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Reports & Issue Briefs

Equal Pay Day marks how far into the new year a woman would have to work to earn what a man earned the previous year. The 20 percent gap in earnings between women and men is due to complex factors, including differences in years of work experience, variation in occupation and industry, and discrimination.
This monthly report provides a snapshot of the status of the economic recovery in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This month’s snapshots include state-level data on jobs, unemployment and earnings through December 2016.
President Trump’s so-called “America First” budget actually puts millions of Americans last. Calling for a $54 billion increase in defense spending and a corresponding $54 billion cut for non-defense domestic agencies and programs in FY2018, this “America Last” budget cuts or entirely eliminates critical investments in infrastructure, science and technological research, community development in rural and metropolitan communities, clean air and water, and the health and education of American families.
Many individuals struggling with mental illnesses have only recently begun to access the care they need, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The Medicaid expansion and requirement that mental health be covered as an Essential Health Benefit meant that people could finally get treatment for themselves and their families.
America’s rural communities have long faced challenges with access to affordable health care insurance and services. Doctors and hospitals are farther away, higher poverty rates lead to worse health outcomes and lower coverage rates, and older populations result in more expensive coverage pools.
The Republican plan would cause 24 million Americans to lose their health insurance, cut Medicaid by nearly $900 billion and take away key financial support from working Americans to give tax cuts to wealthy corporate executives.
These state economic snapshots survey the economic situation on the ground in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Although the U.S. economy overall continues its expansion from the Great Recession and associated financial crisis, the recovery can look very different from state to state, and even county to county. While some areas of the country have surged ahead, some regions are still struggling to regain their economic footing.
In 2015, Congress agreed to allow the Treasury to raise the money necessary to pay all the bills for our government’s spending obligations. That agreement will expire on March 16th, 2017 and barring Congressional action, the United States will immediately breach the debt ceiling, forcing Treasury to resort to “extraordinary measures” to prevent a default.