Iowa could boost its economy and budget, help low-income workers and better prepare for the future if the state were to invest more in workforce education. 5/28/09
Full report (PDF, 31 pg)
Executive summary (PDF, 4 pg)
News release (PDF, 2 pg)
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Proposed changes in requirements for companies to qualify for subsidies appear to carry mixed results. The now-complicated system would be more simple to understand, and changes could result in a slight increase in actual wages in projects. But targeting the plan to boost manufacturing in urban areas may be difficult. Full Report (14 pg). (PDF) 3/31/09
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A new report from the National Center for Children in Poverty analyzes the effectiveness of Iowa’s “work supports” – such as earned income tax credits, public health insurance, and child care assistance. Work supports can close the gap between low earnings and basic expenses, but working more does not always pay as families lose eligibility for critical supports. Full report, news release from NCCP. 10/7/08
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Uninsurance in Iowa grew by one-third in seven years, while Iowans' median income improved slightly in 2007 and poverty remained high. News release 8/26/08
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| A new study reports growing income inequality in Iowa as the richest fifth of families make more than six times the income, on average, of the poorest fifth. The gap has grown in the last two decades according to a new national study from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Read the press release and Iowa fact sheet, and the full report. 4/9/08 |
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Working families could benefit if policy makers and advocates use a new tool to analyze policy impacts on family budgets. The nonpartisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership announced the new Iowa Family Resource Simulator in partnership with the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. Read the news release. 4/2/08
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More than half of Iowa jobs pay less than what is needed for a single parent with one child to provide for the family. A new IPP report examines both cost and income issues facing Iowa families of different sizes, county by county. "Our findings suggest that many hard-working Iowa families must go without, or go into debt, due to low wages," said researcher Beth Pearson. Read the full report, backgrounder and news release. 1/18/08
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Dec. 31, 2007 |
Iowa is ahead of the curve on policy for low-income families with its new $7.25 minimum wage. With poverty up, health coverage stagnant and income lagging the region, the wage boost could help families to make ends meet and help Iowa to make work pay. Read the news release.
Some tired arguments persist against Iowa's minimum-wage increase, almost a year after its approval — even though it was held down for a decade as other costs to both businesses and consumers grew. In fact, it helps low-income Iowans to purchase goods and services from the very busineses that complain the most. See the stories in the Burlington Hawk-Eye and Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.
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| Nov. 1, 2007 |
| From 2000 to 2006, 88,000 Iowans under the age of 65 fell from job-based health coverage either into the safety net of public programs, or right through that safety net into the ranks of the uninsured. Read our backgrounder.
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Tens of thousands of Iowa children have a stake in the wrangling in Washington over bipartisan efforts to the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The compromise package vetoed by President Bush would reach more kids in low- to moderate-income working families who otherwise would not have insurance. SCHIP now reaches 37,000 Iowa children, a figure that would grow significantly under the legislation. Read the backgrounder on SCHIP facts and our guest opinion in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
. More SCHIP resources from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership: a news release that addresses inaccurate claims about access for undocumented immigrants, and a one-page backgrounder and news release about what's at stake for Iowa. A two-page backgrounder shows how SCHIP successfully reaches uninsured children in working families. Also see KGAN-TV's interview with IPP's Mike Owen.
. More about the health-insurance shortage: Iowans at middle and lower incomes showed slippage in 2006 with a drop in income, a rise in poverty and a lingering rate of uninsurance. Read the news release. |
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| August 28, 2007 |
| Iowans at middle and lower incomes showed slippage in 2006 with a drop in income, a rise in poverty and a lingering rate of uninsurance. "There is not much comfort in these new numbers," says the IPP's David Osterberg. Read the Press Release. |
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| May 3, 2007 |
| New research published by the Economic Policy Institute shows the kinds of benefits the state can expect from its investments in early childhood education. Read the Press Release. |
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| March 31, 2007 |
| On Sunday, Iowa becomes the 29th state with a state minimum wage higher than the federal level.
