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New Reports
SEPTEMBER 2004
The Commission for Labor Cooperation is pleased to announce the release of The Guide to Labor and Employment Laws for Migrant Workers in North America.The guide consists of individual fact sheets about a range of areas of labor and employment law in each North American country. To read this report, go to: http://www.naalc.org/migrant/english/index.shtml
JULY 2004 The Common Ground Community and the Corporation for Supportive Housing recently released a report entitled New Beginnings: The Need for Supportive Housing for Previously Incarcerated People. The report, written by Kendall Black and Richard Cho, examines the housing and service needs of formerly incarcerated people, particularly those with special needs. It makes the case for supportive housing as a proven mechanism for reducing and preventing homelessness and criminal recidivism among people with special needs and chronic health challenges. To read this report, go to: http://documents.csh.org/documents/pubs/full_new_beginnings.pdf
The Independent Review Panel on Corrections has released Reforming California’s Youth and Adult Correctional System. by the. This report contains recommended reforms to the existing organizational structure and operations, and when implemented, will return California to a national leadership role in youth and adult correctional systems. To view this report, go to http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/corr/index.htm State Prison Expenditures, by James J. Stephan of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, presents comparative data on the cost of operating the Nation's State prisons including State-level spending on prison employee salaries and wages, supplies, food, inmate medical care, utilities, contractual services, and capital expenditures. During FY2001 Maryland spent a total of $645,620,000 to maintain its prisons. California reported the largest prison expenditure, ($4.2 billion) while North Dakota reported the smallest ($26.8 million). Maryland reported $26,398 as its annual average operating cost per inmate. Maine spent the most per inmate ($44,379) and Alabama spent the least ($ 8,128). To view this report, go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/spe01.htm
The debut issue of a new publication from the Workforce Strategies Initiative has just been released. Called Update, each issue of this new periodical will take an in-depth look at a single workforce-related topic. The first issue is devoted to a subject many workforce programs struggle with – how to build better working relationships with employers. Read Update Issue 1: Building Effective Employer Relations
GAO: Workforce Investment Act - One-Stop Center Performance Assessment A June 2004 report by the Government Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, examines the ways state and local jurisdictions have evaluated the performance of workforce development programs funded under the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998. The report finds that while states and localities have made strides in assessing the outcome of their WIA-funded employment services, the U.S. Department of Labor could do more to support their evaluation efforts. Read the GAO report in PDF format. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required.)
GAO: Twenty-Three States Channel Employer Taxes To Employment Placement, Training According to a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report, 23 states reported using employer tax revenues in 2002 to fund their own employment placement and training programs, and providing job-specific training for workers. States used various types of employer taxes and reported spending a total of $278 million to address state-specific workforce issues. Most states reported some coordination with federal workforce programs in 2002.
The Urban Institute conducted a national scan of reentry programs that address the needs and risks facing returning prisoners, their families, and communities. Outside the Walls: A National Snapshot of Community-Based Prisoner Reentry Programs provides descriptions of a broad array of prisoner reentry activity across the country, as well as briefing papers that discuss what is known about reentry as it pertains to employment, health, housing, family, faith, and public safety. Download Outside the Walls: A National Snapshot of Community-Based Prisoner Reentry Programs in PDF format.
The Center for Law and Social Policy released an analysis of the legal issues presented by integrating the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), as several states and localities expressed the need to promote improved coordination and integration of workforce development efforts under both federal programs. Download Integrating TANF and WIA Into a Single Workforce System: An Analysis of Legal Issues in PDF format.
The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance released the updated Vital Signs report, which contains outcome indicators of Baltimore's neighborhoods and measures the progress toward strong neighborhoods and a thriving city over time. Vital Signs enables all residents and stakeholders to have a common yardstick from which to measure progress toward common results, make decisions strategically and effectively, understand the impact of these decisions on neighborhood conditions, and hold one another accountable for making these indicators continue in the right direction. Data are available for years 2000, 2001, and 2002. Download Vital
Signs II.
The Vera Institute for Justice recently released a new report that examines homelessness among former inmates; shares examples of local corrections agencies' efforts to address it; and offers insights from Vera's Project Greenlight, an in- prison program that provided comprehensive transition services -- including housing assistance -- to felony offenders reentering communities in New York City. Download Preventing Homelessness Among People Leaving Prison in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.
