Brookings: Topics - Working Poor

How the Recession’s Affecting Immigration

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

With U.S. unemployment at a 26-year high Americans will be feeling the economic downturn for some time. Jill Wilson and Audrey Singer identify the major shifts in U.S. immigration trends that have been impacted by the economic recession.

Economic Recovery and the Earned Income Tax Credit

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

At the National Community Tax Coalition’s inaugural Day of Action on Capitol Hill, Elizabeth Kneebone discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 increased support for low-income working families.

The Threat to Work

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ron Haskins states that one of the few government strategies that has proven successful in reducing poverty is encouraging or demanding that adults on welfare work, even at low wage jobs, and then subsidizing their earnings but with employment, income, and earnings stagnant or in decline for nearly a decade now, it is time to worry.

Urban Revitalization and Opportunity

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:58:55 GMT

Public housing has long been criticized as a breeding ground for concentrated poverty, under-achieving schools and for its lack of access to services. Bruce Katz says that President Obama's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, an expansion of HOPE VI, will revitalize poor communities while enhancing opportunities for residents and the business community.

Helping More Unemployed Workers Find Jobs and Build Skills

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On May 8, The Brookings Institution and the National Association of State Work Force Agencies hosted a discussion forum on a new paper, "Strengthening One-Stop Career Centers: Helping More Unemployed Workers Find Jobs and Build Skills." Jeffrey Kling made these remarks on Lou Jacobson's paper.

Strengthening One-Stop Career Centers

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:30:00 GMT

Event Information:

May 08, 2009, 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM

One-stop career centers help millions of unemployed and disadvantaged workers each year find new jobs and opportunities for advancement. Unfortunately, such centers are hampered by poor accountability and a lack of adequate funding. Brookings and the National Association of State Work Force Agencies host a discussion on a paper that proposes a new approach.

Confronting Concentrated Poverty in Tough Economic Times

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

At a forum hosted by the Federal Reserve Board to discuss a new joint Fed/Brookings report on concentrated poverty in America, Alan Berube discussed the importance of focusing on policies that can help poor people in very poor places, particularly in the context of a severe downturn and in light of the significant stimulus/recovery package being created to boost the economy.

The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Federal Reserve System and its 12 member banks partnered with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program to produce a new, in-depth look at concentrated poverty in America. The two-year study profiles 16 high-poverty communities across the United States, investigating the historical and contemporary factors associated with their high levels of economic distress.

Making Work Pay – Again

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Ron Haskins offers ways policymakers could create an entitlement to housing assistance that would more fairly distribute housing benefits and convert housing into a more effective element in the nation’s work support system. The goal of reform would be to get the most out of the resources now devoted to housing by providing at least some benefit to all eligible families that want a housing subsidy.

Low-Income Families and Communities

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:14:38 GMT

In a new report, Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone explain that following a dramatic decline in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade. Alan Berube says that help for high working-poverty communities will come from stronger national and regional economic growth—plus targeted efforts to protect neighborhoods of choice and connection.

Reversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000s

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After dramatic declines in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade, according to a new report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The report's authors draw on data from the IRS to measure the change in rates of “concentrated working poverty” nationally and in many of the largest metropolitan areas across the country.

Metro Raise: Boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit to Help Metropolitan Workers and Families

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Slowed economic growth and rising prices for necessities like food, transportation, and child care threaten to exacerbate the challenges already facing America's low-income workers and their families. The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) could do more to help close the growing gap between stagnant wages and rising prices. "Metro Raise" demonstrates how an expanded and modernized EITC would benefit families and communities in the nation's major metropolitan areas.

Periodic Payment of the Earned Income Tax Credit

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Many low-income working families would benefit from a streamlined ability to access the proceeds of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) throughout the year as they pay for ongoing expenses like housing, child care, and transportation. The federal government should consider adopting a model for direct periodic payment of the EITC, as most other countries with in-work tax credits provide.

Healthy Marriage, Strong Families and Child Wellbeing

Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

May 16, 2008, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM

The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center and the Center on Children and Families at Brookings Institution are cosponsoring a series of three seminars to share the lessons learned to date from research and the experience of over 300 healthy marriage and relationship programs located across the USA serving diverse populations. In this seminar on May 16, researchers, program administrators and program participants focused on key lessons learned about the economic factors that affect couples' lives.

