates, who said it would amount to a tax increase for low income workers. The bill was introduced by Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who said Michigan can’t afford the $370 million cost. If the bill passes in the Senate and House, and is signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder, the credit would be eliminated at the end of this calendar year…”

For working poor, tax tweak cuts pay, By Brian J. O’Connor, January 31, 2011, Detroit News: “If you haven’t seen the new 2 percent payroll tax cut reflected in your paycheck yet, look closely at your pay stub. But if you don’t make a lot of money, you might not want to look too closely. Today is the deadline for employers to adjust their payroll systems and lower the rate on Social Security payroll taxes to 4.2 percent from 6.2 percent. They’ll also have until March 31 to adjust checks to give back any excess amount withheld so far this year. Sam Morgan, a tow truck driver, said he would be glad to see anything extra in his next paycheck. ‘I would like a tax cut,’ the 25-year-old Madison Heights man said. ‘I can always use more money in my paycheck.’ But for taxpayers making less than $20,000 a year, the new tax cut will turn out to be a tax hike. Workers making $15,000 a year, for example, will pay $100 more in taxes during 2011 than in 2010. And if they file a joint return, they will pay $500 more…”

New tax law may hold a surprise for working poor, By Tim Lockette, January 20, 2011, Anniston Star: “When President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans cut a deal on the extension of Bush-era tax cuts last month, the move was billed as a tax reduction for all. But the working poor may find an unpleasant surprise in their paychecks this month, says one tax expert. ‘If you’re a low-wage earner, you’ll be worse off, as will about 50 million households,’ said Roberton Williams, a scholar at the nonprofit Tax Policy Center, which is run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. ‘You’ll probably see the effects of the change in your next paycheck.’ The Star contacted Williams after a reader pointed out that her first January paycheck was actually smaller than her paycheck from last year - despite a recent compromise tax bill that was widely interpreted as a tax cut. Republicans and Democrats sparred throughout December over extension of Bush-era cuts to income taxes, which were set to expire Dec. 31 of last year…”

• Minimum wage earners in 7 states getting raises, By Kristen Wyatt (AP), December 30, 2010, Washington Post: “It will be a happier New Year for nearly 650,000 workers earning minimum wage. They’re getting small raises in seven states that tie their salaries to the cost of living. The minimum wages in those states will go up between 9 cents and 12 cents an hour Saturday because their consumer price indexes rose in 2010. The extra pennies can’t come soon enough for Joe Martinez of Denver, who works odd jobs such as lawn maintenance for minimum wage. In Colorado, the wage is rising 11 cents, from the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour to $7.36 an hour. ‘The prices of everything are going up - food, rent, electricity,’ Martinez, 55, said on his lunch break Wednesday. ‘I know it’s not a lot of money, but any extra money will help, you know?’ Poverty advocates say the rising minimum wages shouldn’t be seen as raises, just adjustments to keep the working poor at the same level as prices of goods rise…”
• Minimum wage up to $7.40 in Ohio, By James Pilcher, January 3, 2011, Cincinnati Enquirer: “Workers earning minimum wage in Ohio are getting a New Year’s bump - a 10-cent-an hour raise. Because voters in 2006 approved linking the state’s minimum wage to inflation, Ohio’s minimum wage stands at $7.40 an hour as of Jan. 1, compared to the federal rate of $7.25 an hour. The new hourly wage will affect nearly 270,000 Ohioans in jobs such as restaurant, retail and housekeeping work, based on estimates by the Cleveland-based progressive think tank Policy Matters Ohio. But some business experts and economists worry that the pay hike comes at a potentially sensitive time, as state and national economies are sputtering to recover from the recession…”

Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says, By Michael A. Fletcher, December 21, 2010, Washington Post: “The Great Recession, responsible for boosting unemployment to its highest levels in a generation, has sharply increased the percentage of working people who earn wages so paltry that they are struggling to survive, according to a new report. The share of working families earning less than double the official poverty threshold - $43,512 for a family of four - increased from 28 to 30 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to a report released Tuesday by the Working Families Project, a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of the working poor. Overall, the report said, the number of people living in low-income working families increased by 1.7 million to 45 million between 2008 and 2009. In November, the jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent, and has hovered near 10 percent for more than a year…”

