Public Assets Institute

The Public Assets Institute believes that a fundamental purpose of government is to help improve the wellbeing of all citizens, especially the most vulnerable. PAI conducts research, performs fiscal analysis, and develops policies that mobilize the power and financial resources of government to advance the public good. We provide journalists, advocates, government officials, and ordinary citizens with sound, timely, and understandable analyses of state budgets and taxes, and of the fiscal implications of public policy options. PAI promotes wide democratic discussion of these issues so that public policy will serve the needs and hopes of all Vermonters. PAI is independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit.

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Publications

State of Working Vermont 2021
- December 31, 2021
- Public Assets Institute
In 2020 and 2021 the COVID-19 pandemic changed work. Parents and caregivers, mothers especially, racked up hours of unpaid labor caring for kids and overseeing schoolwork while holding down jobs. […]

State of Working X
State of Working Vermont 2020
- April 16, 2021
- Public Assets Institute
In March 2020, almost overnight, businesses shut, schools closed, and jobs disappeared as we hunkered down to slow the spread of the hyper-contagious, deadly coronavirus. After a gradual reopening, infections […]
The State of Working Vermont 2019
- December 20, 2019
- Public Assets Institute
- Public Assets Institute staff
An economist looking at Vermont statistics can see that the state is benefiting from the U.S. economic expansion, which became the longest on record last summer: There are more jobs, […]
State of Working Vermont 2018
- December 19, 2018
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
Ten years after the start of the Great Recession and more than eight years after it officially ended, there are signs of recovery in Vermont. The economy has continued to […]
State of Working Vermont 2017
- December 19, 2017
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
How are Vermont’s workers and their families doing? Economic growth is tepid, but even the modest gains are not making it to most Vermonters’ paychecks. While the share of families […]
Vermont’s labor force hits a 15-year low
- August 18, 2017
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
In July Vermont’s labor force dropped to its lowest level in 15 years. The labor force comprises people who are employed, including self-employed, and those who are unemployed but actively […]
Vermont’s economy: Nothing to write home about
- July 21, 2017
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
Most Vermont counties are below average—at least when it comes to wages. The latest annual figures for 2016 show that only three counties had annual wages higher than the state […]
The workforce shrank. The gender divide persisted
- June 16, 2017
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
After trending up for 14 months, the labor force—people working or actively seeking work—decreased slightly in April and more in May. The losses came from the ranks of the employed, […]
Finally, a pay raise
- April 21, 2017
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
In 2016, Vermont’s lowest-paid workers saw the biggest wage gains of any group: 4 percent. When unemployment is low, workers are in short supply, so wages should increase. But Vermont’s […]
Unemployment nears its lowest in four decades
- March 24, 2017
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
On average, 3.3 percent of Vermont’s labor force was officially unemployed in 2016. The average annual rate has dropped below this level only three times in the last 40 years: […]
State of Working Vermont 2016
- December 1, 2016
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
Pundits and historians will wrestle with the meaning of the 2016 elections for years. But from Bernie Sanders supporters on the left to Donald Trump backers on the right, voters […]
Workers’ lot improves but the gender gap endures
- June 17, 2016
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
In May the Vermont labor force increased for the fifth straight month, the best stretch of growth in seven years. The labor force, which includes people working and those actively […]
2015 wasn’t as good as it looked
- March 14, 2016
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
Revised figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show fewer Vermonters were employed in 2015 than originally reported. Each March, the BLS reviews and revises data previously released. […]
State of Working Vermont 2015
- December 1, 2015
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
Vermont’s economy began to grow again after the recession, but has since cooled off. Even before the recession, real economic growth was slow. And figures released in December 2015 show […]
State of Working Vermont 2014
- December 1, 2014
- Public Assets Institute
- Staff Report
Vermont’s economy has begun to recover, following the official end of the Great Recession in June 2009. Worker productivity is up. The state’s economy, as measured by the gross state […]