Category Archives: Allyson Fredericksen

Graduates Struggle Under a Mountain of Debt

College is supposed to be the pathway to a better job and a better life, but for students across the country college is also the pathway to a life of debt. Since 2008, states across the country have decreased their investment in higher education, with every state except for Alaska and North Dakota providing lessContinue reading “Graduates Struggle Under a Mountain of Debt”

Let’s Truly Celebrate Workers’ Contributions – With a Living Wage

Is Labor Day just a day to celebrate workers’ labor in name, without ensuring that those workers actually benefit? “The basic bargain of America is that no matter who you are, where you come from or what you look like, if you work hard & play by the rules, you can make it, ” saysContinue reading “Let’s Truly Celebrate Workers’ Contributions – With a Living Wage”

Fair Wages Aren’t Enough, Workers Need Hours, Predictability, too

There’s no question that working families across the country are struggling to get by; wages for most income levels have been stagnant or declining over the past decade, while the cost of living has continued to increase. One key to helping working families is increasing wages so that there are more living wage jobs available.Continue reading “Fair Wages Aren’t Enough, Workers Need Hours, Predictability, too”

Tools to Rescue Underwater Homeowners When Outreach Isn’t Enough

As previously discussed in Alliance reports, the housing crisis is over for some, but there are still millions of homeowners across the country struggling to pay off mortgages that are valued at more than the current worth of their homes. When combined with a sluggish labor market forcing many families to make due on lessContinue reading “Tools to Rescue Underwater Homeowners When Outreach Isn’t Enough”

Seeking Creative Ways to Help Underwater Homeowners

In 2007, the nation’s housing bubble burst, leading to the Great Recession of 2008 and a rapid drop in property values across the country. While the recession officially ended in 2009, more than 9 million homeowners across the country still have mortgages on homes that are now worth less than they owe. These underwater mortgagesContinue reading “Seeking Creative Ways to Help Underwater Homeowners”

Tipping Subminimum Wage in Favor of Workers

When you go out to dinner at a restaurant you might ask for salad dressing on the side, whether the carrots are organic, or if the chicken is free range, but do you ever ask the restaurant owner if her employees make a living wage? Waitresses and waiters are the largest group of tipped workersContinue reading “Tipping Subminimum Wage in Favor of Workers”

Critics Overstate Job Loss in CBO Report; Living Wage Lifts Families from Poverty

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released a report on the estimated effects of increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 and indexing it to inflation by 2016. Opponents of the increase have jumped on the report’s (questionable) conclusion that it would cost jobs, while many in favor of increasing the minimum wage have focused on theContinue reading “Critics Overstate Job Loss in CBO Report; Living Wage Lifts Families from Poverty”

Living Wage: A New Battle in the War on Poverty

Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson announced a War on Poverty in America, more than 46.5 million people in our country, about one out of every seven, still struggle to get enough to eat or have a place to live. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that for people of color, the poverty rate is evenContinue reading “Living Wage: A New Battle in the War on Poverty”