Posts Tagged ‘unemployment’

Higher poverty rate expected. What to do? Protect the middle class.

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

The U.S. Census bureau will release 2009 census data this Thursday, including poverty statistics. According to “US poverty on track to post record gain in 2009,” some analysts forecast the largest increase in U.S. poverty in 50 years.

The national poverty rate, which was 13.2 percent in 2008, may jump to over 15 percent when Thursday’s numbers come in.

Below: U.S. poverty, 1959-2006

The article speculates that politicians are more focused on middle-class unemployment than on the plight of those in poverty. This seems to set up an either/or proposition: help the struggling middle class, or reduce poverty.  However, we think that that policymakers can and should be doing both.

America’s middle class – which has always been the basis of our economic strength – has fallen behind.  Even before the Great Recession hit in 2008, we saw that many middle class families were looking off the cliff of economic security as they juggled rising housing and health care costs along with declining assets.  And now many of those folks find themselves unable to find work that pays a decent wage.

As a result, people who wouldn’t normally fall below the poverty line are struggling more than ever.  Homeless shelters are seeing an increase in the number of families, many who once considered themselves middle class, seeking assistance.

What can we do? Now is the time to focus on policy changes that will create economic opportunity and restore a stable middle class. Reducing poverty increases economic security for all of us – and vice-versa.

What are your ideas for creating economic stability? The Alabama Commission to Reduce Poverty wants your feedback. Visit this page for more information.

Posted by Robyn Hyden

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Posted in Census Stats on Poverty, Economics & Employment | No Comments »

What we’re reading: The Legacy of a Cotton Culture

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Larry Lee is the director of the Center for Rural Alabama and a good friend to APP.  He can always be counted on to give me feedback on our APP newsletter, and I appreciate his honesty.

That honesty is readily apparent in his must-read account of Alabama’s economic development history, The Legacy of a Cotton Culture.  He has a great deal of insight into why Alabama has the second greatest job loss in the country.

During the first half of the 1900s, Alabama tried to join the “New South” by looking at New England and chanting, “Cheap labor, cheap land, low taxes.”  And for awhile, we were awash in cotton and garment industry jobs.  But those days are gone.

In 1949 the good citizens of Andalusia thought the factory whistle would blow until Gabriel blew his horn.  But it fell silent 20 years ago.  Today across Alabama, buildings where workers once breathed cotton dust and risked arms and hands, stand empty only to be visited by the occasional school boy hurling rocks to break out another window.  And low-slung buildings where sewing machines once whirred watch as kudzu creeps across empty parking lots.

Today there are 23 counties where unemployment is 14 percent or higher.  All are rural.

They had 19,000 textile jobs in 1950 and 334,300 acres of cotton.

For decades, the future was no farther than getting to the end of the next cotton row or putting the mule in the barn as sun set.  The children of sharecroppers were far more likely to hear the rasp of a cotton pick sack being dragged on sandy soil than the ringing of a school bell.

This is the first part of a three-part series.  I can’t wait to read the next installment.

Posted by Kristina Scott

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Posted in Economics & Employment, Governance | 1 Comment »

The blame game.

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Last week, my friends and I had a pretty intense conversation about the Facebook group “Making Drug Tests Required to Get Welfare” and the counter group “Cringing in disbelief at “Making Drug Tests Required to Get Welfare.”

What’s my take away?  That many people don’t understand TANF (aka welfare) or drug addiction (which even the US Government recognizes is a disease).

These Facebook groups, coupled with South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s comment that when the government helps the poor, it’s like people feeding stray animals that continually “breed,” have re-opened a conversation about Americans’ lack of empathy for the poor in hard economic times.

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a comprehensive examination of this phenomenon on Monday in the article “In hard times, Americans blame the poor.”

Some highlights:

In an April 2009 poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington, 72 percent agreed with the statement that “poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs.” That’s up from 69 percent in 2007.

“The economic downturn has made the middle class less generous toward others,” said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart Research Associates, a Washington firm that researches attitudes toward the poor. “People are less supportive of the government helping the poor, because they feel they’re not getting enough help themselves.

. . .

Matt Wray, a sociologist at Temple University, agreed: “Hatred of the poor is fueled by the middle class’s fear of falling during hard times.”

Americans don’t understand how the poor are victimized by a lack of jobs, inefficient schools, and unsafe neighborhoods, experts say.

“People ignore the structural issues – jobs leaving, industry becoming more mechanized,” said Yale sociologist Elijah Anderson. . . “Then they point to the poor and ask, ‘Why aren’t you making it?’ “

Alabamians are facing hard times – 1 in 6 of us and 1 in 4 children live on less than the federal poverty threshold, which is just over $21,000 for a family of four.  And unemployment has hit 11 percent, the highest it has been in 26 years.

