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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.

New Report: The Work Doesn't Pay for Virginians

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008   

Richmond, VA – Virginians are working harder--and for what? Despite being more productive than ever, not all of the state's workers are seeing the fruits of their labor when they open their paychecks. A new report shows that wage growth has failed to keep pace with the increased productivity of the state's labor force.

Report co-author, Michael Cassidy, is executive director of The Commonwealth Institute. He says recent news headlines touting strong job growth and high per-capita income may lead people to think the state's economy is doing well. However, he cautions, a closer look reveals trouble below the surface.

"These stories and headlines mask the deeper pressures and challenges of Virginia's economy that appear when you start digging into what's happening to actual workers in the state's economy."

As an example, Cassidy cites health insurance. Working Virginians' insurance premiums and average employee contributions are among the highest in the country, he says.

"The numbers of Virginians without health insurance continues to rise, and the percentage of working Virginians who get their health insurance through their employers has continued to decrease."

In 2007, only 62 percent of workers received health insurance through their employers, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The report chronicles lagging growth in wages, compounded by food and energy prices, which place further pressures on working families' household budgets. The growing gap between the highest and lowest wage-earners remains at its highest level since 1979, Cassidy adds.

The report, "Feeling the Pinch: The State of Working Virginia," is available online at www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org.




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