Economic Security

Survey Says: More People Without Insurance; Employment and Incomes Rising, If Unevenly

September 10, 2019

Today the U.S. Census Bureau published its annual release of national-level statistics on income, poverty and health insurance coverage. As we wrote in our previous blog post, these statistics are based on the Current Population Survey, which is useful...

State of Working Arkansas

September 2, 2019

It’s been more than a decade since the Great Recession officially ended, and unemployment rates across the nation have reached historic lows. That’s also true in Arkansas, where the unemployment rate averaged 3.8 percent in 2018 based on an...

Who Benefits from Opportunity Zones?

August 28, 2019

“Opportunity Zones,” But For Whom? Part of the 2017 federal tax cut bill, the “Tax Cut and Jobs Act,” created a new tax break meant to encourage investment in low-income areas. These “opportunity zones” allow for favorable capital gains...

More Evidence: Minimum Wage Increases Raise Pay Without Decreasing Employment

July 23, 2019

Growing evidence shows that minimum wage increases help to increase take-home pay and reduce poverty without reducing employment. That’s why Arkansans overwhelmingly voted to raise the minimum wage in 2018. As we wrote last week, the CBO confirmed the...

New CBO Report Shows Big Reductions in Family Poverty

July 15, 2019

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released a report analyzing the economic impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 in 2025. They find that a federal $15 minimum wage would boost worker pay, increase the income of...

Recent Publications

view all publications

An Arkansas EITC Would Lead to Healthier Arkansans

July 25, 2019

by John Cook, Ph.D., M.A.Ed., Research Scientist and Principal Investigator, Children’s HealthWatch; Richard Sheward, MPP, Deputy Director of Innovative Partnerships, Children’s HealthWatch; Bruno Showers, Senior Policy Analyst, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families; and Eduardo Ochoa, Jr., MD, Principal Investigator,...

Investing in Arkansans with a Working Families Tax Credit

January 10, 2019

Around 300,000 working Arkansans, many of whom are parents with children at home, would qualify for a Working Families Tax Credit, and almost $40 million would return to Arkansas’s economy.

Child Poverty in Northwest Arkansas: Policy Solutions to Build a Stronger Community

September 13, 2018

Statewide, many people think of Northwest Arkansas as a place where poverty is rare, where families and communities thrive in a booming economy. But as our updated Northwest Arkansas Child Poverty report explains, thousands of families struggle to get...

Infographic: A How-To for Reporting Work Activities and Exemptions in Arkansas Works

July 10, 2018

In June 2018, Arkansas became the first state to officially implement a requirement to work in a Medicaid expansion program – known here in Arkansas as Arkansas Works. Some Arkansas Works enrollees began reporting work activities or exemptions in June....

Steps to Health and Wealth (infographic)

June 4, 2018

The foundation for health and wealth starts at birth and influences success at every stage of life. Learn more in our latest infographic or in its parent publication “Health and Wealth in Arkansas.”

Campaigns

view all