There are about 44,000 Idahoans currently receiving WIC benefits.
Starting July 1, more low-income parents with young children will be eligible for food assistance.
The supplemental nutrition program Women, Infants and Children, or WIC provides certain foods to pregnant or breastfeeding moms and families with children under age five.
Tom Shanahan with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says the eligibility change is a cost-of-living adjustment, and it’s unclear how many more people in the state will be able to sign up for WIC. Continue Reading →
This week, workers lined up at a job fair in New York.
Here’s one lesson of the economic downturn: unemployment disadvantages different age groups in different ways.
Yesterday, we revisited the problem of high teen unemployment, which is particularly severe here in Idaho. Labor economists predict the resulting lack of work experience among young people — especially those who can’t afford college or choose not to pursue post-secondary education — could negatively affect earnings years down the road. Continue Reading →
Idaho’s teen unemployment rate was nearly 30 percent in 2011, BLS calculations showed. Andrew Sum of Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies stresses that Idaho, more than many states, has watched its teen labor force decline in recent years. Continue Reading →
Idaho Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal advocated for a state-run health insurance exchange at the AP Legislative Preview in January.
Mitt Romney laid out his health care plan this morning, as the Supreme Court nears a decision on the constitutionality of the federal health care law. It’s the first time Romney has discussed the specifics of his proposals since a speech in Michigan last year, the Los Angeles Times says.
“Romney said he wants to make the nationâs health-care system more like a consumer market, likening it to the tire, automobile and air-filter markets that he said keep costs down and quality up. To do so, he said, he would allow individuals and small businesses to buy insurance coverage with the same tax advantage that larger businesses enjoy and to purchase insurance across state lines or join organizations to give them bargaining power with insurers.” — The Washington Post Continue Reading →
Click on the image above to see a larger version of the graph.
The Federal Reserve dropped a sobering statistic on the American public today: 40 percent. That’s the proportion of median net worth families lost from 2007 to 2010. The Wall Street Journalpulls no punches in describing the number’s significance:
“The data released Monday are the real, step-back deal. In 2010, the median net worth of families stood at $77,300, down from $126,400 in 2007. A lot of that big drop is because of the sharp decline in home values across much of the nation.” — The Wall Street Journal
We’ve detailed the decline in Idaho’s median family income and compared it to the national numbers in an earlier post.
Planet Money headlines their piece on the Fed data “A Lost Decade for American Families.” For their short and sweet visualization of the drop in net worth, click here.
Families have lost ground in terms of wealth and income, according to data the Federal Reserve released today
At a time when economic news appears to come in two forms, “grim” and “grimmer,” this opening line from an article in today’s New York Times is especially bleak. Binyamin Appelbaum writes:
“The recent financial crisis left the median American family in 2010 with no more wealth than they had in the early 1990s, erasing almost two decades of accumulated prosperity, the Federal Reserve said Monday.” — The New York Times
The pull of the great outdoors generates billions for the economy, according to a recent report.
Americans spent far more on outdoor recreation last year than they did on pharmaceuticals. That’s one finding of a report released this weekend that highlights the economic impact of outdoor recreation nationally and in the West.
U.S. spending on outdoor recreation exceeded $645 billion last year, the report says. By comparison, spending on pharmaceuticals totaled $331 billion, and spending on motor vehicles and parts totaled $340 billion.
Of that $645 billion total, 40 percent of the spending — more than $255 billion — was in Western states. It generated more than $15 billion in state and local tax revenue for the region, the report says, and 2.3 million jobs. Continue Reading →
Last fall, this Nampa neighborhood was dotted with foreclosures.
Most of the $13.5 million Idaho received as part of the multibillion-dollar mortgage settlement reached earlier this year has gone into the state’s general fund, as StateImpactrecently reported. Now, the state Division of Financial Management’s May report shows that the $13 million directed into the general fund last month helped to offset weaker-than-expected individual income tax collections.
Reports including this one from ProPublica and this one from affordable housing group Enterprise Community Partners have pointed out that many states are putting the settlement funds not toward housing programs but toward budget gaps. Continue Reading →
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