White House.gov Blog Feed: A Strong Middle Class

Vice President Highlights New College Affordability Proposals at Florida State

Brian Levine — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:56:10 +0000

Vice President Joe Biden speaks to Florida State University students about college affordability, February 6, 2012. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

The Vice President visited Florida State University on Monday to talk with students about our comprehensive plan to address rising college costs. The Vice President began by calling on Congress to permanently extend the $2,500 per year American Opportunity Tax Credit for tuition and other expenses, double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years, and help 7.4 million borrowers by stopping the interest rates on federal student loans from doubling later this year.

These proposals are important, but increasing federal aid is only part of the solution. States and universities also share some responsibility for reining in costs. The Vice President detailed our plan to steer federal campus-based aid to schools that keep tuition affordable – and away from schools that don’t. While we plan to significantly increase the availability of campus-based aid by offering more Perkins loans to needy students and creating more work-study slots, the additional dollars will only flow to colleges that are providing good value to their students.

We are also proposing to create a new “Race to the Top” for college affordability and completion. This competitive grant program will encourage states to reform their higher education systems in ways that lower costs and increase completion rates. And because state funding cuts are one of the primary drivers of tuition increases at public universities, any state that wants a grant will have to promise not to slash funding for higher education.

You can learn more about our plan here.

Higher Education and the Middle Class Bargain

Brian Levine — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:45:05 +0000

The Vice President visited high schools in Columbus, Ohio and Doylestown, Pennsylvania this week to highlight our Administration’s efforts to make college more affordable for all Americans. He was joined by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and by Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller in Pennsylvania.

Speaking at Lincoln High School in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, the Vice President called for the “bargain with the middle class” to be restored: “There was a bargain in place for last 50 years that if you worked hard, you played by the rules, you helped increase productivity in America, you got a piece of the action. You benefited.”

President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that making college affordable is an essential part of restoring that bargain. Our Administration has increased the maximum Pell Grant award by more than $800 and created the $2,500 per year American Opportunity Tax Credit. Even with more generous grants and tax credits, most college students borrow money to pay for school, so we are also limiting federal student loan payments to 10% of discretionary income.

The Vice President Talks College Affordability in Florida

Brian Levine — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:16:47 +0000

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hold town hall on college affordability at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida, December 8, 2011. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

This week, Vice President Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida to talk to students and their parents about college. President Obama and Vice President Biden have focused on making college affordable for middle-class families since the day they took office. We increased the value of the maximum Pell Grant award by more than $800 and created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which is worth up to $10,000 over four years for tuition and other expenses. Even after grants and tax credits, most students still need to borrow money for school. That’s why we are allowing borrowers to cap federal student loan payments at 10 percent of their discretionary income.

The Vice President reminded the audience of all these accomplishments, but he didn’t stop there. As proud as we are of this Administration’s record, increasing student aid is just one part of keeping college affordable. State higher education leaders and individual schools must also do their part. On Monday, the President gathered a group of college presidents at the White House to talk about rising college costs and strategies they can pursue to reduce these costs. In Florida, the Vice President argued that colleges "can cut cost and limit student debt without in any way compromising the quality of an education." He acknowledged that "it won’t be easy" but forcefully concluded that "there is no excuse for complacency."

Finally, the Vice President assured students who might be concerned about rising tuitions and debt loads that going to college is an excellent investment. College graduates earn more money and have a significantly lower unemployment rate than high school graduates with no post-secondary degree. And as the Vice President told the audience, "having a college degree is about a lot more than how much money you make. It’s about the independence it bestows upon you, the significantly broader range of choices it gives you…it’s about your sense of self-worth…it’s about being able to fulfill your potential."

Brian Levine is Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President

"A Victory for the Middle Class" in Ohio

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:35:50 +0000

Yesterday was Election Day across the country, and last night, once the results were known, Vice President Joe Biden issued a statement congratulating the people of Ohio for rejecting Issue 2 -- a law that would have stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

The Vice President said:

Tonight the people of Ohio delivered a gigantic victory for the middle class with their overwhelming rejection of a Republican attempt to strip away collective bargaining rights. Fundamental fairness has prevailed. By standing with teachers and firefighters and cops, Ohio has sent a loud and clear message that will be heard all across the country: The middle class will no longer be trampled on. The people of Ohio are to be congratulated.

Press Secretary Jay Carney echoed those thoughts:

The President congratulates the people of Ohio for standing up for workers and defeating efforts to strip away collective bargaining rights, and commends the teachers, firefighters, nurses, police officers, and other workers who took a stand to defend those rights.

