In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on jobs, the federal budget and taxes, the safety net, and higher education.

• On jobs, Chad Stone illustrated a mixed April jobs report that shows a big jump in payroll employment but a sharp fall in labor force participation.  Chris Mai pointed out that April’s jobs report also shows state and local governments climbing out of a deep hole.  We updated our table showing the number of weeks of unemployment insurance benefits available in each state.
• On the federal budget and taxes, Chuck Marr noted three reasons why making several corporate tax breaks permanent would be a wrong move.  Chye-Ching Huang pointed out the House Ways and Means Committee’s move to prioritize corporate tax cuts over key tax credits that help millions of working families struggling to make ends meet.  Robert Greenstein addressed House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s objection to CBPP’s finding that Ryan’s budget gets nearly 70 percent of its budget cuts from low-income programs.
• On the safety net, Becca Segal emphasized the benefits of Community Eligibility, a new option available to help schools in high-poverty neighborhoods become hunger free.  Segal also pointed to a map that outlines eligible schools and districts and highlighted our update of this map on the May 1 deadline for states to publish lists of eligible schools and districts.  Jared Bernstein explained how raising the minimum wage gradually would help employers adapt.  Brynne Keith-Jennings highlighted the Congressional Budget Office’s new projections that show a bigger drop in SNAP spending over the next ten years than it had previously projected.
• On higher education, Michael Mitchell highlighted a new CBPP report that finds that states’ funding for higher education remains below pre-recession levels and explained that as a result, public colleges and universities have both raised tuition and cut spending since the recession.

In other news, Chad Stone issued a statement on April’s employment report.  We issued a paper showing that state higher education funding remains below pre-recession levels.  We updated our backgrounder on non-defense discretionary programs and our chartbook on the legacy of the Great Recession.

CBPP’s Chart of the Week:

Image

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently.  Here are some highlights:

The GOP's Fiscal Double Standard
U.S. News and World Report
May 2, 2014

Potato lobby eyes nutrition program gains
Politico
May 1, 2014

College tuition is never going back to pre-recession levels
Vox
May 1, 2014

House Budget Committee to Hold Hearing on Poverty
New York Times
April 30, 2014

Republicans pass tax breaks, but don’t pay for them
CNN
April 29, 2014

Great Recession May Cause Some to Retire Later
Black Voice News
April 28, 2014