Great Recession
Study: COVID-19 reversed progress for Ohio women, more than 1 million workers displaced
A new study from an Ohio think tank shows disproportionate lay offs for low-paid workers, gender and race inequity, and “job destruction” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report released this week by Policy Matters Ohio, titled the “State of Working Ohio 2021,” showed that inconsistencies in assistance from federal and state administrations […]
Black Americans, crucial workers in crises, emerge worse off – not better
On June 19, 1865 – 155 years ago – Black Americans celebrating the day of Jubilee, later known as Juneteenth, may have expected a shot at real opportunity. Freedom from slavery should have been freedom to climb up the economic ladder, helped – or at least not hindered – by a nation newly rededicated to […]
House Democrats call for more federal aid for public education
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats called Monday for more federal aid for education as the nation’s schools prepare to reopen this fall. “Unless the federal government provides immediate relief, it won’t be a matter of whether education funding will be cut, but how deep the cuts will be,” said U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, chair of the […]
Can lessons from the Great Recession help states avoid budget disasters?
As they face massive budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic, states are looking for federal money to help stave off the kind of drastic cuts they enacted during the last economic downturn. State budget officers and economists generally agree that cuts to state spending worsened the Great Recession in the years following 2008. Layoffs, […]
What will our social compact look like in the wake of COVID-19?
In 2019, more than 1.6 million different Ohioans needed help from a charitable food pantry because they couldn’t meet their nutritional needs without it. They were 82-year-old widowers scraping by on Social Security benefits. They were working parents with children who cobbled together a couple of important, but underpaid, jobs in food service or home […]