In his joint address to Congress to introduce the American Jobs Act, President Obama touched on the importance of collective bargaining -- and why doing away with those rights is not the way to get people back to work:

I reject the idea that we have to strip away collective bargaining rights to compete in a global economy. We shouldn’t be in a race to the bottom, where we try to offer the cheapest labor and the worst pollution standards. America should be in a race to the top. And I believe we can win that race.

The Ohio measure lost in a landslide, with 62 percent of voters choosing to reject the law.

Vice President Biden Talks College Affordability in Pennsylvania

Brian Levine — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:29:33 +0000

Vice President Joe Biden answers questions after giving a speech on jobs and education at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 4, 2011.
(Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

On Friday, Vice President Biden spoke to a group of students at the University of Pittsburgh. Making it easier to pay for college has been a top priority of the Middle Class Task Force and our entire Administration since the President and Vice President came into office. We stopped paying private lenders to act as middlemen for federal student loans, and invested the savings in student aid. We increased the maximum Pell Grant award by more than $800. And we created the American Opportunity Tax Credit to give students up to $10,000 over four years to help with tuition and other expenses.

Today, the Vice President focused on our latest initiative – capping student loan payments. Current law allows borrowers to limit their federal loan payments to 15 percent of their discretionary income and forgives all remaining debt after 25 years, or 10 years for graduates working in public service jobs. Last year, following a recommendation from the Middle Class Task Force, the President proposed, and Congress enacted, a plan to lower payments even further starting in 2014. But many students can’t wait until 2014 for relief. So last Wednesday, the President announced an executive action that will cap federal loan payments at 10% of discretionary income and shorten the forgiveness timeline to 20 years starting next year.

We estimate that this new cap lower payments for 1.6 million borrowers, including 60,000 Pennsylvanians. Many of these borrowers will save hundreds of dollars every month. For example, a teacher with $25,000 in debt and a $30,000 salary would see her monthly payments drop from $287 under the standard repayment plan to $114 under the new cap. You can learn more about our plan to help students here.

We Can't Wait to Help America's Graduates

Arne Duncan and Melody Barnes — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:27:50 +0000

President Barack Obama waves to the crowd after arriving at the University of Colorado Denver campus, in Denver, Colo., Oct. 26, 2011. The President delivered remarks on the steps the Administration is taking to increase college affordability by making it easier to manage student loan debt. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In this globally competitive, knowledge-based economy, higher education has never been more important. Simply put, America cannot lead in the 21st century without the best educated, most competitive workforce in the world. Nations that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, which is why some form of higher education is an absolute must.

We also know that college costs have never been higher -- or more difficult to manage. The Administration has already provided aid to millions of students with historic investments in programs like Pell Grants and the American Opportunity Tax Credit. But we realize that many borrowers are struggling to both pay off their loans and make ends meet every month. And fear of being saddled with debt in the long run may deter many potential students from enrolling in college. They need help now.

That’s why today, President Obama announced new efforts to make college more affordable by helping millions of borrowers better manage their federal student loan debt. We’re taking executive action with two measures that will bring relief to borrowers by lowering their monthly loan payments -- at no cost to taxpayers.

Protecting Consumers and Preventing Cell Phone “Bill Shock”

Brian Levine — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:45:58 +0000

For more than a year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been working on a problem known as “bill shock.” Tens of millions of Americans have opened up their cell phone bills and been surprised by hundreds of dollars in unexpected charges. As President Obama said in a statement today, “we can put an end to that with a simple step: an alert warning consumers that they’re about to hit their limit before fees and charges add up.”

The FCC announced an agreement with the wireless industry that will protect 97 percent of wireless consumers from “bill shock.” As a result of today’s agreement, your wireless provider will send you a free alert when you are about to hit your limit on voice, data or text messaging. You will also get an alert after you reach the limit. And you will be notified of international roaming charges when traveling abroad with your phone. All of these changes are part of what President Obama called “our overall and ongoing efforts to protect American consumers by making sure financial transactions are fair, honest, and transparent.”

Learn more about the agreement here.

Brian Levine is Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President

Vice President Joe Biden Discusses the American Jobs Act in Flint, Michigan

Amy Dudley — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:10:55 +0000

Vice President Joe Biden greets members of the audience after speaking about the American Jobs act at the fire station in Flint, Michigan, October 12, 2011.

Vice President Biden traveled to two Michigan cities this week to highlight how the American Jobs Act would help put cops and firefighters back on the beat and help modernize schools.

