1. The New Safety Net: How the Tax Code Helped Low-Income Working Families During the Early 2000s
- Author:
- Alan Berube
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The early years of the twenty- first century marked a period of change in both the labor market and in public policy for the nation's low-income working families. Most prominently, employment conditions deteriorated after 2000. The nation's unemployment rate climbed from 4 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2003. The unemployment rate for workers with less than a high school education rose to nearly 9 percent in 2003. Real hourly wages continued to increase slightly for most workers during this period, but the weak labor market reduced the number of hours worked, along with overall earnings and family incomes. The steady rise in labor force participation among low-income families during the 1990s, spurred in part by the 1996 welfare reform law and other policies to “make work pay,” gave way to a decline after 2000.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- New York