Today the average college grad leaves school with just over $24,000 in debt, an amount that eats up $276 every month if you stretch the payments out over ten years and it’s a government loan with a 6.8 percent interest rate. Of course, one out of five students also carries more costly private loans, where interest rates are in the double digits and fees add to the balance. This debt-for-diploma system is what counts as opportunity in America today.
NEW YORK— On Wednesday, November 2, policy center Demos and youth advocacy organization Young Invincibles will release a new report revealing the profound economic challenges facing America’s young people – and how these challenges threaten the future of the middle class. “The State of Young America” also includes the results of an exclusive national poll of young people on their economic outlook, conducted by Lake Research Partners and Bellweather Research & Consulting.
Washington, DC—Just as the Senate is set to start a debate on the American Jobs Act, the issue of “job quality” is coming to the fore at a national conference entitled “Good Jobs for a Stronger Economy” on Wednesday, October 12.
NEW YORK—Today, the public policy organization Demos announced the addition of three Senior Fellows whose work spans the areas of consumer protection, domestic family policy and global public health. While working on major research and writing projects, the new fellows will also be regular contributors to Demos' newly launched blog, www.policyshop.net
Boston - As President Obama tours the nation to promote the "American Jobs Act," a new report from the public policy organization Demos, "The State of Massachusetts' Middle Class," details the causes and impact of the growing jobs crisis in the Bay State and across America.
New York - Today, the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and the national policy center Demos released a report revealing that only four percent of Latino seniors and eight percent of African-American seniors have the resources to maintain economic security for the duration of their lives. The report, "The Crisis of Economic Insecurity for African-American and Latino Seniors," underscores how the nation's seniors were experiencing declining economic security even before the Great Recession.
Washington, DC-Just after President Obama's speech to a joint session of the US Congress on his new plan to stimulate job growth entitled "The American Jobs Act," the national policy center Demos published a point-by-point analysis of the plan. Based on the deep economic troubles facing this nation, including widespread joblessness and stagnant or declining wages, the Demos analysis concludes that the President's plan is a good start, and tells the right story about how to get the economy moving again.
And, says Anastasia Christman of the National Employment Law Project, "his focus on putting young people to work is critical for communities of color." The plan contains funding for summer job and youth work programs.
Today, on the morning of President Obama's jobs speech, the national policy center Demos published a new study detailing how the job losses of the Great Recession are intensifying the threat to America's middle class, which was already struggling after decades of economic stagnation, slow wage growth and rising costs.
In their new book, "Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for Everyone," Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman argue that the United States needs to worry about not just creating millions more jobs but also ensuring that the jobs are good ones.
With unemployment above 9 percent, creating more jobs is an urgent priority for the United States. But it is difficult to have a sensible debate on how to spark job growth given the myths and misinformation that surround this issue. Specifically, many political leaders and analysts wrongly point to three culprits in explaining weak job growth: government regulations, the new healthcare law, and taxes. None of these explanations hold up under closer scrutiny.
On Thursday, President Obama will deliver a major speech on America's employment crisis. But too often, what is lost in the call for job creation is a clear idea of what jobs we want to create.
NEW YORK- As Labor Day approaches - and with President Obama's much anticipated jobs plan to be announced shortly - the national policy center Demos is illuminating America's severe jobs crisis with "America Can Work Better" week, which begins with a post from Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow Bob Herbert. Through a package of info-graphics and commentary, "America Can Work Better" will clarify the root causes of America's jobs crisis; analyze chronic unemployment among American youth; dispel myths about "job-killing regulation and taxation;" and offer some real-
Oregon's middle class is fraying, with well-paying jobs in short supply and the cost of raising a family dramatically increasing. That's the assessment of a major report released today by the Oregon Center for Public Policy and Demos, a New York City-based research and advocacy institute.
"The American Dream is vanishing before our eyes," explained Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow and former NY Times columnist Bob Herbert. "Sadly, Oregonians who work hard and play by the rules can no longer expect to provide a decent life for their families."
The biggest domestic policy failure has been the refusal of top officials in the White House and in Congress to recognize the severity of the employment crisis that has settled like a plague over American workers.