ERIC Number: ED660851
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 30
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The State of Working Pennsylvania 2024
Claire Kovach; Muhammad Maisum Murtaza; Stephen Herzenberg
Keystone Research Center
As we approach this Labor Day, the Pennsylvania economy is growing steadily. Working families are sharing in prosperity in a more sustained way than at any point since 1980--although many families still struggle to make ends meet and, in our polarized nation, a big partisan divide exists in perceptions of whether the economy is better than four years ago. A central reason for the economy's objectively strong recent performance: federal policies during and since the outbreak of COVID-19 have quickly restored the 2013-2019 trajectory of steady job growth, low unemployment, and rising wages. Even inflation--which spiked in the pandemic--has fallen below 3%. The critical question before the country now: will policies going forward lock-in shared prosperity sufficiently for working families to "feel it"? Or will policies in 2025 and beyond restore an economy like that of most of the three-plus decades after 1980, which mostly benefited a thin slice of the very rich?
Descriptors: Economic Factors, Economic Development, Trend Analysis, Labor Market, Labor Force Development, Labor Turnover, Employment Patterns, Employment Projections, Unemployment, Employment Opportunities, Wages, Minimum Wage, Economic Climate, Unions, State Norms
Keystone Research Center. 412 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101. Tel: 717-255-7181; Web site: http://keystoneresearch.org
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Keystone Research Center (KRC)
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A