Posts by mark price

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act: A $31 billion tax cut for a handful of the wealthiest taxpayers

Posted by Mark Price on March 20, 2017 3:34 pm
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In Pennsylvania, the top 1% of families have captured just over half of all the growth in market incomes between 1979 and 2013 (Figure A above). As we have argued, this imbalance is largely the result of policy choices that have favored financial executives and CEOs over working families.

How did the Pennsylvania Labor Market Perform in 2016

Last Friday, The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry released preliminary estimates of December payrolls which show Pennsylvania created 32,000 jobs in the last 12 months. Payroll growth was especially weak in the 2nd half of 2016, which is likely one reason state revenue collections through December are $300 million below projections. Despite this weakness, payrolls still grew more in 2016 than they did in 2012 and 2013 when deep budget cuts weighed on job growth in Pennsylvania.

The State and Local Government Workforce in Pennsylvania is the 2nd Smallest in the Country

Posted by Mark Price on January 11, 2017 1:26 pm
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As we begin to debate the 2017-18 state budget, the anti-government spin merchants will (yet again) paint a picture of a menacing, out-of-control public sector in Pennsylvania eating up taxpayers like a great Kraken.

But facts do matter. And the picture they will paint is the opposite of the true picture, shown above. 

Unequal Pennsylvania

Posted by Mark Price on December 16, 2016 11:24 am
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For those of us that follow inequality statistics, this December has been a blockbuster month.  Most recently the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), in a prelude to a full reboot of its seminal report "Pulling Apart" (jointly produced with the Economic Policy Institute), released data (see the PA Fact Sheet) on family incomes in Pennsylvani

An Extraordinary Year of Income Growth in Pennsylvania

Posted by Mark Price on September 16, 2016 10:11 am
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Yesterday the Census Bureau released data from the American Community Survey showing that median household incomes in Pennsylvania rose by just over $2,400 in the last year, strong evidence that an economy nearing full employment generates rising wages for workers. Higher-income families have now surpassed their pre-Great Recession incomes but the lower-income half of families have not.

Pennsylvania Job Growth in June

Posted by Mark Price on July 22, 2016 3:46 pm
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This morning the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reported that nonfarm payrolls grew in June by 20,000 and the unemployment rate edged up slightly to 5.6%. A companion survey of Pennsylvania households registered a decline in resident employment in June of 7,000 — the third straight month of declines in this data.

U.S. Department of Labor Scores a Victory for Working People

Posted by Mark Price on May 19, 2016 2:07 pm
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On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) raised the salary threshold under which working people can earn overtime pay.  Under the new rule, effective December 1 of this year, most salaried workers – including managers and professionals – making less than $47,476 will now be entitled to overtime pay (most charitable non-profits will be unaffected by this rule change - read more here). 

Need a data-driven break from the election? Let's talk education funding...

Posted by Mark Price on April 26, 2016 11:42 am
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For the education data geeks out there (admit it, you're probably one) here is data comparing new classroom funding (in budget geek speak that's the basic education subsidy plus the ready to learn block grant) by school district as proposed under the bi-partisan budget framework versus the same funding under the final budget for 2015-16.

The Rising Fiscal Cost of the Budget Impasse

Posted by Mark Price on March 9, 2016 1:50 pm
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The Inquirer’s Joseph DiStefano reported last week that Standard and Poor’s is threatening to cut Pennsylvania’s credit rating due to the states failure to address the structural budget deficit. Ratings on debt issued by Pennsylvania have been downgraded five times in the last four years and every downgrade costs the commonwealth tens of millions of dollars on each billion dollars of borrowing.

Senator from York Predicts a Recession

Posted by Mark Price on January 20, 2016 11:34 am
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If you were getting bored by the never ending budget process, a flurry of colorful metaphors by “Fightin” Sen. Scott Wagner of York County added a more circus like element to the standoff. I just wanted to highlight an interesting argument in the Senator’s letter to Capitolwire about the current state of the economy. According to the Senator: