The Pew Charitable Trusts - State and Consumer Initiatives about Economy

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Incentives for companies in Georgia sometimes don’t deliver promised jobs

Hungry for jobs, Georgia has spent hundreds of millions of public dollars in the last decade on grants to recruit and retain businesses.

Delay in Implementing Sequester Forces Deeper Unemployment Cuts

Unemployment benefits were already on the chopping block thanks to sequestration. But in three-dozen states, the pain for the long-term unemployed is even greater because states have been slow to enact the across-the-board federal cuts.

Jackson Free Press: Lawmakers Must Decide on Raft of Tax-cut Bills

How much is too much? When it comes to tax cuts, that's the question that lawmakers and Gov. Phil Bryant must decide in coming weeks.

NFL Plays Offense to Get Public Money for Stadiums

Why are so many teams asking taxpayers to build new pro football stadiums this year?

States Rack Up Victories in Bids to Collect Online Sales Taxes

After more than a decade of trying, state officials think they may get to collect billions of dollars of taxes on online sales soon. Find out why.

Washington Post: Sequester Means 11 Percent Cut in Unemployment Benefits

The fiscal battle in Washington that led to $85 billion in spending cuts across the federal government has not spared unemployment benefits for almost two million out-of-work Americans, who are being hit by an 11 percent reduction in payments this fiscal year.

The Atlantic: How Bad Is the Job Market For College Grads? Your Definitive Guide

Young bachelor's holders are hurting. But they're still doing better than high-school grads, and their crisis has been vastly overstated.

Should States Get Out of the Booze Business?

Pennsylvania is as close as it has ever come to privatizing liquor sales following a House vote in March. Tricky questions await the Senate as it considers whether to modernize or dismantle the state’s multifarious system.

Pew Explores Damaging Effects of Unemployment & Unexpected Wealth Losses on Mobility and Economic Security

A new study from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Hard Choices: Navigating the Economic Shock of Unemployment, examines how American families cope with unexpected financial setbacks and how those periods of economic uncertainty draw down financial resources. The report studies families across race and income levels, revealing different experiences resulting from unemployment and the difficult choices many of them face.

Hard Choices: Navigating the Economic Shock of Unemployment

This report examines how American families cope with unexpected financial setbacks, with a focus on how periods of unemployment affect family economic security and mobility.

Marketplace.org: Recovery From Job Loss: Easier for Whites Than Blacks

A new study out today by the Pew Economic Mobility Project looks at the role race and assets have in people’s ability to weather the economic hardships of sudden unemployment.

Infographic: Risky Refunds

What are the risks when consumers receive their tax refund on a prepaid card? The use of general purpose reloadable prepaid cards has grown 600 percent since 2010, and Americans are expected to load over $200 billion on them this year, according to the Mercator Advisory Group.

Sequester Cuts at Justice Department Threaten Local Drug Investigations

The partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C. threatens to curb drug investigations in rural communities.

Which States Tax Your Travel the Most?

Your vacation dollar won’t go as far in some destinations because of state and local travel taxes.

Next Wave of State Minimum Wage Proposals Would ‘Index’ To Inflation

Nineteen states and D.C. already offer an hourly wage higher than the current federal $7.25 rate, and that could go even higher as several states weigh increases.

The Sequester and the Department of Defense

Of all the states, Virginia stands among the most vulnerable to the $43 billion in defense cutbacks that will make up a significant portion of the anticipated cuts known as sequestration, according to a Stateline analysis.

Automatic Defense Cuts Will Deal Blow to States

A Stateline analysis shows automatic defense spending reductions will hit defense contractors hard. This sector comprises as much as 8 percent of some state economies.

States in Recovery: Manufacturing

After decades of decline, American manufacturing is on the upswing: advanced technology is a reason why.

Income and Wealth in America Across Generations

This interactive data tool takes a closer look at absolute mobility, making it possible to determine which Americans are more likely to surpass or fall short of their parents' income and wealth, and for the first time, by how much.

States in Recovery: Housing

The housing crisis that threw states into economic free fall is helping them climb back out.

States with Heavy Military Presence Hurt Hardest

The White House published a 50-state list of potential impacts from the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. States that rely heavily on military spending would be hurt worst.

Pew Experts Respond to President's State of the Union Address

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama raised two issues that are relevant to the work of The Pew Charitable Trusts: economic mobility and elections.

Economic Mobility: Reaction to the State of the Union & GOP Response

Economic mobility is a unifying and bipartisan idea discussed by both President Obama in his State of the Union address and Senator Marco Rubio in the GOP response. Erin Currier discusses drivers, such as education, savings, and neighborhood poverty, that impact people's ability to achieve the American Dream.

In State of the Union Speech, Obama Targets Jobs, Energy

With much of his focus on jobs and the economy, the president called for policies aiming to spur a “rising, thriving middle class” and quicken the country’s slow climb from recession. But in the wide-ranging speech, he left plenty more for states to chew on — particularly in energy and environmental issues.

States Hope for Rebound in Construction

Construction jobs are slowing coming back to the states hit hardest by the recession and that includes states you might not think of, like Idaho.

