I wrote last month about how the economy could shift the youth vote more toward a GOP candidate. A report out today by Young Invincibles and Demos, called "The State of Young America," finds that even though young people are still optimistic about their future, they are the first generation to be worse off than their parents in many respects.
While the expansion of health insurance to young adults has been one of the consistently positive stories around the ACA, a new report points out the news isn’t all that good. The rate of full-time workers between 18 and 24 years old with employer-sponsored insurance dropped 12.8 percent over the past decade, while dropping 8.5 percent for workers ages 25 to 34.
The report’s first chapter, Jobs and the Economy, explores how long-term trends and the current tumultuous economic environment has taken a toll on young Americans’ employment prospects, paychecks, and ultimately their earnings for years to come. Unemployment and underemployment rates for young Americans remain dangerously high, and almost 60 percent of employed young people say they would like to work more hours. At the same time, there is also a clear wage pay gap, gender pay gap, and education pay gap.
All sorts of big life decisions are postponed as well, especially within minority groups. Almost half have delayed purchasing a home, a third have delayed moving out on their own or starting a family and a quarter have delayed getting married.
NEW YORK-- Recent repeal of the long-term care provision in the Affordable Care Act, has brought renewed importance to the economic security of many vulnerable Americans, particularly seniors. A new research brief, “Rising Economic Insecurity Among Single Senior Women,” published today by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and the national policy center Demos, sheds light on the dire financial state of single women who are most in need of long-term care supports due to their higher life expectancy.
NEW YORK— On Wednesday, November 2, policy center Demos and youth advocacy organization Young Invincibles will release a new report revealing the profound economic challenges facing America’s young people – and how these challenges threaten the future of the middle class. “The State of Young America” also includes the results of an exclusive national poll of young people on their economic outlook, conducted by Lake Research Partners and Bellweather Research & Consulting.
Washington, DC—Just as the Senate is set to start a debate on the American Jobs Act, the issue of “job quality” is coming to the fore at a national conference entitled “Good Jobs for a Stronger Economy” on Wednesday, October 12.
Washington, DC-Just after President Obama's speech to a joint session of the US Congress on his new plan to stimulate job growth entitled "The American Jobs Act," the national policy center Demos published a point-by-point analysis of the plan. Based on the deep economic troubles facing this nation, including widespread joblessness and stagnant or declining wages, the Demos analysis concludes that the President's plan is a good start, and tells the right story about how to get the economy moving again.
In their new book, "Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for Everyone," Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman argue that the United States needs to worry about not just creating millions more jobs but also ensuring that the jobs are good ones.
Oregon's middle class is fraying, with well-paying jobs in short supply and the cost of raising a family dramatically increasing. That's the assessment of a major report released today by the Oregon Center for Public Policy and Demos, a New York City-based research and advocacy institute.
"The American Dream is vanishing before our eyes," explained Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow and former NY Times columnist Bob Herbert. "Sadly, Oregonians who work hard and play by the rules can no longer expect to provide a decent life for their families."
In the past 15 years the ramifications of poor credit have grown, as credit score "mission creep" has set in, said Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst with the New York-based think tank Demos and author of the recently released report "Discrediting America." Credit scores determine not just the interest rates paid on material goods, such as a cell phone or car, but also the pricing of utilities and insurance. Approximately 60 percent of employers use credit reports to screen job applicants.
Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst at watchdog group Demos, says that credit-based insurance scores hurt lower-income people more because they are more likely to have lower scores. She noted a study that showed while those with lower scores made more claims because they couldn't swallow the costs, the cost of those claims were not necessarily greater.
The public is overwhelmed by budget deficits, shrinking public supports, and the inability of its government to compromise. In this climate, so-called minority issues seem like a distraction. But black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24 are profoundly more likely to be poor than whites, more likely to be unemployed or the victims of violent crime, and less likely to graduate from high school.
In its bombshell of a report “Discrediting America,” the nonpartisan public policy research group Demos sums up the problem for black and Latinos:
Credit reports largely mirror racial and economic divides, with African Americans and Latinos disproportionately likely to have lower scores. In turn, these communities are more likely to be offered high-priced loan products, which may contribute to more defaults, maintaining and amplifying historical injustice.
WASHINGTON DC-- In the wake of an austerity debt ceiling deal that will cost 1.8 million jobs in 2012 and do nothing to address inequality and the decline of the American middle class, today the Rebuild the Dream Campaign – with the support of partner organization Demos – announced a new Contract for the American Dream.
New York, NY-- Recent comments made by President Obama about the threat of budget negotiations stalling crucial social security payments have highlighted the growing pain felt by America's seniors. A new report "From Bad to Worse: Senior Economic Insecurity On the Rise," from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and national policy center Demos, underscores how seniors have too few resources and too little time to plan for a fulfilling retirement.
“If you’re out of work for a long time, you have difficulty paying your bills,” says Amy Traub, coauthor of a June report from the think tank Demos that calls for reform of the credit reporting industry. “If potential employers are looking at credit scores, how on earth are you going to pay your bills then?”
What’s more, the credit bureaus themselves acknowledge there is no proof of a link between a person’s credit report and their suitability as an employee.