In Flint, Michigan, the Vice President made clear how the Jobs Act would both create jobs and protect the nation's "most basic obligation" to keep our citizens safe by putting cops and firefighters back to work. Over the past 18 months, Flint has been has been forced to cut its police force in half due to budget cuts at the same time violent crime has increased in the city.

Nationally, in the past 18 months, 10,000 cops have been laid off around the country, while 30,000 police vacancies have gone unfilled. Thousands of firefighters were laid off between 2009 and 2010, and another 7,000 could face possible layoffs this year.

"It's hard enough to do your job in good economic times. It's a tough job in good times," the Vice President told a group of Flint cops and firefighters assembled inside the city's fire department on Wednesday. "But it's almost impossible to serve the total needs of the community in bad economic times when you get cut in half."

The American Jobs Act includes $5 billion to support public safety jobs across the country. It will also dramatically improve the way cops, firefighters and other first responders are able to communicate with each other during emergency situations by deploying a nationwide public safety broadband network.

"I don't buy people who say there is nothing we can do," said the Vice President. "This is a fight for the soul of this country. It's a fight for the middle class. ... It's about making sure America's fire departments, police departments continue to be a large part of the American fabric and be able to do their job. It's about reversing the cycle of crime and fire and unemployment, and starting a new cycle of jobs and prosperity. It's about keeping you safe so you can keep all of us safe. And it's about a President and I who are prepared to fight like crazy to do whatever we can to make sure that you have the resources to be able to protect us."

Keeping Teachers like Mrs. Keene in the Classroom

Maureen Tracey-Mooney — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Last year, Mrs. Keene’s 5th grade class at Oakstead Elementary in Land O’Lakes, Florida had 19 students in it. This year, she has a class of 25. As a result of state budget cuts, Oakstead lost 8 out of 83 teachers for the 2011-2012 school year, eliminating nearly 10% of the teaching staff at a school that serves over 1000 students.

During his visit to Oakstead on Tuesday, Vice President Biden had the chance to visit Mrs. Keene’s class, as well as speak to a group of parents and teachers about how the American Jobs Act would help keep and put hundreds of thousands of teachers in the classroom.

Vice President Joe Biden visits Mrs. Keene's 5th grade classroom and takes questions from students, at Oakstead Elementary School in Land O' Lakes, Florida, October 4, 2011.
(Official White House by David Lienemann)

The 8 teaching positions lost at Oakstead were just a few of the 513 positions eliminated district-wide when Pasco County Public Schools had to close a $54 million budget shortfall this year. After years of budget cuts from the state and declining tax revenues – the district now receives $780 less per pupil in funding than it did in 2007 – and cutting all of the overhead it could, the District was forced to make cuts that impact the classroom. As a result, kids are in bigger class sizes – some over the state limit – and receive less arts, music and physical education.

In his remarks, the Vice President described how smaller class sizes in the early years can increase the likelihood that kids attend and graduate from college as well as how access to arts and music education may help keep kids engaged in school and prevent them from dropping out.
Unfortunately, kids across the country are seeing the kind of cuts that the Vice President saw at Oakstead. In the last 12 months we have lost nearly 200,000 education jobs. That’s why the American Jobs Act includes $30 billion to support 400,000 education jobs nationwide. These critical resources will help prevent lay-offs and allow districts like Pasco County to rehire teachers already laid off, as well as hire new teachers.

Vice President Biden Announces Boosts for Small Business in Ohio

Amy Dudley — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:49:14 +0000

Small businesses across the country got a boost yesterday when Vice President Biden announced that 13 of the nation’s largest banks, in partnership with the Small Business Administration, have committed to increase small business lending by a combined $20 billion over the next three years.

Speaking with SBA Administrator Karen Mills at Wrap Tite Inc. – a small packing and shipping material company in Solon, Ohio – the Vice President told the story of how a recent $1.5 million SBA-supported loan allowed Wrap Tite to purchase and renovate a new facility in Solon, as well as hire five new workers. The new lending commitments announced today means more small businesses like Wrap Tite will have access to the capital they need to help grow the nation’s economy at the local level. As Vice President Biden said, "Small business men and women – who are the engine of economic growth in America – create two out of every three jobs in America."