How Much Protection Does a College Degree Afford?

This report provides an in-depth look at young college graduates’ employment opportunities as compared to less-educated groups.

‘Cliff’ Deal Answers a Few Questions for States

Congress averted the much-feared “fiscal cliff” late Tuesday, passing a legislative package to be signed promptly by President Obama. The deal answered a few burning questions for state governments, but many still linger.

Economic Development Agencies Face New Scrutiny

When Wisconsin partially privatized its Department of Commerce last year, the hope was to create a less bureaucratic job creation organization. Since then, though, the new entity has faced a series of setbacks.

State Tax Incentives for Economic Development

This collection of research highlights steps that states can take to create fiscally sound state tax incentives and to determine whether existing incentives are generating solid economic returns.

Avoiding Blank Checks

Two up-front steps can help states create fiscally sound tax incentives. When policy makers omit these steps, they leave their states vulnerable to unexpected budget challenges.

Texas Cancer Agency Fights Controversy

The state’s $3 billion effort to attack cancer is under fire for the way some awards have been made.

Oklahoma Among States Limiting Property Taxes

Lowering property taxes is always popular, and results from the November 6 elections show this year was no exemption

The Impact of the Fiscal Cliff on the States

The state impact of the fiscal cliff’s expiring federal tax provisions and scheduled spending cuts is missing from the national discussion. This study finds that the effects on the states vary greatly based on the extent to which states are tied to the federal tax code and federal spending.

Activists Aim to Bolster Rhode Island’s Homeless Bill of Rights

After passing the nation’s first Homeless Bill of Rights this year, Rhode Island activists are looking to defend its provisions and expand their campaign to other parts of the country.

Voters Approve More State Debt

Voters in New Jersey and Alabama heed their governors’ call and approve bond issues as a way to boost their states’ economies.

Elections 2012 Infographics

This collection of infographics covers the issues of the 2012 elections and the potential impact on states. The issues featured include the economy, health care, taxes, clean energy, voter ID, economic mobility and employment.

Bond Measures Put Some Governors’ Clout on Line

Some governors are urging voters to approve bond issues as way to boost their states’ economies.

Montana’s Oil Boom Reshapes Race for Governor

BILLINGS, Montana — Montana’s next governor must capitalize on the current oil boom, build infrastructure to keep it going and develop industries that will make Montana less susceptible to market highs and lows.

States Struggle With Unemployment Funds Still in the Red

More than $26 billion in lingering debt and billions in mounting interest have forced a number of states to scale back unemployment benefits, raise taxes, tap general funds and even turn to the private bond market.

Provo Stars in Utah’s Economic Recovery

Utah’s recovery has been driven by construction projects and high-tech start-ups with Provo, Forbes’ top pick for business and career opportunities, a driving force.

Sequestration: How a Spending Stalemate Would Affect the States

There is still time for Congress to avoid the “fiscal cliff” that would force billions of dollars in spending cuts and tax increases at the start of next year. But whatever happens, the states run the risk of being big losers.

Redevelopment in California: The Program That Disappeared

One of the oldest urban redevelopment programs in the country went out of existence this year. Cities in California have yet to recover from the blow.

GOP Targets State Construction Labor Projects

Nearly a dozen Republican governors have already made good on a promise that the GOP laid out as a national priority in Tampa last month: to end a policy that businesses say gives labor unions an unfair advantage when bidding on state construction projects.

When Baby Boomers Delay Retirement, Do Younger Workers Suffer?

The notion that younger and older workers are engaged in a zero-sum game for a fixed number of jobs is called the “lump-of-labor” theory. This issue brief explores whether this theory has held true, and presents a series of key findings.

Welfare Waiver Proposal Hits Potential Roadblock

It took less than a month for the Obama administration’s move in July to grant states more flexibility in handling their welfare programs to shift from low-profile policy proposal to hot-button political issue that quickly permeated the presidential race.

Supporting the American Dream through Economic Mobility

As both Republicans and Democrats plan their conventions and their policy platforms, the strength of the American Dream is of even greater concern than usual. Pew’s work on economic mobility is of particular relevance to these discussions.

One of Five Americans Struggling To Afford Food, Survey Finds

Despite record food stamp enrollment around the country and an economy considered to be on a modest upswing, the Great Recession is continuing to take its toll on many Americans, a Gallup survey found.

Losing Your Home to a Small Tax Debt?

When a little old lady is thrown out of her home two weeks before Christmas because she didn’t pay a $496 sewage bill, people take notice.

Continuing U.S. Trend, North Carolina Helps Military Spouses With Licensing

Governor Bev Perdue signed into law Tuesday (July 24) legislation aimed at helping military spouses land jobs after they arrive at North Carolina military bases, continuing a trend in statehouses to reduce barriers of entry into the workforce for military spouses across the U.S. Under the law, military spouses tr

Nine Subsidyscope Charts for Nine Economic Sectors

There are stark differences in how the government directs resources across different sectors of the economy, according to charts released by Pew’s Subsidyscope project.