The number of Mississippi-based middle-skill jobs—those that require some training or education beyond high school but not a four-year degree—has grown in recent years and continues to grow. These skilled positions offer better benefits and pay opportunities for Mississippi workers in a state where 44 percent of working families earn incomes of less than $47,100 per year for a family of four. For these families, affording even basic necessities can be a struggle, particularly for households of color and female-led households who typically earn even less.
Increasing the workforce competitiveness of Mississippi’s working poor and placing them on pathways to middle-skill employment can change families’ economic situations for the better. Yet for many, these jobs, salaries, and benefits remain out of reach due to lack of basic education and technical skills necessary to be competitive job applicants and meet employer training requirements.
Workforce development programs, like Mississippi Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (MI-BEST), can bridge the gap. Skills training programs, like MI-BEST, provide opportunity to the working poor and serve as a bridge between potential employees and employers, providing adults with the skills and experience necessary to secure the best potential outcomes for their careers and futures.
As labor markets continue to rebound from the recession, the need for workforce training will grow as the need for middle-skill workers grows. However, matching the demand for workforce training to fill the middle-skills gap will require investments in programs like MI-BEST. Implementing and braiding funding sources to sustain workforce training will help increase quality employment opportunities for the working poor and build a strong Mississippi economy.
In its present state, the New Hampshire economy offers a number of encouraging signs. Both employment – the total number of people working in the Granite State – and economic output – the value of the goods and services those individuals produce – have been on the rise over the past several years. At the same time, the quality of New Hampshire’s workforce remains high, as its level of educational attainment continues to exceed that in most states, while the extent of severe economic hardship, as expressed by the state’s poverty rate, is still lower here than anywhere else.
Yet, the state of working New Hampshire – the circumstances faced by many individual workers and their families – is somewhat less favorable. As this Issue Brief details, New Hampshire’s workforce is aging in character and all but stagnating in size. Moreover, recent years have seen a continuation of a longer-term shift in the types of jobs available in the Granite State, with service sector employment – and the comparatively lower wages associated with it – becoming more prominent. Further, the income for the typical New Hampshire household, as well as hourly wages for much of the Granite State workforce, have yet to recover ground lost since the Great Recession. In fact, the median hourly wage in New Hampshire has dropped more sharply than nearly anywhere else over the last eight years.
There are finally more jobs in Virginia than before the recession started eight years ago. Today, workers in high-wage occupations, certain industries such as education and health services, and several of Virginia’s larger communities are better off than before the recession. In many communities, occupations, and industries, though, people still struggle. Growth in low- and middle-wage occupations hasn’t materialized. Virginia’s goods-producing industries never recovered. And many of Virginia’s communities are only a little better off today than during the last recession.
What does it take to get by these days? This latest edition of The Cost of Living in Iowa answers this question. The report details how much working families must earn in order to meet their basic needs and underscores the importance of public work support programs for many Iowans, who despite their work efforts, are not able to pay for the most basic living expenses.
The basic-needs budgets constructed for this report represent a very frugal living standard; using costs as of 2015 (with the exception of health insurance), the budgets are based on what is needed to “survive” rather than “thrive.” This includes allowances for rent, utilities, food prepared at home, child care, health care, transportation, clothing and other household necessities. The basic budget does not include savings, loan payments, education expenses, any entertainment or vacation, social or recreational travel, or meals outside the home.