But, as the Vice President said in Ohio, the lending boost for small businesses is only part of the story, and we cannot stop there. Urging Congress to pass the American Jobs Act right away, he described two key ways the bill would help small businesses grow and hire in Ohio and across the country – by cutting their taxes and putting money back in their customer’s pockets:

Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge

Maureen Tracey-Mooney — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:24:49 +0000

Yesterday Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced the release of the application for the Administration’s new Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge. The Challenge is committing $500 million to help states build statewide early learning systems and improve early learning programs. It’s a critical investment in an area that hasn’t gotten enough attention. The Middle Class Task Force has focused on child care because we know that it’s an issue families struggle with every day. With most families dependent on two incomes to get by, families just can’t afford not to have access to child care. But just any child care won’t and shouldn’t do. Parents want and deserve the peace of mind that their children are safe and receiving the high-quality education they need when they drop them off at day care.

For too long parents haven’t been able to make informed decisions about child care because there has been no way to compare the quality of one child care provider to that of another. This program will help change that, incenting states to build statewide tiered quality rating and improvement systems to rate providers and improve early learning programs. Improving programs will require more resources and professional support for early childhood educators. This critical workforce, made up disproportionately of women, works hard to take care of our nation’s youngest, but just doesn’t get the resources they need to be successful. The competition calls on states to provide these educators with appropriate compensation, professional development, career advancement opportunities, and a common set of standards for workforce knowledge and competencies so all educators know what they need to do and have the resources to be successful.

Here is more information from the Department of Education blog:

Bringing Transparency to College Costs

Melody Barnes — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:20:32 +0000

More and more, Americans understand the critical role that earning a college degree plays in their lives, with prospects for higher earnings and further advancements that extend throughout their careers. However, one of the greatest challenges Americans face is the rising cost of higher education.

To help students make informed decisions about their choice for higher education, today the Department of Education launched an online College Affordability and Transparency Center on the Department of Education’s College Navigator website. As part of this Center, the Department posted lists that highlight institutions with the highest tuition prices, highest net prices, and institutions whose prices are rising at the fastest rates. Institutions whose prices are rising the fastest will report why costs have gone up and how the institution will address rising prices. The Department will summarize these reports and make them publicly available to parents and students.

The President has been committed to making higher education more affordable, and today’s announcement complements our ongoing efforts. Since taking office, we have worked to expand student aid, improve options to repay student loans, and give more students access to higher education. We have also enhanced consumer information on the FAFSA and on the College Navigator portal, a resource that can provide information on thousands of institutions of higher education across the nation. These existing tools will complement the informative resources newly available today.

But colleges also have a role to play as we work to ease the financial burden of higher education. In his State of the Union address last year, the President called on colleges to do a better job of keeping costs down. Additionally, state budget constraints present increasing challenges for affordability. Too often the answer has been to cut aid to public colleges and increase tuition, pushing the financial burden on families already struggling to make ends meet.

Ultimately, better information alone will not cure the problem of college affordability. However, it will enhance the choices and decisions made by families as they pursue higher education. The new College Transparency and Affordability Center is just a first step in helping students better understand their path in postsecondary education; the Administration will continue to promote transparency in educational costs that will help all current and prospective students of higher education make a smart investment in their postsecondary studies.

Melody Barnes is Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

A Major Investment In Helping Students Get Off On The Right Foot

Cameron Brenchley — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:14:32 +0000

"Investing in early learning is one of the smartest things we can do as a nation,” said Secretary Arne Duncan earlier this morning at a town hall meeting with US Human and Health Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to announce a new $500 million state-level Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. Secretary Sebelius explained that “the only way America can out-compete the rest of the world is if we out-educate the rest of the world … And the only way we can do that is if every child gets a healthy start and a rich early learning experience.”

The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge rewards states that create comprehensive plans to transform early learning systems with better coordination and assessment mechanisms, clearer learning standards, and meaningful workforce development and family engagement initiatives.

VA Enhances Support of Family Caregivers

Deborah Amdur — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:35:40 +0000

Ed. Note: Cross-posted from the Department of Veterans Affairs blog. The Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a new program that will offer a lifeline to families across the country. The new Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers program, described below, provides a whole new range of direct benefits to caregivers of our nation’s most seriously injured veterans. This is especially good news for women —over 90% of those caring for veterans are women, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving. Read on for more on this crucial new program. The Middle Class Task Force continues to support initiatives to support all caregivers. Yesterday’s announcement marks a real victory for caregivers and an important step in our efforts to support these men and women who support us when we are most in need.

Today, we, at VA, are posting the interim final rule that will allow us to roll out enhanced services, including a monetary stipend, health insurance, expanded training and other support services to a whole new category of people serving our Nation – our Family Caregivers of Veterans who sustained a serious injury in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001. This new program will offer those Veterans the ability to remain in a comforting home environment surrounded by loved ones and supported by a dedicated Family Caregiver.