Helping Disconnected Single Mothers

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

There are a growing number of low-income single mothers who are long-term welfare recipients or are without steady employment. They tend to face more barriers to stable employment, with less education, younger children, higher rates of mental and physical health problems and substance abuse, and a history of domestic violence. In this brief, Rebecca Blank and Brian Kovak propose a new program to link these mothers to medical and economic support and give them greater assistance in securing employment.

Helping Disconnected and Hard-to-Employ Single Mothers

Wed, 07 May 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

May 07, 2008, 9:00 AM to 11:15 AM

The Center on Children and Families and the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy held a forum to discuss the policy challenges posed by single mothers who have not been able to find stable employment and who may have used up their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families eligibility or face sanctions. These women head the families that are most vulnerable to the current economic downswing.

Rising Food Prices: a Global Crisis

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Rising food prices partly reflect the spillover from high energy costs, and are causing major problems for poor people. Homi Kharas argues for more development assistance for agriculture production to increase food supplies in the long run as well as for more assistance for sustainable development projects to create jobs and higher wages so that poor people can afford the rising costs of food.

Pay-Day Lenders, Check Cashing Outlets and Other Alternative Financial Services

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A substantial number of low-income individuals make use of services within the alternative financial sector, particularly pay-day lenders and check cashing outlets. The high cost of these services has led many observers to seek policies that would reduce the use of informal financial services among lower income households. In this paper, Rebecca Blank reviews the reasons why individuals utilize AFS outlets and discusses the policy options that could affect these decisions.

Bridging the Gap: Refundable Tax Credits in Metropolitan and Rural America

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In this report, Elizbeth Kneebone examines the changing distribution of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients across large cites and suburbs, smaller metro areas, and rural communities throughout the country. While taxpayers in large cities and rural areas were the most likely to claim the EITC in 2005, more than one-third of EITC filers lived in the suburbs of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.

The Costs of Benefit Delivery in the Food Stamp Program

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This study by Brookings expert Julia Isaacs compares the Food Stamp Program with eight other public assistance programs across four measures of program effectiveness—administrative costs, error payments, program access, and benefit targeting.

Economic Mobility in America

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

March 20, 2008, 9:00 AM to 11:45 AM

A comprehensive look at the trends and issues that drive economic opportunity in America was released last month in a new volume by Brookings experts, "Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America." On March 20, the Center on Children and Families at Brookings and the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project held a forum to discuss the findings on gender, race, immigration, and families in addition to new findings on education, international comparisons, trends, and wealth.

Commuting to Opportunity: The Working Poor and Commuting in the United States

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A transportation survey conducted to better understand how commuting enhances both physical and economic mobility for a worker, this survey also assesses a workers' ability to find and retain employment.

Attacking Poverty and Inequality

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:14:50 GMT

In the late 1990s, Congress and President Clinton collaborated on bi-partisan legislation that led to a substantial decline in child poverty in the United States – especially in African-American communities. Ron Haskins explains that the next president should reinvigorate the fight against poverty through increasing benefits while requiring more personal responsibility.

Better Workers for Better Jobs: Improving Worker Advancement in the Low-Wage Labor Market

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hamilton Project's expert Harry J. Holzer proposes a new federal funding stream to identify, expand, and replicate the most successful state and local initiatives designed to spur the advancement of low wage workers in the United States.

A Hand Up: A Strategy to Reward Work, Expand Opportunity, and Reduce Poverty

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Poverty remains a pressing problem in the United States. Many of the 36 million Americans in poverty are working, but full-time work at the minimum wage does not provide enough income to escape poverty. Jason Bordoff, Jason Furman, and Paige Shevlin offer a three-part strategy to reduce poverty and strengthen growth across the income spectrum.

Employment-Based Tax Credits for Low-Skilled Workers

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

To address a few problems with low-income families, John Karl Scholz proposes a two-part policy designed to increase the return to work. He argues that increasing the return to work for childless low-skilled workers will lower unemployment rates and will improve other social benefits.

Facilitating and Rewarding Work

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

December 12, 2007, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

On December 12, the Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a two-part forum at the National Press Club on ways to encourage, facilitate and reward work. Besides releasing a new Hamilton Project strategy paper, the forum highlighted four new and forthcoming discussion papers.

