It’s not every day that low-paid workers — cleaners mopping the floors of Washington’s Union Station, vendors selling pretzels at the National Zoo, servers dishing out hot lunch at congressional cafeterias — speak out and win a voice in setting national policy. Yet three years ago, that’s exactly what began to happen.
In May 2013, workers employed by private companies under contract with the federal government came together to form Good Jobs Nation – and walked out on strike in the nation’s capital.
Today, the working class are most likely to work as caregivers, retail workers, cashiers, fast food workers, and janitors. How are the working class movements such as “Fight for $15” minimum wage shifting the political and economic landscape? Join the conversation, on the next Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.
Some 63 percent of white students who graduate from public four-year colleges and universities borrow to do so, but 81 percent of black graduates go that route, according to a study of student debt by Demos, a public policy research organization. When it comes to associate's degrees, 57 percent of black students borrow, versus 43 percent of whites — and the black students borrow an average of $2,000 more.
Each year, Demos recognizes leaders who are transforming America. From #BlackLivesMatter to Amy Poehler to Rashad Robinson, we have honored the people, organizations, and movements that are challenging our country to live up to the true meaning of democracy: a place where all Americans have an equal say and an equal chance.
Increased rates of delinquency, particularly among poor and minority citizens, also expose borrowers to job market discrimination. Some employers use credit checks as part of their hiring process, a practice that many argue is unduly burdensome and prevents Americans from getting the jobs they need to effectively pay off their student loans.
In this election season, reining in Wall Street is clearly a burning issue for many voters. The passion for Wall Street reform is closely wrapped up with working class anger and anxiety driven by wage stagnation and economic insecurity, all within a climate of accelerating wealth and income inequality.
Washington College’s initiative could encourage students to finish school, said Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a left-leaning think tank. “It’s certainly a good thing,” Heulsman said. “It can provide an incentive for students to complete and we know that the student debt crisis is fueled in large part by those who take on debt but don’t graduate.”
How much should I save for retirement? How much should I increase my contributions when I get a raise? Should I save in my firm’s 401(k) or a personal IRA? Which investments should I choose?
For many of us, making the right choices when navigating the bewildering world of investing for retirement can seem nearly impossible. We know that correctly answering these and other questions that arise when investing for retirement are the keys to a comfortable living during our golden years, yet it often feels as if we’d need a finance degree to do so.
There’s some data to indicate that borrowers of color are more likely to find themselves dealing with a debt collector over unpaid student loans. Black students are more likely to borrow to attend college than their white counterparts and, when they do, they’re more likely to take on more debt, according to a study released last year by Demos, a left-leaning think tank.
Politicians refer to American exceptionalism as a way of pointing out how special is our country. I recently returned to work following three months of paid leave to take care of a very exceptional newborn boy. Having the opportunity to bond with my child is an exceptional experience in the American labor force.
This exceptionalism Americans shouldn't be proud of.
The bright lights of network television and Coca-Cola sponsorships of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament tend to obscure the fact that the teams playing represent, you know, actual institutions of higher learning. Here's how affordable it is to attend the top 16 in the tournament.
That might prompt U.S. colleges to look to other countries for recruitment. Tuition from non-U.S. students can be as high as three times the rate paid by students attending their state colleges, according to The Journal. American families are increasingly struggling to pay college costs that have risen far faster than the rate of inflation. Cuts in state support for higher education are largely to blame for the tuition spikes at public universities in recent years, according to a report last year from the left-leaning think tank Demos.
Under New York’s proposed paid family leave law, businesses won’t pay anything for the new family leave benefit. The program would be funded entirely by a small payroll deduction from each worker in the state. An insurance provider will pay the benefits out to workers.
It’s certainly not the most progressive way to fund a new public benefit, but one thing it’s not is a burden on businesses.
Further, African American students take out more loans — and more often — to finance their undergraduate education than any other ethnic group. A report by the public policy organization Demos found that 80 percent of black students take on debt, compared with 63 percent of white and Latino students. African American students also accrue more debt, at an average of $28,692, which is nearly $4,000 more than the average for all students. High dropout rates for African American students — 39 percent — exacerbate the problem, the report suggests.
That might prompt U.S. colleges to look to other countries for recruitment. Tuition from non-U.S. students can be as high as three times the rate paid by students attending their state colleges, according to The Journal. American families are increasingly struggling to pay college costs that have risen far faster than the rate of inflation.
Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst focusing on higher education at the nonpartisan think tank Demos, is also critical of the Department of Education: “The problem that we’ve seen over the past year and a half is that the effort to ensure that Corinthian’s fall wasn’t a total catastrophe is not being met by the effort to make sure that the students who were defrauded — and we know now that they were defrauded — have a very easy, simple, expedited process for debt relief.” Forprofit colleges, he notes, make most of their money from the federal government either through student loans or
Paid family leave is finally gaining steam in the United States. President Obama and the Democratic presidential candidates universally embrace the idea. And while a conservative Congress may stymie federal action for years, states from New York to Colorado to Oregon are moving toward implementing their own family leave insurance systems, building on the success of policies already in place in California, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
European countries also differ substantively from the US in terms of the percentage of college attendees that their debt free models serve.
"Germany has a lower percentage of students go on to college than we have here in the US," Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at think tank Demos, told ATTN.