skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

The State of the South 2010: Two Recessions Rev Up Poverty Rates

play audio
Play

Wednesday, May 26, 2010   

CHAPEL HILL, N. C. - Two recessions have proven to be too much for most of the South, according to a report released today by MDC, a nonprofit research organization in Chapel Hill. "The State of the South 2010" finds the region was quickly knocked off its fast track in efforts to reducing poverty and raise wages for low-wage and middle-class workers. Ferrel Guillory, MDC senior fellow, is one of the report authors.

"After 20 years of diminishing poverty, now southern states have poverty rates back at the mid-1990s level."

Guillory says those on the low-end of the wage ladder aren't the only ones hurting. The report finds median household income decreased in the South more than any other region in the past ten years. On the upside, he notes most large metropolitan areas are still creating good-paying jobs, and Texas and North Carolina are two states that have weathered the recessions better than other southern states.

The strategy for getting the South back on a pathway to economic success isn't exactly clear, according to Guillory, because the lower-skill jobs that used to pay middle-class wages are gone. Nearly two million jobs have disappeared, and he doesn't expect them to return.

"A lot of these textile, furniture and other kinds of manufacturing jobs are gone for good, and so, we need to educate people beyond high school."

This economic snapshot is the first in a series of "chapters" in The State of the South 2010 report. Topics to be covered later this year include exploring ways to bolster rural economies, focusing on high school dropouts, and developing a new generation of political leaders to replace retiring baby boomers. The report is online at www.mdcinc.org.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …


Organizations fighting wage theft said it harms affected workers and surrounding communities because the money withheld is not being circulated through the local economy. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021