VA has long known that having a Family Caregiver in a home environment can enhance the health and well-being of Veterans under VA care. Therefore, we are pleased to add this new program to the wide range of services VA already offers to support Veterans and their Family Caregivers at home. The regulation is available on our Caregiver website and the application process for the new program for post-9/11 Veterans injured in the line of duty is also described in a fact sheet. We’re excited to begin accepting applications on May 9th. Look for the application at www.caregiver.va.gov the morning of the 9th or call our Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274. We’re waiting to assist.

An Historic Meeting at the White House with Memphis Sanitation Workers

Jared Bernstein — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:04:31 +0000

Civil rights, economic and social justice, the rights of workers to bargain collectively...the air here at the White House was thick with these sentiments today.

They were brought to us by eight of the surviving members of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike, who came to the White House today for the first time in their lives.

President Barack Obama talks with participants from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike, an iconic campaign in civil rights and labor rights history, during a meeting in the Map Room of the White House, April 29, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

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If that long-ago strike sticks out in your mind, it’s because Dr. Martin Luther King went to Memphis to support the almost entirely African-American sanitation workforce as they struck for union recognition, better pay, safer working conditions, and, fundamentally, respect.

It was there, on April 3, that Dr. King delivered his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.

And it was there, on April 4, when that amazing man was taken from us.

Please, if you do nothing else today, read (or reread) that speech. Read it to yourself, to your partner, to your parents and to your kids. You would be hard-pressed to find another document that so perfectly weaves together the beautiful yet all too fragile fabric of the historical struggle for basic human rights.

Honoring 29 Miners

Maureen Tracey-Mooney — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:06:08 +0000

The last few weeks have been filled with reminders of the dangers Americans face at work – from the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire to today’s sad anniversary of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, where 29 miners were killed. These tragedies remind us that preventable workplace accidents are still all too common in this country. In 2010, 4,300 workers died on the job in this country.

Improving workplace safety for miners and all workers has been a priority of the Administration’s Middle Class Task Force, chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. Over the last year, the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) have been working to enforce and improve our workplace safety laws.

MSHA initiated strategic “impact” inspections at mines it believes could be at risk for an explosion, have poor compliance histories or poor safety systems. Since April 2010, MSHA has conducted 228 impact inspections, resulting in 4,200 citations and 396 orders. The Department of Labor has also taken steps to reduce backlogs and delays in enforcement by allowing quicker identification of mines with patterns of violations.

Because MSHA and inspectors can’t be at every mine all the time, the Department has proposed a rule that would require mine operators to regularly identify and correct violations of health or safety standards on their own, with MSHA inspectors regularly checking in on their progress. Together, these actions have and will continue to make a real difference in the daily work of miners.

OSHA has also been hard at work. In 2010, OSHA inspected the workplaces of over 5.9 million Americans and provided free on site compliance assistance to over 26, 000 businesses. The agency also launched a program to identify and concentrate resources on the most egregious and severe violators.

Working with the Middle Class Task Force, OSHA and the Department of Justice have expanded the Worker Endangerment Initiative. Under the Initiative, DOL and DOJ work together to evaluate employers who repeatedly violate workplace safety laws in order to identify those that may also have violated environmental or other criminal statutes that carry stronger penalties. This kind of collaboration makes sure the full force of the law is brought in cases where workers are put in harm’s way.

Even with all these efforts to increase enforcement and compliance, both OSHA and MSHA need better tools to effectively protect workers. That’s why we support Senate HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin and House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline in their efforts to strengthen our mine safety laws.

As the Vice President said at a memorial service for the 29 miners who lost their lives last year, “the men we remember today went into the darkness so that we could have light. They embraced a life of hard work and a career full of peril. It was dangerous – it was dangerous work and they knew it, but they never flinched. … Many of them loved it; some of them dreaded it. But all of them, all of them approached it with dignity, resolve, and strength.”

Today we honor their memory by continuing to make progress in improving the safety of our workplaces.

Maureen Tracey-Mooney is Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of the Vice President.

A Call to Action on College Completion

Brian Levine — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:59:01 +0000

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Grad Nation Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park, in Washington, DC, March 22, 2011. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann).

College access and affordability has been a key area of focus for the Middle Class Task Force over the last two years. On this blog, we have frequently updated you on our Administration’s commitment to expanding student aid through Pell Grants and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

Providing every American child with the opportunity to go to college is critically important, but we can’t stop there. We need more American students to graduate from college. The President has set a clear goal: By 2020, America will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Right now we are ninth.

