Archive for October, 2011

Florida recently joined states such as New York and Arizona in imposing requirements on the poor before they can receive public assistance.  The law, currently blocked by a federal judge, requires urine samples and drug tests, while New York and Arizona demand fingerprints. Is this, as writer Andrew Rosenthal argues, “unnecessary, costly and punitive?” »

Occupy Wall Street faces a new, rapidly-approaching threat:  winter. Analysts believe harsh weather will convince many to pack up their tents and return home.  The Occupy movement must find a way to resist hibernation, maintain its momentum, and capitalize on its gains—soon.   Photo credit:  Michael Macor »

Florida’s hotel and resort industry now relies heavily on “guest workers,” foreign recruits with temporary work visas. The visas of these H-2B workers bind them to single employers for three years, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.  Many suffer virtual peonage, while others have fallen prey to fraud and human-trafficking rings.  The Department... »

The top 1 percent of earners has more than doubled their share of the nation’s income since 1979, the Congressional Budget Office reports. The CBO attributes the trend in part to the shift in government policy away from redistributive measures. The report also disclosed that the after-tax income of the top fifth of the... »

The poverty rate in U.S. suburbs rose twice as fast as it did in cities from 2000 to 2010, and the number of poor people rose by more than half.  The effects are visible in communities like Parma Heights, outside Cleveland, which lack the social programs and public transportation that have enabled the poor... »

A Hawaii patient under Medicaid can spend only 10 days a year in a hospital, and many other states are likewise tightening their allowances for poor and disabled patients. The states attribute the often-drastic cuts to rising health insurance costs, and hospital executives say the financial burden will shift to the hospitals providing care.... »

An impending class-action lawsuit challenges Florida colleges’ right to charge out-of-state tuition rates to U.S. citizens whose parents are illegal immigrants. The students, legal residents of Florida, often must pay up to three times the rates their classmates pay. Faced with such prohibitive costs, many have abandoned hope of attending college. »

Thousands of Americans remain jobless, yet employers still struggle to find skilled candidates to fill vacancies. “There are plenty of job openings out there.  Problem is there aren’t enough Americans trained to do them,” declared the CEO of Corporate Voices for Working Families.  In response, federal and state governments are allocating more resources to... »

American Sociological Review This study seeks to answer two questions: Are there associations between prenatal poverty and lower birth weights, and how have recent expansions of a work-based welfare program affected maternal and infant health? In particular, the study estimates the effects of the pregnant woman’s poverty on the birth weight of her child,... »

Children and Youth Services Review This study, focused on Albania, describes how to improve the evaluation of child economic wellbeing and child poverty by taking into account not just the poverty of households, but the unequal ways that resources are shared within households. »