EARN in Pennsylvania
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Keystone Research Center
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ·The Keystone Research Center was created to broaden public discussion on strategies to achieve a more prosperous and equitable Pennsylvania economy.
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Pennsylvania Network publications
State of Working Pennsylvania 2019
- August 27, 2019
- Keystone Research Center
- Stephen Herzenberg
In just the past few weeks, leading American business leaders appear to have experienced a sudden and surprising bout of conscience. On Monday, August 19, the Business Roundtable, which represents the largest U.S. corporations, issued a statement signed by 181 CEOs that embraced stakeholder capitalism—the idea that corporations have obligations to employees, the community, and […]
Increasing the Minimum Wage to $15/hour by 2025 Would Raise Wages for Over 2 Million Workers in Pennsylvania. Who Are They?
- May 16, 2019
- Keystone Research Center
- Diana Wolson & Stephen Herzenberg
Wrapped into his 2019 budget proposal, Governor Wolf has proposed to raise the minimum wage in July 2019 to $12/hour, with yearly 50-cent increases until it reaches $15/hour in 2025. After 2025, the minimum wage would be adjusted for inflation. Also included in this plan is to eliminate the separate tipped minimum wage of $2.83/hour—tipped […]
State of Working Philadelphia 2018
- October 25, 2018
- Keystone Research Center
- Mark Price
Each Labor Day the Keystone Research Center releases an annual checkup on the health of the Pennsylvania labor market, “The State of Working Pennsylvania.” (https://www.keystoneresearch.org/SWP2018). The 2018 edition focused on state-level data, mostly available through June 2018. This addendum to that report focuses on 2017 data released last month by the Census Bureau on incomes […]
Democracy in Pennsylvania – 2018
- July 2, 2018
- Keystone Research Center
- Jonathan White, Stephen Herzenberg
Nineteen years ago, in advance of the July 4th celebration of the birth of our nation, Keystone Research Center issued a report on “Democracy in Pennsylvania.” The report put two well-known facts next to one another: the gap between the haves and have-nots and the importance of money in politics. It raised the question: could […]
Who Pays for School Property Tax Elimination? An Analysis of School Property Tax Burdens in Pennsylvania
- April 6, 2017
- Keystone Research Center
- Mark Price
Far from providing relief for working families, recent proposals to eliminate school property taxes in Pennsylvania would increase taxes on the middle class while sabotaging the chance to adequately fund Pennsylvania schools for middle- and low-income families. This report provides the first estimates of the impact of property tax elimination proposals on families in Pennsylvania. […]
Do Immigrants Present an Untapped Opportunity to Revitalize Communities?
- October 19, 2016
- Fiscal Policy Institute
- David Dyssegaard Kallick, and Steve Tobocman
As many cities across the nation experience population decline and an increase in vacant and distressed property, there is a need for economic and housing revitalization. New research from Welcoming Economies Global Network and Fiscal Policy Institute indicates that immigrants represent some of the brightest potential for revitalizing urban communities. However, experience suggests, that immigrants are often overlooked […]
The State of Working Pennsylvania 2016
- September 1, 2016
- Keystone Research Center
- Mark Price and Stephen Herzenberg
This is a divisive time in America. One contributing factor is nearly 40 years of economic stagnation, with some workers, families and communities going backwards economically. Particularly when political leaders fail to offer those hurt by a restructuring economy a realistic promise of better days, anger and despair can spread and undermine the fabric of […]
A Pittsburgh that Works for Working People
- May 26, 2016
- COWS
- Satya Rhodes-Conway, Laura Dresser, Mel Meder, and Mary Ebeling
During the 20th Century, Pittsburgh was known for the steel industry and the broad middle class prosperity that was shared by many residents. Today, Pittsburgh is in the process of rebuilding its economy around new sectors, such as tech start-ups. The city has found some success in this economic transition, and the population has stabilized […]
High Road WIOA: Building Higher Job Quality into Workforce Development
- December 17, 2015
- Keystone Research Center
- Stephen Herzenberg
In response to the federal Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA), most states are now in the latter stages of developing federally required plans and policies for operating their systems of workforce development under WIOA. This process creates an unprecedented opportunity to build into each state’s plan concrete ideas for using state and local workforce […]
The State of Working Pennsylvania 2015
- September 5, 2015
- Keystone Research Center
- Mark Price and Stephen Herzenberg
This year’s The State of Working Pennsylvania finds that this new threat to the state’s economy comes at a time when there is substantial excess capacity in the Pennsylvania labor market. As of July, the share of the working-age population with a job stood at 59.3% — just over two percentage points below the level […]