Library

Reports: Economy and workforce

Advancing Economic Mobility for Low-Income Families: Policy Options for Governors
NGA Center for Best Practices, September 2022, 25 pp.
Suggests a range of strategies for policymakers to help promote savings and increase income levels among low-income individuals and families. more info >

Lessons from a Historic Decline in Child Poverty: Indicators on Children and Youth
Child Trends Data Bank, September 2022, 100 pp.
Describes the decline in child poverty in the past quarter century, looking particularly at the influence of federal anti-poverty programs on poverty and root causes of poverty among families with children. more info >

State of Black America
National Urban League, June 2022
Annual report presenting the National Urban League's Equality Index. Focuses on unemployment and income equality, but also includes measures of education, health, civic engagement, housing, transportation, and public safety for Hispanic, Black, and White populations. Includes metropolitan area rankings of unemployment and income equality. Requires a free registration to download full reports. more info >

How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades
Pew Research Center, April 2022, 10 pp.
Presents facts about how the economic status of the U.S. middle class and America’s major demographic groups has changed since 1971. more info >

The State of America's Children
Children's Defense Fund, December 2021, 86 pp.
A compilation of national and state-by-state data on poverty, health, child welfare, youth at risk, early childhood development, education, nutrition and housing. Report is compiled annually. more info >

Stark Inequality: Financial Asset Inequality Undermines Retirement Security
National Institute on Retirement Security, August 2021, 23 pp.
This report finds that economic inequality continues to grow, with financial assets significantly higher for white households than Black or Hispanic households, and with wealth further concentrated among white households in the top 25 percent of net worth. more info >

The Inequities of Job Loss and Recovery Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
Carsey Institute, August 2020, 1 pp.
A look at the demographic and economic characteristics of job loss and recovery over the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that Black and Latino workers in particular experienced exceptionally high levels of unemployment and slow rates of job recovery during this period. more info >

Race in the Heartland: Equity, Opportunity, and Public Policy in the Midwest
Iowa Policy Project, Policy Matters Ohio, October 2019, 37 pp.
Examines racial disparities in economic opportunity and economic outcomes in the Midwest, and proposes a range of policy solutions. more info >

The Poverty-Reducing Effect of Five Key Government Programs in Rural and Urban America
Carsey School of Public Policy, April 2019, 4 pp.
Poverty data from the American Community Survey were released on September 17, 2015, allowing a detailed examination of poverty in 2014 across the United States. This brief discusses changes in child poverty between 2013 and 2014 and since 2009, just after the Great Recession ended. more info >

Credit Scores Perpetuate Racial Disparities, Even in America’s Most Prosperous Cities
Urban Institute, November 2017, 2 pp.
Credit score data reveal how racial disparities persist in cities across the economic spectrum and contribute to wealth inequality. more info >

Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, October 2017, 52 pp.
Presents the Race for Results Index, a collection of data presented by racial and ethnic groups and by state. Indicators address early childhood, academic achievement, teen parenting, higher education, and family characteristics. more info >

Child Poverty Higher and More Persistent in Rural America
Carsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire, February 2016, 8 pp.
This brief looks at the incidence of high child poverty over the past three decades and at the places where such high child poverty has persisted for all of those decade. It shows that the incidence of high child poverty is growing nationwide and that rural America includes a disproportionate share of children living in poverty. more info >

Later Retirement, Inequality in Old Age, and the Growing Gap in Longevity Between Rich and Poor
Brookings Institute, January 2016, 88 pp.
Explores the gap between lifetime Social Security benefits received by poor and less educated workers and the benefits received by high-income and well educated workers, which is widening in favor of higher income workers. more info >

Mobility and the Metropolis: How Communities Factor Into Economic Mobility
Economic Mobility Project - The Pew Charitable Trusts, December 2013, 23 pp.
Explores how neighborhood economic poverty in childhood impacts the ability of individuals to move up or down the income ladder as adults, and examines with rates of economic segregation in cities are related to their rates of economic mobility. more info >

Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-being
U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration, March 2011, 97 pp.
This report provides a statistical picture of women in America in five critical areas: demographic and family changes, education, employment, health, and crime and violence. more info >

Policies that Strengthen Fatherhood and Family Relationships: What Do We Know, and What Do We Need to Know?
MDRC, April 2010, 45 pp.
Widening gaps in fathers’ involvement in parenting and in the quality and stability of parents’ relationships may reinforce disparities in outcomes for the next generation. This paper reviews evidence about the effectiveness of two strategies to strengthen fathers’ involvement and family relationships. more info >

Web sites

Economic Policy Institute
Focuses on the economic condition of low- and middle-income Americans and their families. Includes issue guides on the following topics: living wage, minimum wage, poverty and family budgets, retirement security, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and welfare. more info >

diversitydatakids.org
Presents measures of child wellbeing and policy analysis for states, counties, large cities, and metropolitan areas. more info >