New Hope: Fulfilling America’s Promise to “Make Work Pay”

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hans Bos, Greg J. Duncan, Lisa A. Gennetian and Heather D. Hill make the case for a national program offering the kind of work supports that were part of the New Hope program, a policy experiment that operated for three years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the mid- to late-1990s.

The Politics of Economic Insecurity

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Recent media reports suggest that Americans feel they are under a great deal of economic pressure. In this paper, Brookings Elisabeth Jacobs asserts that government should play a key role in mitigating economic insecurity by creating an effective social safety net for the 21st century.

Fighting Poverty through Incentives and Work Mandates for Young Men

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Wage subsidies and work requirements hold the promise of alleviating many social problems, especially poverty. Brookings’s Ron Haskins writes about counteracting the negative behaviors of adolescent boys and young men in a new brief.

The High Price of Being Poor in Kentucky

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Kentucky's working families frequently pay a premium for everyday necessities. Lower-income workers there are more likely to pay more for home loans, auto loans, car insurance, basic financial services, and home goods. However, through a combination

Making Markets an Asset for Lower Income, Working Families

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In this testimony before the California Assembly Banking and Finance Committee, Matt Fellowes discusses the important opportunity to build wealth among California's lower income working families by expanding access to banking services.

A Local Ladder for Low-Income Workers: Recent Trends in the Earned Income Tax Credit

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In this report, Elizabeth Kneebone examines how receipt of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) increased between 2000 and 2004 in response to economic challenges. Increases were largest in the suburbs of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, which today contain 2.4 million more EITC recipients than central cities.

Increasing Economic Security for American Workers

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, Jeff Kling argues that the introduction of wage insurance would increase economic security by reducing unemployment for American workers displaced by offshoring.

Repairing the Urban Economic Ladder: How Cities Get the Market to Work for the Poor

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In his presentation before Mayor Cicilline's Poverty, Work and Opportunity Task Force, Matt Fellowes discusses what is prompting city innovation to repair the economic ladder and what these cities are doing to boost economic mobility.

The Earned Income Tax Credit

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Testimony by Ron Haskins (2/22/07)

The Geography of U.S. Poverty and its Implications

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Alan Berube's testimony on on economic opportunity and poverty in America before the Committtee on Ways and Means on Income Security and Family Support.

Measuring Work Support Benefits at the State and Local Level

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation at the Ford Foundation, Alan Berube reviews the importance of understanding public program participation among eligible families and how better coordinated research could assist growing efforts to connect workers and their famili

Metropolitan Poverty in the United States

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation to the Cambridge-MIT Institute's workshop on poverty and place in the United States and United Kingdom, Alan Berube reviews recent trends in the spatial distribution of poor populations in the United States, discusses how place a

Poor Should Get More for Their Money

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Increasing in the minimum wage has to be paired with a national campaign to lower the higher prices being paid by the poor today.

New Goals and Outcomes for Temporary Assistance: State Choices in the Decade after Enactment

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This analysis reviews spending decisions nationwide and in three states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, under the Temporary Assistance program since its enactment in 1996.

San Francisco Delivers a Local Earned Income Tax Credit

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

One novel approach from the Bay Area may hold lessons for the rest of urban America.

Grounds for Competition: The Basic Financial Service Infrastructure in Low-Income Neighborhoods

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation at the University of Delaware, Matt Fellowes showed how rising immigration and the 1996 welfare reform law spurred demand for high-cost financial products that hinder wealth building in low-income neighborhoods.

The Earned Income Tax Credit at Age 30: An Overview

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation to the European Union Labour Counsellors, Alan Berube discusses how the EITC works, whom it benefits, what effects it has on work and poverty, and what issues surround the credit as it enters its 31st year.

The Potential Value of IRS Data for State/Local Analysis

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation to KIDS COUNT grantees, Alan Berube discusses the potential value of using IRS data to describe changing state and local economic conditions and the well-being of children and families.

The New Safety Net: How the Tax Code Helped Low-Income Working Families During the Early 2000s

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this report, Alan Berube examines how receipt of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expanded nationwide from 2000 to 2003 in response to a weakened economy.

Redefining Working Family Policy: State Innovation in the Ownership Society

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation at the National Conference on State Legislatures Fall 2005 Forum, Matt Fellowes presented how low-income families are fairing in an ownership society. He also discussed the different types of state innovations that benefit low-income working families, their promises and perils.

Using the EITC to Make Housing More Affordable

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation delivered at the National Council of La Raza 2005 Annual Conference, Alan Berube discusses the role that income supplements like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) play in making housing more affordable for lower-income Latino families. He also highlights potential strategies for enhancing its capacity to reduce the housing cost burdens that these families face in many metropolitan areas.

Laboratories of Capitalism: How States Get the Market Right for Working Families

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland 2005 Policy Summit, Matt Fellowes discussed how low-income families are faring in the ownership society, what are the different types of state innovations that benefit low-income working families, and what are the promises and perils of this state innovation.

Leaving Money (and Food) on the Table

Sun, 01 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT

In a new paper, Matthew Fellowes and Alan Berube examine the dollar value and use of food stamps among the eligible population, finding that, in 97 large metropolitan areas across the country, $9.1 billion was disbursed to 9.8 million individuals.

The Price Is Wrong: Getting the Market Right for Working Families in Philadelphia

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This report delves into the higher prices for everyday goods paid by working families, revealing what causes those costs, and recommending a number of policy approaches--such as reducing risks to business, giving consumers more marketplace information

Public Housing Reform and Voucher Success: Progress and Challenges

Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Seven years after passage, Rod Solomon reviews the federal Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act and its wide-ranging effort to overhaul America's public housing and rental voucher programs.

EITC Outreach Campaigns

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Alan Berube's presentation to the EITC Funders Network outlines why outreach campaigns organized around the Earned Income Tax Credit have taken root in a growing number of communities across the U.S.

Financial Education and Asset Building Programs for Welfare Recipients and Low Income Workers: The Illinois Experience

Thu, 01 Apr 2004 00:00:00 GMT

An examination of Illinois? efforts to boost the skills needed to make sound financial decisions for people transitioning off of welfare.

The ""State"" of Low-Wage Workers: How the EITC Benefits Urban and Rural Communities in the 50 States

Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Low-income working families live in large cities and rural areas in nearly equal numbers, IRS data show.

Work and Marriage: The Way to End Poverty and Welfare

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:00:00 GMT

WR&B Policy Brief by Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill (9/2003

Tax Credits for Working Families: The New American Social Policy

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 00:00:00 GMT

An analysis of existing tax credit programs argues that a credit to enhance income security for both low-income and middle-income families could broaden the political constituency for investments in working families.

One Percent For the Kids

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 09:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

June 04, 2003, 9:00 AM to 12:15 PM

One Percent for the Kids : New Policies, Brighter Futures for America's Children

Thu, 24 Apr 2003 00:00:00 GMT

While virtually everyone talks about the importance of investing in the next generation, in the late 1990s federal spending on children represented only 2 percent of the nations gross domestic product. This volume argues forcefully that the life pro

Getting There: An Action Agenda for Wheels to Work

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Getting There: An Action Agenda for Wheels to Work

Where is Affordable Housing on the National Agenda?

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Speech by Bruce Katz to the Fannie Mae Housing Conference

Fragile Families, Welfare Reform, and Marriage

Sat, 01 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT

Because Congress is unlikely to enact a full package of services, Sara McLanahan, Irwin Garfinkel, and Ronald B. Mincy provide and alternate solution. The federal government should consider funding state-run demonstrations to ascertain the benefits and costs of the proposed reforms.

Rewarding Work: The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit in Chicago

Thu, 01 Nov 2001 00:00:00 GMT

A report examining the impacts of the earned income tax credit on metropolitan areas

Reducing Non-Marital Births

Wed, 01 Aug 2001 00:00:00 GMT

Paul Offner examines why non-marital births happen, the effort states have made to address the problem, and what additional steps could be taken to reduce non-marital births when Congress reauthorizes welfare reform legislation next year.

Child Care Funding: How much is needed and is there enough?

Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:30:00 GMT

Event Information:

June 13, 2001, 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM

Investing in Children

Thu, 01 Apr 1999 00:00:00 GMT

Investing in children can be accomplished by reorienting child-care subsidies and tax credits toward low-income working families and by investing more in high-quality preschool programs for their children. Children's Roundtable Report #1