Alabama has poor as long as we have been a state.  And I for one don’t think that’s because Alabamians are lazy or drug addicts.  I think it is because we all face some major structural hurdles in achieving the prosperity I know we are capable of.

Want to learn the facts about welfare in Alabama?  Check out our fact sheet here.

And want to learn about the larger structural issues?  Wayne Flynt’s Alabama in the 20th Century is a terrific resource, and I highly recommend reading the first four chapters.

Posted by Kristina Scott

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Posted in Economics & Employment, Governance | No Comments »

Could you survive on just food stamps?

Monday, January 4th, 2010

According this article in Saturday’s New York Times, 18 percent of food stamp recipients’ – or 1 in 50 Americans – now live in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card.

Read the full report – including the personal stories of some of these Americans – here.

It reminds me how fortunate and blessed I am.

Posted by: Kristina Scott

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Posted in Economics & Employment | No Comments »

Help make sure Alabama counts

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

The US Census Bureau is gearing up for next year’s big count and APP hopes that you and nonprofits that you support will get involved.

2010 Census data will determine how much federal funding Alabama receives, set priorities for infrastructure improvements and draw district lines for our elected representatives.   

Low-income areas, immigrant neighborhoods, homeless individuals, minorities and the unemployed are most at risk for being under-counted.  And if a community is under-counted, it will also probably be under-funded and under-represented.  

The Census is a survey sent to every household in the United States every ten years.  It is available in multiple languages and is a legally confidential document.

Here are some specific ways that you can get involved to make the 2010 Census a huge success in your community:
 
• Contact your local U.S. Census Bureau office and find out how to partner with them.
 
• Have educational materials readily available at your nonprofit, house of worship or other community center.
 
• Sponsor a campaign or event in your community to raise awareness.
 
• Become a Be Counted site or a Questionnaire Assistance Center.
 
• Provide links and information about the Census on your website or in your emails.
 
For more information, materials and ideas visit the Nonprofit Counts website at www.nonprofitscount.org.

Posted by Haley Heckman

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Posted in Governance | No Comments »

Alabama on another top 10 list: unemployment

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

New unemployment numbers came out yesterday.  Alabama made the top 10 list – and I don’t mean that in a good way.

Our employment rate hit 10.7 percent in September.  That’s the 10th worst unemployment rate in the country.  It is also nearly double what it was just a year ago and the highest it has been in nearly 25 years.

Why so high now, when we keep hearing that the worst of the recession is behind us?

The best analysis I have read is in this article from the Associated Press:

Over the last year, Alabama’s unemployment rate has nearly doubled from 5.4 percent in September 2008. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Alabama’s rise of 5.3 percentage points from 5.4 percent a year ago to 10.7 percent in September 2009 was the third greatest in the U.S.

“We got into the recession later, but the effect was much greater,” [University of Alabama Center for Business and Economic Research Director Sam] Addy said.

Ranking above Alabama are Nevada (up 6.0 percentage points) and Michigan (up 6.4 percentage points). Those are also the top two states in unemployment, with Michigan at 15.3 percent and Nevada at 13.3 percent.

The man who oversees Alabama’s unemployment compensation benefits, state Industrial Relations Director Tom Surtees, said Alabama was in the middle of the states in unemployment only a year ago. That’s because the early part of the recession curtailed the financial and housing industries, and Alabama was not as impacted as many other states.

Then the recession hit manufacturing jobs, and Alabama has more workers in manufacturing jobs than the typical state, Addy said. Also, professional, business and technical services were hit hard. Those jobs, along with manufacturing, tend to be Alabama’s best-paying.

“When you are losing jobs in higher-paying industries, it affects everyone else because they can’t spend as much,” Addy said.

Posted by Kristina Scott

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Posted in Economics & Employment | No Comments »

Temporary Improvement in Alabama Poverty

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Alabama’s poverty rate dropped more than any other state’s in 2008 – but this improvement is likely to be temporary, given the state’s high rates of unemployment.

Here’s a rundown from the Associated Press via the Tuscaloosa News:

The numbers gathered by the U.S. Census reported that the number of people below the poverty line fell by 47,000 to 712,835. The drop was larger than any other state.

“The news in 2008 shows that Alabama was doing the right things,” said Kimble Forrister, director of Alabama Arise. “We were creating jobs.”

However, according to Forrister, the figures collected in 2008 reflected the poverty level before the recession hit.

“At the time our unemployment rate was better than the rest of the nation.”

Due to the recession, poverty levels will likely follow the rise in unemployment rates, resulting in a significant increase in poverty for 2009. Nationwide unemployment currently stands at 10.4 percent this September with Wilcox County being 25.4 percent.

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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »