The glass ceiling will shatter when the practices that support it have been eliminated from labor market hiring, firing and promotion decisions. Since women’s lack of educational credentials is seldom a part of this, the increased pursuit of higher education by young women in this dour economy is unlikely — by itself — to shatter the ceiling.

Young women and young men are both responding rationally to the current economic environment in which being previously unemployed puts one out of the running for many available jobs. Being enrolled in school is not considered being unemployed, so young women are right to think they may have better job prospects by the time they finish school and when the economy has improved.

Read more at The New York Times.

In its deliberations to develop a plan to reduce the federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction considered a proposal to calculate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in all government programs using the Chained Consumer Price Index-Urban (C-CPI-U), rather than the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).

Implementing this proposal would dramatically reduce Social Security benefits for recipients. Although reducing federal program benefits by changing the COLA computation is indeed one way to reduce the deficit, reducing benefits is not the only way to eliminate the 75-year projected shortfall (of 2.2 percent of taxable payroll) for the Social Security system.

The shortfall can be closed by holding benefit levels harmless and, instead, increasing revenue directed to the system. A recent report of the Commission to Modernize Social Security Plan for A New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color offers recommendations for doing just that.

Read more at GlobalPolicy.tv and the Joint Center Blog.

On November 18, I participated in the inaugural event for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ launch of its Institute on Civic Engagement and Governance. I had the opportunity to participate on a plenary panel to discuss the challenges and effects of inequality on public policy with Professor William Darity, from Duke University.  I reflected on President Obama’s unique record in handling record levels of income inequality.

Data from 2010 on income and poverty from the US Census Bureau highlights that the bottom 20 percent of households in America earn only 3.3 percent of total income in the US.  The next quintile, the lower-middle income, earns 8.5 percent of the total, and the middle quintile, the mathematical middle-class, earns 14.6 percent.  This means that the poor, and the middle class and lower-middle class earn a combined 26.4 percent of US income.  That is, the bottom six-in-ten of America gets less than three-in-ten of the income.  This results in a disadvantage for the bottom sixty percent and also develops an economic minority.

Read more at The White House Blog.

Conferences held by think tanks are par for the course in Washington, but the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies sponsored an afternoon of plenary sessions that set this effort apart from the pack.   
 
Policy experts, scholars and leaders in business, politics and civil rights gathered at the National Press Club to take part in the Joint Center’s African-American Economic Summit. It featured discussions focusing on ways to address economic inequalities, build an equitable economy in a competitive world, and devise policy solutions so that all Americans can succeed.

Ralph B. Everett, president and CEO of the Joint Center said, “We wanted to put some solutions on the table so people would have something to be hopeful for. It doesn’t feel good to rehash how bad things are so we wanted to give people something to work toward.”

Read more at BET.

Social researchers and financial experts agree that women investing for retirement--especially those from African-American, Latino and other ethnic communities--are facing tough choices in the wake of the last decade’s financial downturns.

Today’s tough economy leaves female retirees—regardless of whether they’ve had financial guidance—to grapple with decisions about how to invest their hard earned savings. Although retirement research and best-practice recommendations may be sparse, one thing many working women have going for them is their resilience.

---

Experts say that data is limited on how women invest for their post-retirement years, partly because of individuals’ reluctance to share information about their finances, said Wilhelmina Leigh, a senior research associate in economic security for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, in Washington, D.C.

Read more at New America Media.

African Americans and white Americans differ in the type and magnitude of their asset holdings. Perhaps as a result of these differences, the two groups also have differing perspectives on and responses to the 2008-2009 economic downturn. Similarities of perspective exist between the groups as well. For example, both African Americans and whites report similar levels of confidence in the nation’s financial institutions and sector.

These findings are from a survey of 850 African Americans and 850 members of the general U.S. population (including 721 white Americans) that was conducted for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies by Research America between May 21 and June 9, 2009. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies National Opinion Poll about Social Security, Retirement Savings and the Economic Downturn found many striking differences between African Americans and whites on these topics.

This publication can be downloaded by clicking the icon below.

In a briefing held Friday by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), Social Security advocates said cutting seniors’ benefits to pay down the nation’s deficit would be highly destructive for current Social Security recipients and future beneficiaries.

Recently, lawmakers have suggested reforming America’s Social Security plan out of concern that it will run out of money by 2036.

Wilhelmina Leigh, Senior Research Associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, pointed to the deficit reduction plan co-authored last year by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.

Under the proposal, the full-benefit retirement age would be increased beyond 67, the cost-of-living adjustment would be lowered for current and future beneficiaries and the formula for calculating benefits would be heavily altered.

Leigh said the proposal “will close the shortfall by cutting benefits.”

Read more at The Talk Radio News Service.

On Friday the U.S. ratings agency Standard & Poor's slapped the United States with a downgrade, demoting the country from a top-notch AAA credit rating to AA+. Although the nation's other two major agencies, Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings, reaffirmed the United States' AAA credit rating, S&P's move triggered fear through the stock market, which on Monday had its worst day since the 2008 financial crisis.

S&P took further action on Monday, downgrading to AA+ the credit ratings of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other entities linked to long-term U.S. debt.

---

So ... are we going to be OK or not? The Root spoke with Wilhelmina A. Leigh, senior research associate on economic security for the Joint Center of Political and Economic Studies about what the credit downgrade means for your finances, S&P's spotty track record on good judgment and whether this will give Congress the urgency it needs to seriously tackle the deficit.

Read more at The Root.

On August 1, 2011, the Joint Center conducted a webinar that focused on the challenges facing African Americans and other people of color, and particularly their concerns that measures related to the debt ceiling debate could exacerbate already high unemployment and undermine short-term and long-term economic prospects. Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) joined several scholars and economists in a spirited discussion on the day before the President signed the bill into law.

The webinar audio and slideshow can be viewed here. Slides are also available for download.

WHUR Interview with Gina Wood is here.

The most successful blacks and Hispanics are more likely to have poor neighbors than are whites, according to a new analysis of Census data.

The average affluent black and Hispanic household — defined in the study as earning more than $75,000 a year — lives in a poorer neighborhood than the average lower-income non-Hispanic white household that makes less than $40,000 a year.

---

Affluent blacks are more exposed to poverty than the average non-Hispanic white in all but two of the top 50 metro areas with the most black households: Las Vegas and Riverside, Calif.

"Newer growth is less segregated," says Roderick Harrison, sociologist at Howard University and at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "People are coming into neighborhoods that have not become characterized as black or white or Hispanic. They're moving in on a more equal footing."

Read more at USA Today, or Hispanic Business.

This article was previously available at livingstondaily.com.