Read the Press Release. |
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| January 15, 2007 |
| This November, six more states voted to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation. A total of 28 states now have a minimum wage higher than the federal level. Iowa is NOT one of them. Read this January Backgrounder, and the November Update to our Full Report from July 2006. |
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| September 28, 2006 |
| One-quarter of the U.S. workforce has a nonstandard job and only 21 percent of those workers have health insurance from their job. Since 2001, the percentage of nonstandard workers without health insurance has increased by 4 percentage points to 28 percent. Read the Full Report. |
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| August 29, 2006 |
| Poverty keeps climbing in Iowa while health insurance coverage and household income show no improvement since the start of the decade. Read the Press Release and the Health Insurance Fact Sheet. |
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| July 19, 2006 |
| A minimum wage increase would benefit tens of thousands of working Iowans, the majority over age 20 and most of them female. Low-wage Iowans have been left behind as twenty-two other states -- home to more than half of the U.S. population -- have increased the minimum wage above the federal (and Iowa) level of $5.15. Read the Full Report and Press Release. Read more about the Methodology. |
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| June 30, 2006 |
| This is our second report completed for the Iowa Council on Homelessness based on data collected during the 2005 Iowa Statewide Homeless Study. In this report, we present a more detailed picture of mental health and homelessness in Iowa. Read the Report. |
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| March 1, 2006 (Updated April 20, 2006) |
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| Twenty states, home to more than half the U.S. population, have already raised the minimum wage. If the minimum wage was raised to $7.25 per hour, about 257,000 Iowans, or 18 percent of all workers, would receive a pay raise. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| January 12, 2006 |
| Just over 21,000 Iowans were homeless during 2005, an increase of 2,688 people since 1999. Families with children now make up the majority of all homeless households in Iowa. Read the Full Report. See the Survey Materials. |
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| December 1 , 2005 |
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| More and more Americans are in temporary, contract, and part-time jobs without health insurance. Many of these workers have a medical discount card instead of health insurance. As a result, the number of uninsured Americans may be greater than the commonly reported figure of 46 million. Read the Press Release and the Full Report. |
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| October 19, 2005 |
| A new program brokered by Iowa leaders to save health-care services may actually create problems for the low-income Iowans it seeks to serve. IowaCare does not necessarily deliver on its promise of expanding access to health care. Read the Full Report and Press Release. |
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| June 6, 2005 |
| One in 11 Iowans is “food insecure,” creating a demand for food assistance that government alone does not meet. There will be new challenges for nonprofit organizations if Congress cuts federal help. Read the Full Report and Press Release. |
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| March 7, 2005 |
| Almost 1 in 5 Iowans receives benefits from Social Security. Without Social Security, more than half of Iowa’s seniors would be in poverty. Read the Fact Sheet and Press Release. |
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| December 1, 2004 |
| Project Labor Agreements help to get different groups on a big or complex construction project to work together smoothly and cost effectively. Read the FAQs, Executive Summary, and Full Report. |
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| October 12, 2004 |
| One in four working families in Iowa is low-income, earning less than $36,784 for a family of four. To make matters worse, low-income Iowans pay a larger share of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest Iowans. Read the Press Release. |
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| September 1, 2004 |
| Iowa legislators need to keep job quality and fiscal responsibility in mind next week when they return for a special session to restore the Grow Iowa Values Fund. Read the Press Release. |
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| August 26, 2004 |
| One in ten Iowans are now uninsured, a 2 percentage point increase over the last few years. The percentage of Iowans with employment-based health insurance also dropped 1.9 percentage points, suggesting that this is the primary cause for the increase in uninsured Iowans. Read the Press Release. |
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| August 26, 2004 |
| Median household income has fallen while poverty and the number of uninsured are on the rise in Iowa. Read the Press Release. |
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| July 8, 2004 |
| Rules to implement the Grow Iowa Values Fund need to be strengthened to assure the fund's promise of good jobs at good wages. Read the Full Report and Press Release. |
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| May 17, 2004 |
| The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released two reports that show an increase in the minimum wage does not result in job losses and would give a pay raise to more than 100,000 working Iowans. Read the Press Release. |
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| May 12, 2004 |
| Jobs in Iowa's high-growth industries not only pay less than jobs in shrinking industries, but they also are less likely to provide health-care benefits, according to a new report. Read the Press Release. |
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| September 25, 2003 |
| The Grow Iowa Values Fund presents an opportunity for the state to commit its economic development efforts toward high-wage jobs - but it will take more than what's in place now, Colin Gordon told the Grow Iowa Values Board. Read the Presentation Handout. |
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| September 1, 2002 |
| Iowa workers are still hurting from the recent economic downturn. Read the Press Release. |
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| September 1, 2002 |
| The Economic Policy Institute finds little evidence that the national recession is nearing an end. Read the Press Release and EPI's News Release. |
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