70 percent of students go on to pursue some kind of postsecondary education after high school, but less than half actually get a degree or certificate within 6 years. Why is this so important? Because more than half of all new jobs created in the next decade will require a postsecondary degree. And college graduates make more money and are less likely to be unemployed than individuals with only a high school diploma. Ensuring that more students graduate from college is essential to maintaining a strong middle class.

Today the Vice President challenged every Governor to host a state college completion summit, and promised that the Department of Education would help any state develop a plan to boost completion.

You've Got A Friend In the Trend

Jared Bernstein — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:43:03 +0000

On this first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the nation with a close look at what’s been going on in the job market. While you don’t want to put too much weight on any one month of data, the report is bursting with valuable info on stuff that matters a lot to real people, like job growth, unemployment, and earnings.

One useful thing to do with these data is to average over a few months, to smooth out some of the jumpiness in the monthly numbers. And when you apply this smoothing to private sector job growth, a promising pattern emerges.

The figure below takes an average of monthly job growth in the private sector over the past three months (Dec, Jan, Feb), and compares that to the same average last year and two years ago.

Two years ago, when President Obama took office, we were hemorrhaging jobs at a rate of over 700,000 per month. Our Administration attacked the problem, first with the Recovery Act, and later with a broad set of initiatives to put more money in family budgets, free up credit for small businesses, and most recently, boost paychecks with a temporary payroll tax cut.

Labor and Management Working Together For Student Success

Maureen Tracey-Mooney — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:33:48 +0000

School reform is often portrayed as an unavoidable conflict between labor (teachers) and management (superintendents and principals). Well, earlier this week I joined a conference of local teachers’ union presidents, school district superintendents and school board presidents that are working together to make important inroads against that conventional wisdom.

These educators represent 150 school districts, and they came together to talk about how to use labor-management collaboration to improve student achievement and transform schools. Each participating district was required to bring each of these kinds of leaders, so that all the decision makers were at the table. Even more, in order to be selected each team had to commit to continuing this work beyond just a few days in Denver, pledging to address tough issues like evaluation, professional development and top to bottom accountability.

What Have You Learned from ARRA, Dorothy?

Jared Bernstein — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:25:39 +0000

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act turns two years old today, thus prompting the Tin Man’s question: what have we learned from the implementation of the economic stimulus?

Some interesting and provocative answers to that question can be found in a new report out today, entitled A New Way of Doing Business: How the Recovery Act is Leaning the Way to 21st Century Government.

Now, I understand that implementation of government programs is not a topic that immediately grips the attention of a normal person. But even if you’re not a propeller-beanied policy wonk, this report is worth a look.

Why? Because it presents a chapter in the story of rebuilding faith in the ability of the Federal government to get things done effectively and efficiently.

A Budget that Meets Two Goals

Jared Bernstein — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:16:58 +0000

On Monday, the Administration released the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2012. It’s a Budget that meets two goals: it makes tough but necessary cuts that put our nation on a sustainable fiscal path. And it’s a budget that invests wisely to ensure economic opportunity for working Americans.

As the President said Monday, this is a budget designed to help America win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building our global competition. But in order to afford those investments, the government needs to start living within our means. So we’re proposing over $1 trillion in deficit reduction, of which two thirds comes from spending cuts.

Yet we cannot abandon the needs of working families at this point in our economic recovery. Yes, our cuts have involved tough choices, and they will require sacrifices from many Americans. But there’s also a lot in this budget to help middle-class families get back to work, afford college, to protect them at work, and strengthen their retirement.

A few examples:

Bringing High-Speed Rail to America

Tobin Marcus — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:52:47 +0000

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Imagine the last time you took a trip between two American cities. Maybe you had to wait in line at a crowded airport; maybe you spent hours in traffic in a car or a bus. Or maybe you made the trip on a train that had to slow down over and over because it was running on outdated tracks.

Now think about the fact that over the next 40 years, the population of the US is projected to grow by 100 million, and consider how much that’ll increase the use of our roads, airports, and rail. Now imagine what that same trip you took will be like if we don’t build the transportation infrastructure we need to accommodate those extra travelers.

The fact is, those folks are going to travel one way or another. But it’s up to us whether they travel on the infrastructure of the past, or whether they travel on new 21st century transportation infrastructure that’s fast, modern, efficient, and environmentally friendly.

That’s why Vice President Biden traveled to Philadelphia today to announce a comprehensive plan to help the nation reach President Obama’s goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years. The President is proposing to invest $53 billion over the next six years to continue construction of a national high-speed and intercity passenger rail network, which will create tens of thousands of private-sector jobs while helping to lay a new foundation for our economy.

