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Labor Market Policy Research Reports, October 19- October 25, 2013The following labor market policy research reports were recently released:
CEPR and / October 25, 2013
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Latin America and the Caribbean
AULA Blog on Venezuela Gets It WrongCEPR / October 24, 2013
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Has Bill de Blasio Resurrected the Welfare Rights Movement?Shawn Fremstad / October 24, 2013
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Senator Cruz's Health Care Plan Costs Taxpayers $8,000 a YearDean Baker / October 24, 2013
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Educating Robert Samuelson: "Affordable" Insurance is in Reference to the Person Buying ItDean Baker / October 24, 2013
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Addressing Chronic Black Male UnemploymentIn early October, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) released a report entitled “Feel the Heat!” that details the economic status of black men in the United States. Author Linda Harris discusses this group’s high unemployment rates, which she attributes to high incarceration rates, low graduation rates, and a lack of support systems to help black men out of this low-income trap.
Black men have significantly lower employment rates than other demographic groups, but this wasn't always the case. In 1969, the employment rates for men between the ages of 20 and 24 were about 77 percent for blacks and 79 percent for whites. By 2012, the employment rate for young black men dropped to less than 50 percent, while young white men were about 18 percentage points higher at almost 68 percent.
Source: Feel the Heat!
CEPR and / October 23, 2013
report informe
Bringing Back Subprime? The Hazards of Restructuring the GSEsDean Baker and / October 23, 2013
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The Constitutional Issue With Detroit Pensions Shouldn't Be a JokeDean Baker / October 23, 2013
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Drug Patents Are Protectionism, Why Does the NYT Feel the Need for Quotes?Dean Baker / October 23, 2013
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IOM Reports Big Drop in IDP Population after Removing 3 Areas from “Official” Camp ListThe AP reported yesterday that, “the number of Haitians still displaced by the 2010 earthquake has dropped below 200,000… That marks an 89 percent decline since the camp population peaked in July 2010 at 1.5 million people.” According to official figures, the camp population currently stands at 171,974, compared to over 278,000 in June of 2013 at the time of the last report. The drop is the largest over a single reporting period in nearly three years.
Yet, looking closer, over 50 percent of this reduction since June is the result of a decision by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the entity which monitors the camp population, to remove three areas, Canaan, Jerusalem and Onaville from the official camp list. Together, these three areas are home to an estimated 54,045 individuals. The IOM report states:
On July 11th 2013, the Government of Haiti represented by UCLBP (Unité de Construction de Logements et Bâtiments Publics), submitted a formal request to IOM to remove the three settlements from the DTM (i.e. from the list of IDP sites that exist in the country).
The UCLBP request is motivated by the observation that the characteristics of these settlements are those of “… new neighborhoods needing urban planning with a long term view …”, not of IDP sites.
But the situation facing those who reside in the three areas is far from secure. This week Amnesty International reported that:
Residents of the Lanmè Frape area of Canaan, an informal settlement in the municipality of Cabaret, on the northern outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, have had their simple dwellings repeatedly destroyed by police officers accompanied by armed men. The residents told Amnesty International that they have been the victims of attacks on more than 10 occasions over the last 18 months and several of them have also been arrested on unfounded charges for periods of up to a month. Two hundred families currently remain in the Lanmè Frape area, although as many as 600 lived there before the forced evictions began.
Amnesty continues, describing how the area came to be occupied:
The Lanmè Frape area of Canaan is part of a large tract of land which the then government declared for “public use” (utilité publique) two months after the earthquake in March 2010. Tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in the earthquake have subsequently relocated there, but many face eviction from people claiming ownership of the land.
Beyond the previously “official” camp communities of Canaan, Jerusalem and Onaville, it is believed that tens of thousands more families have moved to the surrounding area since the earthquake. Over the last year, the UCLBP has lobbied the international community for funding to make investments in urban planning for the area. According to minutes from the February 2013 Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) meeting (PDF), the head of the UCLBP, Odnell David, made a presentation requesting $15 million as part of a $50 million project to address the situation in Canaan-Jerusalem. The government “has a moral obligation to take care of these people and undertake investment,” David said. Yet, although donor countries all supported the use of HRF funds for investments in the Canaan area, when funding decisions were made this September, no resources were allocated for the project.
There were also other motives for addressing the displacement crisis in Canaan. According to the official minutes, the David explained that, “this area poses a threat to neighboring industrial and touristic development.” Two weeks later, at the next HRF meeting (PDF), he described how this “project is the starting point for the larger project of developing the entire northern area of the city of Port-au-Prince.”
Jake Johnston / October 22, 2013
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Latin America and the Caribbean
Honduras Elections: Violent Attacks Against Opposition Candidates Provoke Increasing ConcernAlexander Main / October 22, 2013
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Part-Time Employment as Share of Total Employment, 2007-2013October 22, 2013
CEPR / October 22, 2013
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Unemployment Edges Down as People Continue to Leave the Workforce in SeptemberOctober 22, 2013 (Jobs Byte)
Dean Baker / October 22, 2013
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Strong Recoveries Ain't What They Used to Be: The Case of the U.K. and Simon NixonDean Baker / October 21, 2013
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Can Greenspan Be Retroactively Impeached As Fed Chair?Dean Baker / October 21, 2013
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After Budget Deal, Time to Move ForwardDean Baker
Truthout, October 21, 2013
The Huffington Post, October 21, 2013
Dean Baker / October 21, 2013
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Obamacare: The Big Job CreatorDean Baker
Al Jazeera English, October 21, 2013
Dean Baker / October 21, 2013
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NPR Expert Tells Listeners that Republican Controlled States May Keep Residents from Getting InsuranceDean Baker / October 21, 2013