Young Black America Part Two: College Entry and Completion

As documented in part one of this series, the high school completion rate of blacks is currently at the highest it has ever been. This second installment turns to college entry and completion. The data show that blacks are starting -- and finishing -- college at higher rates than in the past, but they still lag far behind whites

Hispanic Workers in the United States

There are about 24 million Hispanic workers in the United States. They come from a variety of backgrounds and face unique challenges in the U.S. labor market. Focusing on trends in the overall Hispanic community can conceal notable differences among Hispanics of different ethnic subgroups.This paper presents data on the Hispanic workforce, highlighting the similarities and differences among Hispanics of different ethnic subgroups. The first section focuses on the diversity of the Hispanic workforce, examining differences based on gender, educational attainment, and citizenship. The second section provides data on several challenges that Hispanics currently face in the labor market, including unemployment, low wages, poverty, language barriers, and low access to health and retirement benefits. The last section shows the impact that union representation has in these areas

Young Black America Part Four: The Wrong Way to Close the Gender Wage Gap

Young blacks in America have had significant improvements in educational attainment since the early 1980s. They are completing high school and college at higher rates than in the past, which has helped to mitigate some of the negative employment effects of past recessions.However, wages for young blacks have declined since the late 1970s, with rates for black men in particular decreasing significantly -- even for those with college degrees. The wage data also continue to show that young blacks have been hit harder than whites during the recent recession and incomplete recovery

Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality

This study uses the most recent Census Bureau data available to examine the trends in unionization for Black workers, focusing on unionization rates as well as the demographic composition of the Black union workforce. This paper also presents data on the impact of unionization on the wages and benefits of Black workers and how these benefits work to reduce racial wage inequality.Unionization rates have been in decline across the board for decades. Despite this fact, Black workers are still more likely than workers of any other race or ethnicity to be unionized. In 2015, 14.2 percent of Black workers and 12.3 percent of the entire workforce were represented by unions, down from 31.7 percent and 23.3 percent, respectively, in 1983. This large decline in unionization has occurred alongside, and contributed to, an increase in overall wage inequality, as well as the widening Black-white wage gap

Who Pays if We Raise the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap?

Most Americans know that their earnings are subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Not as many are aware that the amount of earnings subject to the tax, while subject to change, is capped at the same level for everyone, regardless of total earnings. This year, the maximum wage earnings subject to the payroll tax is $127,200. The cap on the Social Security payroll tax means that those with the highest earnings pay a lower rate.Using Census Bureau data from the latest American Community Survey (ACS), this issue brief updates previous CEPR research to determine how many people would be affected if the payroll tax cap were raised or eliminated

The Price We Pay: Economic Costs of Barriers to Employment for Former Prisoners and People Convicted of Felonies

Despite modest declines in recent years, the large and decades-long blossoming of the prison population ensure that it will take many years before the United States sees a corresponding decrease in the number of former prisoners. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), this report estimates that there were between 14 and 15.8 million working-age people with felony convictions in 2014, of whom between 6.1 and 6.9 million were former prisoners

Young Black America Part Three: Employment, Unemployment, and the Incomplete Recovery

As documented in parts one and two of this series, young blacks are completing high school and college at higher rates than in the past. This third installment and subsequent reports will examine whether these increases in educational attainment have led to better labor market outcomes. The data show that education does make a difference. College-educated young blacks have higher employment rates than less-educated blacks. However, blacks overall still suffer from lower employment rates than whites. This gap in employment rates increased during the recent recession and is still larger than its pre-recession level

Young Black America Part One: High School Completion Rates are at their Highest Ever

By most measures, the educational attainment of blacks is currently at the highest it has ever been. After decades of stagnation, high school completion rates for blacks have increased rapidly since 2000. This issue brief will focus on the high school status completion rates of blacks ages 20 to 24 since 1975. Future reports will focus on other issues facing young blacks, including college graduation rates, unemployment rates, wages, and poverty rates

The Affordable Care Act and the Change in Voluntary Part-time Employment by States

A major goal of the ACA was to give workers the ability to obtain insurance outside of their employment, so that they would not be tied to a job that doesn't meet their needs or fully utilize their skills due of their need for health insurance. The jump in voluntary part-time employment since the exchanges went into operation is an indication that the ACA has had this effect. This paper gives the breakdown of this increase by state. Presumably, if the ACA were repealed without some comparable or better system of insurance put in its place, these numbers should give an indication of how many people would again be forced to seek out full-time employment to get employer-provided health insurance, even though part-time work better fits their needs

Who Would Pay More if the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap Were Raised or Scrapped?

On January 1, 2015, the maximum amount of annual earnings subject to the Social Security tax -- a.k.a. the payroll tax cap -- increased to $118,500. Every year, this cap is adjusted to keep up with inflation. However, many American workers are not aware that any wages above the cap are not taxed by Social Security.This issue brief analyzes Census Bureau data to determine how many workers would be affected if the Social Security payroll tax cap were raised or phased out. We find that the richest 6.1 percent of workers (less than 1 in 15) would pay more if the cap were scrapped. Only the top 1.5 percent (1 in 67) and 0.7 percent (1 in 140) would be affected if the tax were applied to earnings over$250,000 and $400,000, respectively.When we look at the wage earners according to gender, race or ethnicity, age, or state of residence, the share of workers who would be affected by increasing or phasing out the cap varies widely