CLASP: Congress
Should Not Rescind Welfare-To-Work Funds The authors urge a House-Senate conference committee to reject the Senate provision because it would force reductions in needed services at a time when states cannot compensate for the loss in funding. Moreover, states and localities were authorized to spend these funds over the next year; a rescission would violate the express terms under which states and localities were authorized to use these funds. Read
Congress Should Not Rescind Welfare-to-Work. Employment Policy Foundation Study: Part-Time By Choice The Employment Policy Foundation has recently
released a study showing that 7 in 10 part-time workers in their prime
working years (ages 25-65) are working part-time by choice. Of the more
than 9.5 million working part-time by choice, nearly 40 percent of those
workers were working part-time for reasons related to work-life balance-childcare,
personal or family obligations or education. Brookings Institution: Comparing Baltimore's 2000 Census Data With 22 Other Cities As a part of the Living Cities Census Project, the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy has produced 23 databooks, one for each of the cities in which Living Cities focuses its investments.The databooks place each of the 23 cities in a national context and provide comparative rankings on all the key indicators in the census. The databooks are organized around ten sets of indicators: Population, Race and Ethnicity, Immigration, Age, Households and Families, Education, Work, Commuting, Income and Poverty, and Housing. The Baltimore City databook presents the results from Census 2000, which underscore the many social, demographic, and economic challenges facing the city and its residents. Read the Baltimore City report: Part
I, Part
II Maryland Policy Reports: Implications of Cuts In Maryland Children's Health Program A new Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute report analyzes recent cuts t to Maryland's Children's Health Program (MCHP), a state program that provides health insurance to children in low- and moderate-income families. The report finds that the cuts directly harm children, transfer the costs of covering uninsured children back to Marylanders, reduce the State's budget savings, and increase private health care costs by millions of dollars due to higher levels of uncompensated care. Workforce Alliance Releases New National Poll The Workforce Alliance has recently released the results of a national poll of voters' attitudes toward investments in job training as a strategy for improving the U.S. economy. The results of this survey demonstrate that prioritizing workforce development is not only good policy; it's also good politics, as defined by a voting public that is looking for political leadership on the issue. Read the TWA's press release and the complete summary of the survey results. OCTOBER 2003 - CLASP Releases Two Publications On WIA The Center for Law and Social Policy has recently released a report entitled “A Means to an End: Integration of Welfare and Workforce Development Systems”. Prepared by Lisa Ranghelli, Nisha Patel, and Mark Greenberg, the report sheds light on the early experiences of four states (Florida, Ohio, Utah, and Wisconsin) that have undergone TANF-WIA integration efforts and the impact of integration on federal policy as well as on local stakeholders such as job seekers, families, and businesses. Read the full
report and 8-page policy
brief. CLASP also produced State-by-State WIA Program Participation Data, PY 2000 and PY 2001, prepared by Abbey Frank and Hedieh Rahmanou. Under WIA and associated regulations, states are required to collect a series of demographic and performance outcomes information on each WIA participant who accesses intensive and training services. The complete WIASRD data for PY 2000 and PY 2001 have recently become available. These tables provide state-by-state data on program participation for various groups of individuals. SEPTEMBER 2003 - Corporate Voices For Working Families: Public Opinion Report Recently, Corporate Voices for Working Families released a report on the analysis of public opinion pertaining to the economic security of low-wage workers. The report suggests that a weaker economy has made the public more receptive to policies that address the specific needs of low-wage workers. Corporate Voices also includes recommendations for ways that businesses and government can create and implement policies that lead to economic independence. Read the full report. August 27, 2003 - Governor's Commission on Poverty Report For immediate release Media Contact: This report confirms that pockets of concentrated poverty are invisible in the midst of the general prosperity in Maryland. Hunger, homelessness, high levels of the uninsured and low education levels are characteristic of these areas of concentration that are increasing in number across the state. While Baltimore is the most visible of the concentrated areas in the state with one in every four of its citizens experiencing poverty, prosperous jurisdictions like Montgomery County experienced a 40% increase in families living in poverty (2000 Census). This is taking place in a state that boasts a median income of $52,868 and an unemployment rate that is 2% below the national average. The Governor’s Commission on Poverty report endorses the Self-sufficiency standard as a more appropriate gage of the cost of living in Maryland and suggests in its recommendations that giving the poor increased access to health insurance, appropriate wages, affordable housing and adequate education will help to eliminate hunger and go a long way to reducing poverty in this state. ####### A copy of the report is available at: http://www.povertysolutions.org/research/publications.htm
Workforce Alliance: Washington Update The Workforce Alliance released an August 2003 Washington Update, which contains information about recent Congressional action on workforce investment, higher education, and welfare reform. Click here to read this update. MD Budget & Tax Policy Institute: MD Unemployment Insurance Taxes From the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute: "Maryland employers will be faced
with an across-the-board, one percent increase in their unemployment insurance
tax rate beginning in January. This automatic increase has been triggered
to bolster our depleted "One could argue that this tax increase is poorly timed--businesses will pay more when the economy is still sluggish. However poorly timed it is, it is not accidental--our UI financing system is designed so that tax rates go up when businesses are struggling. How is that?" July 2003 - Vera Institute of Justice: Legislators' Views on Prisons & the Budget Crisis The Vera Institute of Justice recently released a report, "Dollars and Sentences: Legislators' Views on Prisons, Punishment, and the Budget Crisis", that discusses state legislator's views on the impact of the budget on criminal justice policies. This report summarizes their thoughts and reveals that partisan politics in some states is taking a back seat to saving money and producing better outcomes. July 3, 2003-Ford Foundation Report The Ford Foundation publishes a quarterly report on the work of the people and organizations that they fund. The newsletter articles cover topics such as workforce, community, and economic development, human rights,civil society, education, and the arts. Read the current report at http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/. Subscribe to receive the Ford Foundation Report online at http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/mailing_list_subscribe.cfm.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation releases a monthly "National Workforce Policy Newsletter" that provides updates on the latest policy action surrounding workforce access, retention, and advancement, including news on Annie E. Casey's Jobs Initiatives Program. To view past issues, go to http://www.aecf.org/initiatives/jobsinitiative/. You can subscribe to this newsletter at http://www.aecf.org/lists/.
The Center for Law and Social Policy recently released a report titled "Whose Job Is It? Creating Opportunities for Advancement" that examines research on low-wage workers and types of employment and training strategies that have been effective for job advancement. It also includes a discussion of challenges in implementing job advancement strategies and recommendations for federal advancement policies. This paper is the second chapter of a book titled Workforce Intermediaries in the 21st Century. To view this paper, go to http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1055861603.12/Adv_chapter.pdf. June 18, 2003-CLASP: Child Support Regulations CLASP has released a paper documenting changes in child support enforcement regulations contained in the Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998. This document, "New Child Support Regulations", are the finalized changes, after public comment ended in 2003. To view this document, go to http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1055797360.84/CS_Regs0603.pdf.
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