There are 20 million individuals across the United States who gained health coverage due to the success of the Affordable Care Act, our current law. There are many unknowns when it comes to the future of the ACA given the outcome of the recent presidential election—it is unclear yet how individuals’ coverage will be affected or whether lawmakers will repeal parts of or replace the law entirely.
North Carolina should have an economy that works for all and ensures every family can make ends meet. Our state once had a policy in place with that exact goal — the Earned Income Tax Credit.
While North Carolina’s unemployment rate has dropped in recent years, there are still fewer employed people as a share of the population as there were before the recession started and, in many communities, there are more jobless workers than there are job openings.
Teachers are the most important classroom factor when it comes to improving student performance. Unfortunately, North Carolina has failed to ensure that teachers receive adequate pay and support. North Carolina’s average teacher pay ranking has fallen from 22nd in FY 03-04 to 41st in FY 15-16, and enrollment in teacher preparation programs is plummeting.
North Carolina needs an economy that works for all and ensures broadly shared prosperity. That means creating jobs that pay workers enough to afford the basics for themselves and their families—enough to buy groceries, pay the rent, put gas in the car, and keep their children in day care.
If North Carolina continues to use incentives to pick winners and losers in economic development, the state needs to do a much better job of picking winners.
Municipal and county governments still have opportunities to take positive action to raise wages for workers living in their communities, despite recent state legislation that limits local government authority. One such policy opportunity involves raising the wages of their own public employees, a strategy that can play an important role in combatting wage stagnation and income inequality by increasing the number of jobs that help boost the economy.
Home healthcare workers are earning wages that pay far below what it takes to make ends meet in every county across North Carolina, weakening the overall economy and damaging the quality of long-term care seniors receive in their homes. The General Assembly must address this looming crisis in long-term care by reforming the state’s Medicaid program to ensure homecare workers earn adequate wages.
North Carolina’s state support for education and other public investments, measured as a share of the state’s economy, is below its 40-year average and this jeopardizes gains in student performance and the state’s economic future. Despite a modest recovery in state revenue since the end of the recession, North Carolina has failed to regain the ground lost during that prolonged economic downturn.
Successful schools for all North Carolina students are possible only with adequate resources. When spending is increased per student, successful student and school-level outcomes increase as well, on average. States that have increased funding for low-income districts have significantly improved student achievement in those districts.
One time Donation
Events
Recurring Gift
Employer Gift Matching
Stocks & DAFs
Defenders of Justice
Justice Circle