As the final days of tax season come and go, North Carolinians are likely breathing a sigh of relief that they have fulfilled their duty this year. That responsibility for paying taxes is so rarely considered in the same light as the other civic responsibilities we so cherish as a society: to care [Continue Reading...]
It seems that a middle-class life is increasingly out of reach for many North Carolinians. New data from the U.S. Census Bureau released last week shows that the state’s poverty rate bumped up to 17.5 percent in 2010, a 22 percent increase since 2007 when the Great Recession started. The 368,614 North Carolinians [Continue Reading...]
The official end of the Great Recession was marked by economists in June 2009 but more than twenty-four months later there has been little improvement in the jobs picture. Last month, according to the latest data from the Employment Security Commission, North Carolina’s job deficit – a measure of the jobs needed to [Continue Reading...]
The budget woes that confront both North Carolina and the nation are of our own making; they are the result of policy decisions or indecisions that led to a catastrophic economic downturn and our faltering economic recovery. Unfortunately, despite the obvious and fundamental connections between our budget and tax decisions and our economic [Continue Reading...]
North Carolina has been at crossroads before. And at each of these moments, it was the collective effort of leaders and average North Carolinians that brought the state to a better outcome by forging a path to greater inclusion and expanded growth. From establishing a public school system in the Great Depression to [Continue Reading...]
Now that you’ve filed your income taxes, it’s worthwhile to remember what you have pooled your resources to invest in—the public structures that keep us safe, promote healthy communities and provide opportunity for all. These structures serve as the foundation of the nation’s and North Carolina’s economy. This connection between the taxes state [Continue Reading...]
President Obama’s State of the Union address put forth a challenge to the nation to improve the education and skill level of our workforce. Experts at a group known as the Lumina Foundation had previously established a relevant measuring stick for such a challenge: to increase the percentage of Americans with college degrees [Continue Reading...]
The year 2009 brought one of the largest increases in national poverty on record. The number of poor people in the country has grown by 3.7 million since 2008. [Continue Reading...]
As measured by Gross Domestic Product growth alone, the recovery began nearly 10 months ago – but tell that to the more than 470,000 North Carolinians still without work. Tell the policymakers struggling to balance a budget in the face of declining revenue and you are likely to get a chuckle. [Continue Reading...]
Enrollment in North Carolina’s community college curriculum programs that lead to a certificate, diploma or associate’s degree has skyrocketed by more than 33 percent since 2000, and growth in enrollment in all programs has increased by 14 percent just since 2007. But almost half of students fail to complete their educational programs due to financial hardship.
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Connecting Working Families to Economic Opportunity Now
The current recession has pushed more than half a million members of the state’s labor force out of work and paralyzed the expansion of business and growth in job opportunities.
As of January 2010, there were more than five unemployed workers per job opening nationally. In order to get Americans back to work, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) has introduced the Local Jobs for America Act, which would authorize $100 billion over three years to preserve jobs in state and local government and create jobs in the public and nonprofit sectors to meet essential community needs. [Continue Reading...]
The epidemic of childhood obesity has recently found a prominent place in our national conversation, bolstered no doubt by the First Lady’s “Let’s Move†campaign, and the “Food Revolution†promoted by crusading British chef Jamie Oliver. Yet, as our nation contemplates the perils of abundance, it is easy to forget that many of our kids aren’t eating enough. [Continue Reading...]
Report outlines policy changes that could aid recovery Assisting families and communities recover is about more than helping North Carolinians find jobs because economic security requires much more than income. Achieving a more stable economic recovery for our state means connecting families to assets such as affordable housing, educational opportunities and savings accounts. [Continue Reading...]
North Carolina’s current economic crisis has rightly prompted legislators to give serious thought to the investments we make as a state. And while immediate steps are necessary to pull our state out of the financial hole, we must not be short-sighted in our approach. North Carolina’s continued economic competitiveness, social cohesion and vibrant civic life depend on effectively investing in the well-being of young people – our next generation of workers and leaders. [Continue Reading...]