Living Up To the Mine Act

Maureen Tracey-Mooney — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:36:05 +0000

Today the Department of Labor proposed a new rule that would help better protect Americans with one of the most dangerous jobs: miners.

For years, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has been overly restricted in its use of a powerful tool to protect the health and safety of our nation’s miners: putting a mine on a “Patterns of Violations” (or POV) status and using the additional enforcement tools that determination brings with it. The current system makes it much too difficult to identify such patterns -- too hard for both mine operators and the workers who need the protection this new rule would provide.

In the 30 years since the Mine Act’s passage no mine has ever been placed on a POV. That means that mines we know are consistently putting workers in danger are allowed to continue bad practices without making the needed systemic changes to protect workers. The current regulatory interpretation of the Mine Act fundamentally undermines its intent: to provide MSHA with the tools it needs to protect workers.

Our Plan to Put One Million Advanced Technology Vehicles on America’s Roads

Brian Levine — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:37:18 +0000

Last night, President Obama set a goal of making the United States the first country in the world to put one million advanced technology vehicles on the road. This goal is part of the President’s plan to rebuild our economy by investing in innovation to create the jobs and industries of the future.

Vice President Joe Biden tours the Ener1 Inc. battery factory with Director of Manufacturing David Hahn and worker Wendy Howard in Greenfield, Indiana, Jan. 26, 2011. (Official White House photo by David Lienemann)

Today, Vice President Biden visited Ener1, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced batteries for electric vehicles, in Greenfield, Indiana to announce our plan to reach this one million vehicle goal by 2015. The facility that the Vice President visited would not exist if not for a $118.5 million grant from the Department of Energy, which was part of a $2.4 billion Recovery Act investment in electric vehicles . Ener1 added 120 jobs across the company in 2010 and the future looks bright. They expect to expand the manufacturing and assembly operation in Greenfield from 80 workers today to over a thousand by the start of 2013.

The Vice President got a first-hand look at Ener1’s assembly line and had a chance to chat with several workers. The Vice President was introduced by Wendy Howard, a mother of three, who joined Ener1 after being laid off from her previous job. Wendy proudly said that she now makes "hi-tech batteries for electric cars that don’t disturb the environment and don’t drink up oil that we don’t have."

Vice President Joe Biden tours the Ener1 Inc. battery factory with CEO Charles Gassenheimer and COO Richard Stanley and is shown a THINK City, an electric car that uses Ener1 batteries, in Greenfield, Indiana, Jan. 26, 2011. (Official White House photo by David Lienemann)

Wendy and her co-workers at Ener1 will surely benefit from the three-part plan that Vice President Biden announced today, which will support electric vehicle manufacturing and adoption in the United States through generous new consumer rebates, investments in research and development, and a new competitive program to encourage communities to knock down regulatory barriers and invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, like public charging stations. You can learn more about the plan here.

As the Vice President said today, Ener1 and other companies like it are "building a brighter, cleaner, and more prosperous American future."

Brian Levine is Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President

Victories For Working Families and Jobs in the Agreement on Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance

Jason Furman — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:24:34 +0000

The President is committed to promoting a strong, growing economy – one that’s creating jobs, fostering a thriving middle class, and extending opportunity to all American workers. That’s why he fought so hard to ensure that the priorities of working families were advanced in the agreement introduced today in the Senate.

As the chart above demonstrates, the bipartisan agreement we’ve forged delivers several key victories – victories that will give the average American family assurance that there will be more money to pay the bills each month:

Helping Middle-Class Families Pursue Justice

Brian Levine — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:31:16 +0000

This morning, the Vice President spoke at a Middle Class Task Force Event that was co-hosted by the Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative. He announced new steps that our Administration is taking in partnership with the legal community to strengthen foreclosure mediation programs, help veterans cope with legal challenges, and make it easier for workers to find a qualified attorney when they believe their rights have been violated.

First, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the American Bar Association (ABA) are launching a new partnership to help workers resolve complaints received by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, such as not getting paid the minimum wage or overtime, or being wrongfully denied family medical leave. DOL resolves more than 20,000 of these complaints every year, but because of limited resources, there are thousands more they are unable to pursue. Starting next month, people whose cases cannot be pursued will be provided with a newly created toll-free number that will connect them with an ABA-approved attorney referral service so they can find a qualified lawyer to help with their claims.

The Importance of Equal Pay For Women

Terrell McSweeny — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I picked up my Wall Street Journal and read an opinion piece “Washington’s Equal Pay Obsession” arguing that the Paycheck Fairness Act is unnecessary because, in a nutshell, women don’t face rampant pay discrimination. Instead, the author asserted, the wage gap exists because women are mothers.

