By UC Berkeley Labor Center

Nearly half of California workers will retire in or near poverty, shows a new study released by the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education, "California Workers' Retirement Prospects"

While retirement security is and will be a problem in the whole of the nation, the situation is worse in California, because California workers have less access to employer retirement plans than workers in the United States as a whole, according to the study authors.

They found that retired people across the state rely overwhelmingly on Social Security income, a trend that could worsen as future workers retire without employer-sponsored benefits. Two-thirds of retirees in poverty are women, who are significantly more likely than men to be poor.

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by David Madland, Karla Walter, and Nick Bunker

Why should anyone--especially those who are not union members--care that union membership is at record lows and likely to fall even further? Because if you care about the middle class, you need to care about unions.

Critics of unions claim they are unimportant today or even harmful to the economy, but unions are essential for building a strong middle class. And rebuilding the middle class after decades of decline and stagnation is essential for restoring our economy.

Unions make the middle class strong by ensuring workers have a strong voice in both the market and in our democracy. When unions are strong they are able to ensure that workers are paid fair wages, receive the training they need to advance to the middle class, and are considered in corporate decision-making processes. Unions also promote political participation among all Americans, and help workers secure government policies that support the middle class, such as Social Security, family leave, and the minimum wage.

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By Heather Kerrigan

Kentucky's Hispanic population has grown rapidly. Though the size of the state's total Hispanic population ranks 39th in the nation, Kentucky consistently ranks in the top ten of all states for Hispanic population growth. Between 1990 and 2000, this population grew 173 percent. Much of the increase was driven by migrant farm workers.

Kentucky needed to find a way to provide services to its Spanish-speaking population. Some social service organizations in the state are required by federal law to have Spanish-speaking staff members. The law does not apply, however, to the customer service departments in the state, meaning that some state residents could have trouble receiving essential services or information. Without having these needs met, government suspicion and distrust can quickly develop.

Read more at Governing.com >>

By Melissa Maynard, Stateline Staff Writer

There has been a lot of talk of privatization in New Jersey since Republican Chris Christie became governor this year. Soon after taking office, Christie appointed a task force to study outsourcing opportunities for the state. Since that group issued its recommendations [PDF] in May, the idea of using contractors to enforce building codes, collect highway tolls, run state parks and perform other key functions of state government has been the subject of a hot and healthy debate.

The point of airing out these ideas, Christie said in an executive order [PDF] establishing the task force, was to subject privatization plans "to a fresh, candid and independent examination." So it came as a surprise to many in New Jersey last month when one state agency, the Department of Environmental Protection, quietly moved to contract out sensitive government work that appeared nowhere in the task force's report.

Read more at StateLine.org >>

Recently, there has been a great deal of debate and consternation over the compensation of public-sector employees across the U.S. It has been asserted that state and local government employees are overpaid compared to workers in the private sector. In California government workers have been vilified as scandals and anecdotes pass as confirming evidence of exorbitant pay. This research is especially important given the outrage over the pay of municipal officials in Bell, California. The outrage over what happened in Bell is reasonable and just. Many of the players immediately resigned and on September 21, 2010 eight city officials were arrested. Those arrested include the former city manager of Bell, Robert Rizzo, who was making nearly $800,000 a year. Rizzo was charged with 53 counts. It is alleged that Rizzo, without approval from the City Council, actually wrote the conditions of his own contract--the case keeps growing in terms of scope and involved officials. It is clear by the arrests and scores of allegations that the situation in Bell was not in line with usual procedures.

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Expanding prison populations and revenue shortfalls have devastated state budgets across the county.  In response, Missouri is now providing judges with the average cost to incarcerate an individual for a particular crime prior to actual sentencing with an eye on increasing fiscal awareness in sentencing.  Dubbed the "Smart Sentencing Program," the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission (MOSAC) initiated the project in August 2010.

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At a time when more Americans are living longer, raising the retirement age may seem like a good way to strengthen Social Security.

EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey explains why it is not.

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Employees of state & local government earn an average of 11% and 12% less, respectively, than comparable private sector employees. An analysis spanning two decades shows the pay gap between public and private sector employees has widened in recent years.

This new study from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security finds that when all factors are taken into account, state and local employees earn less than than their counterparts in the private sector.

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By Ken Jacobs, Laurel Lucia and T. William Lester

This policy brief compares the economic impact of the Governor's 2010-2011 budget with an alternative budget approach that includes revenue increases. The Governor's cuts-only approach would result in the loss of 331,000 full-time equivalent jobs, $36 billion in economic output and $1.9 billion in state and local tax revenue, mostly as a result of cuts to major health and human services programs that bring in significant federal matching funds. A mixed budget approach that includes revenue increases would result in half the reduction in economic output, save $1.1 billion in state and local tax revenue, and save nearly 244,000 jobs.

Read the summary [PDF] >>

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