Cooke says Idaho has seen growth in low-wage call center jobs, and losses in high-paying electronics manufacturing positions.
A new Pew Research Center report on public perception of the growing gap between America’s rich and poor has been widely discussed in the last week. Retired University of Idaho economist Stephen Cooke focuses on a different kind of wage gap. Idaho jobs pay considerably less than the U.S. average — nearly $11,000 less in 2009. In a recent study, Cooke and co-author Bharathkumar Kulandaismy began with a simple question: why?
It’s a complicated question to answer, but Cooke and Kulandaismy’s study comes to straightforward conclusions. “We have above average growth in low-wage jobs, and we are losing high-wage jobs,” Cooke said. “And the high-wage jobs that we do have pay less than high-wage jobs elsewhere.” All of that adds up to bad news for the state. “It’s possible to get stuck in a low-skill, low-wage trap,” Cooke said. “I think Idaho is in that trap, and once you get on the low-wage road, it’s hard to get on the high-wage road.” Continue Reading →
A lot of news came out of the Idaho Capitol this week. In case you missed anything, we bundled our five most viewed stories in one nifty package.
Albedo20 / Flickr
Inside the Idaho Capitol rotunda, which is where we'll be a lot over the next four months.
Idaho’s Former Chief Economist Critical of Gov’s Budget Proposal: For 26 years Mike Ferguson was Idaho’s chief economist. He helped craft a lot of state budgets before leaving the job in 2010. He says everyone is in agreement Idaho is in need of economic development, “the problem with using the tax structure to try to promote economic development is it’s a very scattershot kind of approach.”
Gov. Otter’s Salary Increased 4 Percent from Last Year: The governor’s salary is up 4 percent, but he’s still earning less than 261 state employee. We have the salary data you can scan through. Any guesses on the highest paid state employee? Here’s a hint, he’s earning $1.17 million.
Click the map above to view RealtyTrac's county-by-county December foreclosure data.
Real estate data provider RealtyTrac has released its year-end report, and the news is mixed. The numbers show Idaho’s foreclosure rate dropped to tenth in the nation, an improvement from last year’s eighth place ranking. The total number of housing units with at least one foreclosure filing over the course of 2011 was 11,482, a nearly 40 percent reduction from last year. Nationally, the number of foreclosure filings decreased by 34 percent from 2010 to 2011.
RealtyTrac’s analysts caution that what looks like improvement may not be. They say the ongoing legal issues stemming from the robo-signing scandal have slowed down the foreclosure process, and they predict greater foreclosure activity this year than last.
Nationwide, December’s foreclosure activity was the lowest in four years. One out of every 796 housing units in Idaho received a foreclosure filing last month, according to RealtyTrac’s count.
This foreclosed home in the Boise suburbs was put up for sale in September.
Boise’s housing market gains a bit of unwelcome and retroactive notoriety, thanks to a New York Timesarticle published this week. Using newly released Fed transcripts, the article details Federal Reserve officials’ apparent lack of concern about the housing bubble and its potential effects on the broader economy, even as the housing market showed signs of weakness.
As an example, the piece gives this account of former Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen relaying information from her region:
One builder she spoke with, she said, “toured some new subdivisions on the outskirts of Boise and discovered that the houses, most of which are unoccupied, are now being dressed up to look occupied — with curtains, things in the driveway, and so forth — so as not to discourage potential buyers.” — The New York Times
Rep. John Rusche (D-Lewiston) wants to see Idaho establish its own health insurance exchange.
Under the federal health care law, states are charged with deciding whether to establish their own health insurance exchanges. Those exchanges are often described as transparent marketplaces where people will be able to purchase health insurance. States including Utah and Nevada have already established their own exchanges. In Idaho, lawmakers will come to a verdict this session. As they prepare for the debate, advocates of a state-based exchange say local jobs are at stake.
Telling a story with numbers seems like a straightforward endeavor. That is, until numbers don’t match or add up. I’ve been working with the state controller’s office to find out how many Idaho state employees have lost their jobs in the last five years. (The story and the numbers are right here.) But while I was in the process of gathering the numbers and asking questions, articles from The Times-News and The Spokesman Review’sEye on Boise Blog were telling a similar story, but with a different set of numbers.
Gov. Otter delivered his State of the State speech at the Capitol on Jan. 9, 2012
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter said Idaho will not and has not faced “staggering” state employee layoffs like many other states have during his annual State of the State address delivered Monday. But what does “staggering” mean? Idaho has laid-off 928 people over the last five years. The state’s total workforce has averaged about 24,700 employees during that same time.
The Associated Pressreports state and local governments across the country have cut hundreds of thousands of jobs since the recession began. Some of those cuts mean layoffs. Some cuts mean governments aren’t filling positions that were opened by retirees or people taking new jobs.
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s salary is up 4 percent from last year according to the annual Rainbow Report issued by the state controller’s office.
The Lewiston Tribunereports despite that 4 percent pay raise, the gap is widening between Otter’s salary and the highest paid state employee (Boise State University’s football coach).
The governor’s fiscal 2012 salary is $115,348, up from $110,734 last year, according to the annual “Rainbow Report” issued by the state controller’s office.
Boise State University head football coach Chris Peterson was once again the highest-paid state employee, with a $1.17 million annual salary – up 28 percent or $255,000 from the year before.
(The report, which was released Friday, didn’t include the $375,000 raise the State Board of Education approved for Peterson last week. Nor did it mention that Peterson’s salary is paid from revenue generated by the Bronco football program, not state tax dollars.) – The Lewiston Tribune
According to the report, 261 state employees are paid more than the governor.
Kaiser State Health Facts / Kaiser Family Foundation
Click the map to get more information
It’s shaping up to be one of the main debates of the legislative session: whether Idaho will create its own health insurance exchange or reject more than $20 million in federal grant money, leaving the federal government to craft an exchange. Health insurance exchanges are a critical component of the Affordable Care Act. They’re often termed “marketplaces” because their primary function will be to allow consumers to compare health insurance options based on price and coverage.
According to this map from Kaiser State Health Facts, Idaho is one of 22 states considering its options with respect to establishing an exchange. Continue Reading →
Idaho Public Television is broadcasting hearings and floor sessions from the 2012 Idaho Legislature.
You can check out the various live stream feeds here. You can also view live statewide broadcast coverage of the Idaho Legislature on Idaho Public Television’s Learn [House] and World [Senate] channels.
Idaho Legislature Live is a collaborative effort among Idaho Public Television, the Idaho Department of Administration, and the Legislative Services Office.
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