So let’s break this down.

First, there is ample evidence that women – regardless of their parental status - do face pay discrimination. Yes, part of the wage gap is a result of occupational choices and other factors. No one denies that. Most economists agree, however, that no matter how many variables you control for an unexplained wage gap between men and women persists. For example, Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn did an excellent breakdown of the wage gap in 2007 and identified that 41% of the wage gap between men and women could not be explained by controlling for variables. Regardless of the precise percentage of the wage gap, we have a responsibility to ensure that no one in this country makes less as a result of his or her gender.

Wage discrimination is real.

Strengthening an Emerging Industry While Helping Families Save Money

Brian Levine — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:17:12 +0000

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Last fall, the Middle Class Task Force and the Council on Environmental Quality released a report called Recovery Through Retrofit, which identified the key barriers standing in the way of strong and sustainable home energy-efficiency industry. For the past year, we have been working with our partners across the federal government to address these barriers, and today, the Vice President announced three new initiatives that will grow this industry and help middle-class families save money on their energy bills.

First, homeowners don’t have access to clear and reliable information about their home’s energy performance and how to improve it. So today, the Department of Energy announced a program called Home Energy Score. Using a new software tool, trained contractors will be able to go through a house in an hour or less and generate a report with two critical components:

First, an easy to understand graphic showing where the home’s energy performance rates on a scale of 1 to 10 and how that score compares to other homes in the area. It’s like a miles-per-gallon label for your house.
Second, a customized list of recommended improvements, with information on how much the homeowner’s energy bill would be reduced by each change.

New Report Highlights Administration’s Support for Women and Families

Maureen Tracey-Mooney — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:52:26 +0000

At the beginning of this Administration, the President tasked Vice President Biden with chairing the Middle Class Task Force to identify and push through measures to help get middle-class families back on their feet.

From day one, the Middle Class Task Force has focused on supporting women in all of the work they do – as caregivers to our nation’s children and the elderly, as leaders in business and increasingly as co-breadwinners in households across the country. With more women entering and remaining in the workforce and more households than ever dependent on two incomes, this work is critical to helping middle-class families regain and maintain their financial security.

Yesterday the National Economic Council released a report, Jobs and Economic Security for America’s Women, which provided even more evidence for why this work is critically important.

The report lays out that in almost two-thirds of families women are either the primary or co-breadwinner in their household. Many women are sole breadwinners. As of December 2009, 2.1 million women whose husbands were unemployed were working as the sole breadwinners for their families. An additional 6.1 million women are single mothers and the sole breadwinners for their families.

As women’s income and employment gains increasing importance in family budgets, their other roles do not disappear. Women are still playing substantial roles as caregivers to their children, parents and family members with disabilities. That means it is more important than ever to support women as they seek to balance these responsibilities.

The report highlights some of the initiatives the Middle Class Task Force championed in the 2011 Budget to provide families with more options as they try to navigate this increasingly delicate juggling act. These aren’t just women’s issues; they are issues of vital importance to every family’s economic security.

Some of our 2011 Budget Proposals:

A near-doubling of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families. This would result in a $900 increase in the maximum credit available to many middle class families.
$100 million for the Caregiver Initiative at the Department of Health and Human Services, which would help an additional 200,000 caregivers better balance their responsibilities and support one million additional hours of adult day care and three million rides to critical daily activities, taking the strain off women and their families.
$50 million for the State Paid Leave Fund at the Department of Labor, which will provide competitive grants to help cover start-up costs for states that choose to launch paid leave programs.

These are just some of the Administration’s efforts to support women and the middle-class families they support as they seek to regain their footing. To read the report and learn more about the Administration’s efforts to support women and middle-class families, click here.

Maureen Tracey-Mooney is Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of the Vice President

A Path Forward for Communities Affected by the GM Bankruptcy

Jared Bernstein — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:19:39 +0000

Over the past year, the Vice President and Middle Class task Force have visited revived auto plants, clean energy manufacturers, and other factories where Americans are making things to drive this economy forward. And he’s always stressed how important these plants are to their communities.

One difficult challenge these communities face is how to move old and abandoned properties back into productive use. Too often, a combination of insufficient resources, uncertain environmental liabilities, and inadequate commitment from responsible parties puts shuttered facilities in a devastating limbo for years or even decades. Empty buildings and chain link fences not only represent lost opportunities but have the potential to create a vicious cycle, driving down property values increasing crime and keeping communities from moving their economies forward.