Op-Ed: The Problem is Bad Jobs, Not Bad Workers

A full 30 percent of Kentuckians are working jobs that pay less than $12.50 an hour; fewer than half working in the private sector have an employer-sponsored retirement plan and just 44 percent have employer-sponsored health insurance. In economically distressed regions, even bad jobs are scarce.

Yet we often hear that the problem facing Kentucky is a lack of good workers. This “skills gap” explanation of Kentucky’s economic situation is not supported by the evidence, but you don’t have to take my word for it. When someone says Kentucky employers can’t fill jobs with good workers, ask “at what wage?”

Seattle taxes ranked most unfair in Washington — a state among the harshest on the poor nationwide

A new report finds that even in Washington — a state whose tax system has been called the nation’s most unfair to the poor — Seattle manages to stand out from the pack.

The report, published this week by the Seattle-based Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI), a liberal think tank, evaluated the tax burdens for households at various income levels in 15 Washington cities. Among those cities, the report found Seattle’s taxes to be the most regressive — in other words, hard on the poor and easy on the rich.

Washington State Legislature Passes Equal Pay Opportunity Act

On Wednesday, the Washington Legislature officially passed the Equal Pay Opportunity Act (HB 1506), the first update to the state’s equal pay law since 1943. This historic measure requires any gender disparity in pay to be backed up with legitimate job-related factors-such as education, training, or experience-instead of unfair assumptions and practices.

Jobs Myth at Root of Policies Harming the Unemployed

Op-Ed from KCEP Executive Director Jason Bailey identifies the myth underlying a number of policies moving through the 2018 Kentucky General Assembly and the new Medicaid work requirements: that good-quality jobs are available for those who want them.