This fact sheet, by the Urban Institute’s Unemployment and Recovery Project, depicts the changes in employment and low-skill employment by State between 2007 and August of 2011. While the employment-to-population ratio has remained relatively constant since its sharp decline in 2009, new jobs have only been able to keep up with population growth. Employers have not been able to replace the jobs lost as a result of the recession. The employment losses have been felt more intensely by America’s low-skilled workers who have seen a 15.3 percent decline in employment since 2007, as compared to a 5.6 percent decline for workers of all skill levels. This fact sheet shows great disparities among States with regards to their employment losses for low-skill workers and workers of all skill levels, suggesting distinct recovery needs.

The National Resource Center for Tribes (NRC4Tribes), a member of the Children’s Bureau, Child Welfare Training and Technical Assistance Network, recently conducted a needs assessment of practices within Tribal child welfare among federally recognized American Indian and Alaskan Native Tribes. The report summarizes the need for specific technical assistance in five main areas within Tribal child welfare programs: (1) Tribal child welfare practice, (2) foster care and adoption, (3) the Indian Child Welfare Act, (4) legal and judicial, and (5) Tribal child welfare operations. Overall, the report recognized the need for a strengthened culturally-based Tribal Child Welfare infrastructure that provided increased communication between Tribes in order to share practices and knowledge as well as effective staff recruitment and training. The report also provides an overview of Tribal child welfare programs and a summary of the methods exercised in conducting the needs assessment.

This brief was published by the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Technical Assistance and Research Center to Promote Leadership for Increasing the Employment and Economic Independence of Adults with Disabilities. The brief examines activities in place to help TANF recipients with disabilities move forward on the path to employment. It looks at opportunities and challenges for state governments in crafting supports and services, and offers a glimpse of strategies and approaches that some state TANF agencies are using to help recipients with a mental or physical disability secure and maintain employment.

On October 10, 2011, Sentier Research released its first report on a new monthly series that examines household income trends within the United States. This report researched household income trends within the context of the economic recovery from June 2009 to June 2011. In order to further analyze median household income each month, the report applies a Household Income Index (HII), which is tracked from January 2000 and will be evaluated through the Fall of 2012 when the U.S. Census Bureau releases its income and poverty report for 2011. Also included in the report is median household income data unique to demographic, economic and social groups, as well as a graph of the HII and the unemployment rate from January 2000 to June 2011.

This descriptive report from Chapin Hall of the University of Chicago depicts the changing characteristics of Chicago’s workforce and the evolving needs of the local economy. Through the use of data from the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) from 1970-2009, this report describes Chicago’s population and demographic characteristics; changes in local industries; employment rates and labor force participation; and employment changes among special populations, such as youth and older adults. To provide further context, Chicago’s population, local economy, and labor force are compared to those of other metropolitan areas. This report provides workforce development policymakers and practitioners with information, including: the high employment rates, low educational returns, and wage inequalities for Hispanics; the overlap of predominantly black neighborhoods with areas of high unemployment; Chicago’s strong educational attainment results; the shift in industry from manufacturing to service; and the needs of special populations.

Current statistics show that one in three adults is obese, and from 1980 to the present, the number of obese children has tripled. Obesity is particularly a problem in low-income communities of color, and research is showing that low-income communities have little access to healthy food establishments. This resource, from Policy Link, offers four solutions for increasing healthy food establishments in these areas, which include developing new grocery stores, improving small stores, connecting farmers to low-income communities, and sustaining farmers markets in such areas.

From the Center for the Study of Social Policy, this Financing Community Change Brief discusses the role of housing in fostering well-being for children and families, given the collapse of the housing market from the current economic recession. Research shows that living in a distressed neighborhood increases the effects of family poverty on individual educational achievement, economic prospects, and individual health because such areas often lack the supports, services, and opportunities to help provide a safety net for residents. Authors discuss how Federal housing policy has helped such families in the past and how it can support families in the future by fostering community development.

Using a panel of 4,500 children matched to their mothers from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth datasets, authors analyze the impact of a family’s income on child achievement to understand possible causal effects an increase in family income, such as through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Specifically, a $1,000 increase in income is shown to equate to child gains in reading and math test scores, and the increase in scores is larger for children in more disadvantaged families.

Annually released by the Giving USA Foundation, this report details trends in charitable donating throughout 2010, the types of organizations giving money, and which charitable causes are receiving the funds. In 2010, contributions totaled $290.89 billion, which was a 3.8 percent increase over 2009, and 35 percent of the total was given to religious organizations and 14 percent to education.

Using data from the Current Population Survey, the Urban Institute published a fact sheet on the Unemployment and Recovery project. Primarily focusing on individuals with education levels of a high school degree or less, the severity and rate at which unemployment is experienced in this population is discussed. Across all industries, the less educated continued to lose their jobs, which was the most prevalent in lower wage industries, including accommodation/food services, agriculture/forestry/fishing, private households, other services except private households, retail trade, arts/entertainment/recreation, administrative, and waste management.