Minimum wage increase to have little impact, By David Young, December 13, 2010, The Coloradoan: “Servers and minimum wage workers are set to get a slight raise come the first of the year. Colorado’s minimum wage is set to increase 12 cents starting in 2011 bringing the new minimum wage to $7.36. The minimum tipped employee wage will increase to $4.34 from $4.22. The increase is likely to have little impact on employees or employers according to experts. In accordance with the Colorado Constitution, the state’s minimum wage must be adjusted annually for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index used for the state. Federal minimum wage is currently lower than Colorado’s at $7.25 per hour. Federal tipped minimum wage is currently $2.13 per hour. Martin Shields, CSU Regional economist, said that the increase is not much of an impact on the bottom line. The increase amounts to $4.80 in a 40 hour work week…”

• Child poverty ‘rises’ among working households, December 6, 2010, BBC News: “Child poverty within working households is rising and now accounts for 58% of all UK cases, a report has found. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report says there are 2.1 million impoverished youngsters in homes where parents are in work - up slightly on last year. Co-author Tom MacInnes said it showed work alone was not the answer to lifting people above the bread line. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was reforming the welfare system to ensure work always paid. Overall, the number of children living in poverty fell to 3.7 million, the report called Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion found…”
• Record levels of poverty among families with wages, By Jonathan Owen, December 5, 2010, The Independent: “A record number of children in the UK are living in poverty despite the fact that one or both of their parents work, according to a new report to be published tomorrow. The figure of 2.1 million is the highest on record - up 400,000 in the past five years, undermining the oft-repeated claim that people simply have to work their way out of poverty. The new figure accounts for more than half of the 3.7 million children living in poverty in Britain today, according to researchers from the New Policy Institute (NPI) who produced the report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). It is perhaps the most damning element of an analysis of the past decade, showing how initial progress in some areas has halted or been reversed…”
• Most children living in poverty are not from workless households, report finds, By Karen McVeigh, December 6, 2010, The Guardian: “The number of children of working parents who are living in poverty in the UK has risen to an unprecedented 2.1 million, a report has found. A report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that while the number of impoverished children dropped overall to 3.7 million, the majority are now from homes where a parent or carer is working, accounting for 58% of the total. The number who live in workless households fell to 1.6 million - the lowest figure since 1984 - according to the Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report…”

Wage laws squeeze South Africa’s poor, By Celia W. Dugger, September 26, 2010, New York Times: “The sheriff arrived at the factory here to shut it down, part of a national enforcement drive against clothing manufacturers who violate the minimum wage. But women working on the factory floor - the supposed beneficiaries of the crackdown - clambered atop cutting tables and ironing boards to raise anguished cries against it. ‘Why? Why?’ shouted Nokuthula Masango, 25, after the authorities carted away bolts of gaily colored fabric. She made just $36 a week, $21 less than the minimum wage, but needed the meager pay to help support a large extended family that includes her five unemployed siblings and their children. The women’s spontaneous protest is just one sign of how acute South Africa’s long-running unemployment crisis has become. With their own industry in ruinous decline, the victim of low-wage competition from China, and too few unskilled jobs being created in South Africa, the women feared being out of work more than getting stuck in poorly paid jobs. In the 16 years since the end of apartheid, South Africa has followed the prescriptions of the West, opening its market-based economy to trade, while keeping inflation and public debt in check. It has won praise for its efforts, and the economy has grown, but not nearly fast enough to end an intractable unemployment crisis…”

Poverty numbers get muted reaction on Hill, By Michael A. Fletcher, September 18, 2010, Washington Post: “Deborah Weinstein, a longtime advocate for the poor, calls the news that one in seven Americans is living in poverty ‘a national emergency.’ But for much of Washington’s political class, the shocking new poverty numbers provoked not alarm about the poor but further debate over tax cuts for the middle class. ‘We know that a strong middle class leads a strong economy,’ President Obama told reporters in the Rose Garden on Friday, as he used the new census report, which also showed that middle-class income has dipped slightly over the past decade, to continue making his case for limiting the cuts to family incomes under $250,000. Meanwhile, Republican leaders in the House and Senate had no reaction to the poverty report. But earlier in the week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took the Senate floor to argue for extending the tax breaks to everyone, saying, ‘We can’t let the people who have been hit hardest by this recession and who we need to create jobs to get us out of it’ be subject to a tax increase. McConnell’s spokesman later clarified the statement, saying that McConnell indeed believes the economic downturn has hit the poor harder than it has high-income business owners, who also have suffered. The reluctance of political leaders on both sides of the aisle to directly confront the fact that growing numbers of Americans are slipping into poverty reflects a stubborn reality about the poor: They are not much of a political constituency…”