EARN in Kentucky

Kentucky Network publications

• Tracking the Economic Recovery from COVID-19 in Kentucky

  • April 3, 2023
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Dustin Pugel

  As more Kentuckians are vaccinated, and as consumer demand remains strong, people are returning to work in greater numbers and Kentucky’s economy is beginning to improve. While the Delta and […]

• The State of Working Kentucky 2022

  • September 1, 2022
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Dustin Pugel

  The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic downturn reshaped Kentucky’s economy in ways that are still revealing themselves thirty months after the virus arrived in the commonwealth. Part of the story […]

  State of Working X

• Expanded Unemployment Benefits are a Crucial Bridge for Kentuckians and Our Economy

  • June 7, 2021
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

  This column ran in the Kentucky New Era and the Northern Kentucky Tribune on June 4, and the Courier-Journal on June 7, 2021. Signed: Advocacy Action Network Ashland Area Labor Council Forward Kentucky Greater Louisville Central […]

• Beyond Kentucky’s low unemployment rate: How workers are really faring this Labor Day?

  • August 30, 2019
  • Anna Baumann

  Op-Ed: “The longest economic recovery on record and a state unemployment rate of 4.3% sounds like a strong foundation for Kentuckians’ prosperity. But a close look at the numbers this […]

  Jobs Minimum Wage State of Working X Wages Worker, Racial, and Gender Justice

• Kentucky’s Changing Labor Force Participation, Explained

  • August 27, 2019
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Dustin Pugel

  With the economy now experiencing the longest recovery on record, there is a temptation among some to overstate the strength of the labor market and even cast blame on workers […]

  State of Working X

• Lopsided Recovery Continues to Leave Out Eastern Part of State

  • August 13, 2019
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Jason Bailey

  A recovering economy since the Great Recession has bypassed much of rural Kentucky and especially the eastern and northeastern regions of the state. Those conditions magnify the harm from current […]

• Average Kentucky Worker’s Paycheck Not Yet Benefitting from Growing Economy

  • July 1, 2019
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Ashley Spalding

  With all of the claims about how great the economy is right now, the data shows that the average Kentuckian’s wages remained flat in 2018, continuing the trend of nearly […]

  Wages

• Manufacturing Job Growth Has Slowed in Kentucky Since Passage of “Right-To-Work”

  • June 27, 2019
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Anna Baumann

  Manufacturing job losses in recent decades have hurt Kentucky communities. Two recessions and trade policies that have encouraged outsourcing and made American goods more expensive relative to other countries’ have […]

  So-Called "Right-to-Work"

• Manufacturing Job Growth Has Slowed in Kentucky Since Passage of “Right-To-Work”

  • June 27, 2019
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Anna Baumann

  Manufacturing job losses in recent decades have hurt Kentucky communities. Despite the claims of proponents of “Right-To-Work” (RTW), which was enacted in Kentucky in 2017, employment data suggests the policy […]

  Jobs Manufacturing So-Called "Right-to-Work"

• Record-Breaking Failure to Raise the Minimum Wage Is Holding Back Kentucky

  • June 20, 2019
  • Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
  • Jason Bailey

  This week marks the longest period in history the federal government has failed to increase the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Because Kentucky […]

  Minimum Wage