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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

“Dashing Through the Dough” - ID Jobs Update

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007   

Boise, ID – You may be able to get a job in Idaho, but finding a good job that pays a living wage is another matter.

A new report says only about 20 percent of jobs available pay a "living wage" for an average family, reckoned as around $20 per hour. That's the minimum needed to cover basic expenses, with a little extra for saving. The report by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations also finds that in Idaho the odds of landing a "good-paying" job are significantly lower for people of color and for residents of rural areas.

Boise economist Don Reading with Ben Johnson & Associates says Idaho needs to work to improve numbers of good jobs, and he doesn't see that message in state campaigns that try to lure new businesses to the Gem State. In fact, it's the opposite.

"In the state’s economic development literature, they actually say Idaho's a low-wage state. That may be attractive to businesses, but that doesn’t help working families."

Critics of the report point out that Idaho’s employment picture is good, with the unemployment rate still near record lows.

However, Reading says, all the news about Idaho's rosy economy skims over the low-wage issue that has been dogging most families for about 10 years now.

"What's probably less known is the fact that while we've been growing, everyone in the growing state isn't growing at the same level."




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