Third and State

Happy Labor Day! For those of you lucky enough to be off to enjoy this time with family and friends, be sure to thank all those you encounter who are working today.

As we do each year around this time, the Keystone Research Center has released the State of Working Pennsylvania. My co-author, a.k.a El Jefe, has an op-ed this morning in the Patriot News where he lays out the theme of this year's report.

• Stephen Herzenberg, Harrisburg Patriot-News Op-Ed — U.S. middle class can't afford another lost decade

The next three figures lay out the major elements of this year's State of Working Pennsylvania: employment growth over the last decade has been weak (Figure 1.10); as a result, incomes over the last decade declined (Figure 1.11); and in the first year of the recovery and of the new decade, income inequality resumed its growth as the top 1% increased their share of all income (Figure 5.1). 

With job growth weak and many policymakers advocating that we lay off more teachers and continue to put off needed investments in infrastructure, we are very concerned that working and middle-class families may end the next decade with less income from work than they started with in 2010.