Each year, Demos recognizes leaders who are transforming America. From #BlackLivesMatter to Amy Poehler to Rashad Robinson, we have honored the people, organizations, and movements that are challenging our country to live up to the true meaning of democracy: a place where all Americans have an equal say and an equal chance.
In this election season, reining in Wall Street is clearly a burning issue for many voters. The passion for Wall Street reform is closely wrapped up with working class anger and anxiety driven by wage stagnation and economic insecurity, all within a climate of accelerating wealth and income inequality.
How much should I save for retirement? How much should I increase my contributions when I get a raise? Should I save in my firm’s 401(k) or a personal IRA? Which investments should I choose?
For many of us, making the right choices when navigating the bewildering world of investing for retirement can seem nearly impossible. We know that correctly answering these and other questions that arise when investing for retirement are the keys to a comfortable living during our golden years, yet it often feels as if we’d need a finance degree to do so.
Politicians refer to American exceptionalism as a way of pointing out how special is our country. I recently returned to work following three months of paid leave to take care of a very exceptional newborn boy. Having the opportunity to bond with my child is an exceptional experience in the American labor force.
This exceptionalism Americans shouldn't be proud of.
Under New York’s proposed paid family leave law, businesses won’t pay anything for the new family leave benefit. The program would be funded entirely by a small payroll deduction from each worker in the state. An insurance provider will pay the benefits out to workers.
It’s certainly not the most progressive way to fund a new public benefit, but one thing it’s not is a burden on businesses.
Paid family leave is finally gaining steam in the United States. President Obama and the Democratic presidential candidates universally embrace the idea. And while a conservative Congress may stymie federal action for years, states from New York to Colorado to Oregon are moving toward implementing their own family leave insurance systems, building on the success of policies already in place in California, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Amy Traub, senior policy analyst at Demos, a public policy organization, told the Public News Service that the vast majority of people who work in New York would benefit from paid family leave.
Today more than a hundred New Yorkers from a host of organizations will descend on Albany, calling on their elected officials to finally guarantee paid family leave to working people statewide. They’ll argue that for too many New Yorkers, bonding with a new baby or tending to a loved one who is seriously ill is impossible without missing a much-needed paycheck. And the numbers back them up.
Seven years ago today, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became the first piece of legislation that newly-inaugurated President Obama signed into law. The law restored protections against pay discrimination that had been restricted by a recent Supreme Court decision, making it easier for working people to hold their employers accountable for discriminatory compensation.
But as Demos senior policy analyst Amy Traubpoints out in a blog post on Friday, "[b]eing paid less for doing the same job is just one aspect of the pay gap."
America’s growing inequality is well-documented. Less discussed is its intersection with another of the country’s defining trends, growing diversity.
Racial disparities in wealth are vast. And addressing inequality now and in the years ahead, means thinking seriously about the racial wealth gap and the steps we can take to ameliorate it.
Amy Traub, senior policy analyst at Demos, a New York-based nonpartisan public policy research organization, told Bloomberg BNA Jan. 20: ‘‘It’s really striking the way the growing protests we’ve seen by Wal-Mart workers, and increasing public pressure, has really pushed the world’s largest employer to raise wages and improve [work] schedules. It’s a huge victory for Wal-Mart workers [and] will ultimately benefit the company itself as employees have increased buying power.’’
Friedrichs v. CTA, is ostensibly about one teacher’s right to not join her teachers union, but that choice is already available to any worker everywhere in America. This case is really just another attack on workers’ ability to join together and make their voices heard.
Robert Hiltonsmith, a researcher at the think tank Demos, has estimated that the average household loses $155,000 in potential gains as a result of unnecessary fees.
Last month, President Obama inaugurated yet another way to encourage Americans to save for retirement. In the new myRA accounts, workers can save up to $15,000 in a low-fee investment plan that, like a government savings bond, guarantees the principal. The accounts are a small step toward helping households save, but they are not an effective solution to the coming retirement crisis.
Starting in 2020, the numbers of very low-income elderly will rise sharply as the retired population soars to almost 56 million.
Now that’s a holiday gift! On Tuesday, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that approximately 20,000 employees of New York City would be guaranteed paid parental leave—giving mothers and fathers critical time off to bond with a new baby, adoptee, or foster child without giving up a paycheck.
Unfortunately, more and more retirees are falling into debt at the exact point in their lives when they should be free from financial worries. Whereas older people paid off their mortgages in generations past, now nearly half of all senior citizens still owe a house note.
But for many, even landing a job was not enough to make ends meet: of those 5 million job openings, nearly half paid less than $15 per hour, leaving only 2.7 million that paid $15 or more per hour. And for workers able to secure only part-time employment, wages were even more inadequate: in 2014, more than one in five part-time workers wanted full-time employment but were unable to find it.
The core finding: there are not enough living wage jobs to go around. And women and people of color are especially impacted by low wages and part-time work.