Results tagged “ARRA” from EdLabor Journal

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, authored an op-ed in the Miami Herald yesterday calling community colleges “America’s gateway to the future.” A community college instructor herself, Dr. Biden chaired yesterday’s White House Summit on Community Colleges. Her sentiments are shared by Chairman Miller, who wrote key community college provisions into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act to improve community college job training programs and give students the academic support they need to succeed. Dr. Biden wrote:

“In order to restore America's economic competitiveness and prosperity, the Obama administration has set a goal of once again having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020 -- 10 short years away. Community colleges are central to this effort, and the president has specifically called on community colleges to help an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates in that time. Our challenge is to help these institutions meet the pressing education and job training needs of millions of students working to achieve the American dream. Students just like the ones in my classroom, whose lives are changed by the confidence and opportunity they gain from a quality education.”

…

“In the coming months, we will announce the first $500 million of a $2 billion, four-year investment in community colleges authorized by Congress and signed into law on March 30. This federal investment will support new state-of-the-art education, training and skills development programs to help out-of-work Americans re-enter the job market with increased knowledge and more marketable skills. The funds will enable community colleges to work with universities, business, government and unions to develop career pathways leading to more college graduates ready for the workforce as our economy recovers. In addition, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Obama administration has invested billions of dollars specifically in community colleges.”

The US economy continues to improve under the stewardship of President Obama and the Democratic Congress. The jobs report is further evidence the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is putting people back to work.

As Chairman Miler said, “Today’s news that our nation created the most jobs in three years is a sign that our efforts are helping to move our economy in the right direction. When President Obama first inherited this crisis, our economy was losing around 700,000 jobs a month. Today’s figures reflect what private sector economists have told us: that the Recovery Act has increased economic activity and is helping to restore confidence in families and businesses.

“But, we are not out of the woods yet. All across the country, local communities are announcing layoffs of thousands of teachers, public safety officers and other vital personnel because of tight budgets. These layoffs threaten to reverse today’s positive economic report and stall the real progress we are making. House Democrats and a bipartisan group of mayors introduced legislation to create one million public and private sector jobs to help restore vital services that families and local communities rely on.”

According to the Associated Press, employers added the most jobs in 3 years in March. The jobs report said:

The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts' expectations of 190,000. The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.

Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007.

There are 15 million Americans out of work. More Americans entered the work force last month, which prevented the increase in jobs from reducing the unemployment rate.

Manufacturers added 17,000 jobs, the third straight month of gains. Temporary help services added 40,000, while health care added 37,000. Leisure and hospitality added 22,000.

Even the beleaguered construction industry added 15,000 positions, though that likely reflects a rebound from February, when major snowstorms may have kept many construction workers off payrolls.

The average work week increased to 34 hours from 33.9, a positive sign. Most employers are likely to work current employees longer before they hire new workers.

The department also revised January's job total to show a gain of 14,000, up from a previously reported loss of 26,000. February's job numbers were also revised higher by 22,000 to show a loss of 14,000. The economy has now added jobs in three months since the recession began in December 2007.

One year ago, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In the last year, economists judging the stimulus by job data declare it a success.

But not everyone knows what it has done for them or their communities. The Education and Labor Committee has put together a 30-second video to emphasize the benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

STATE	FUNDS AWARDED	RECIPIENT-REPORTED JOBS	EDUCATION JOBS
Alabama	$2,879,946,703	13,871	5,866
Alaska	$1,599,388,595	1,596	268
Arizona	$3,392,939,821	6,811	2,849
Arkansas	$1,584,748,636	2,829	655
California	$21,650,138,095	71,015	49,982
Colorado	$3,229,978,450	9,407	3,900
Connecticut	$1,851,708,850	7,048	3,975
Delaware	$720,689,064	1,523	705
District of Columbia	$3,044,036,584	3,719	661
Florida	$9,094,185,017	34,966	24,055
Georgia	$4,861,526,252	24,103	14,397
Hawaii	$1,007,797,512	3,014	2,083
Idaho	$1,858,250,061	6,160	4,057
Illinois	$7,805,527,172	11,375	2,602
Indiana	$4,153,669,041	15,278	12,046
Iowa	$2,059,557,824	9,096	6,203
Kansas	$1,565,844,902	6,561	3,883
Kentucky	$2,511,040,050	10,677	7,381
Louisiana	$2,515,219,042	11,322	7,023
Maine	$889,318,291	2,182	336
Maryland	$4,680,473,252	6,759	1,467
Massachusetts	$4,713,047,794	9,261	3,215
Michigan	$7,319,327,513	20,140	9,313
Minnesota	$2,978,457,783	12,291	6,952
Mississippi	$2,071,100,200	3,412	602
Missouri	$3,390,575,173	16,074	11,462
Montana	$1,162,870,408	4,121	1,579
Nebraska	$1,079,872,241	3,849	1,703
Nevada	$1,427,100,987	3,149	2,005
New Hampshire	$824,716,551	1,295	261
New Jersey	$4,582,612,624	21,512	15,907
New Mexico	$2,223,479,041	4,582	2,373
New York	$12,373,720,643	43,061	30,157
North Carolina	$5,437,207,212	26,119	19,039
North Dakota	$885,135,966	2,698	1,613
Ohio	$6,445,027,536	24,705	11,881
Oklahoma	$2,329,598,907	7,999	4,903
Oregon	$2,241,634,383	9,657	5,623
Pennsylvania	$6,816,672,122	12,238	2,661
Rhode Island	$794,028,907	1,345	194
South Carolina	$5,765,646,903	11,024	4,947
South Dakota	$950,346,898	3,244	602
Tennessee	$5,941,032,774	10,259	3,749
Texas	$12,423,955,147	28,460	18,577
Utah	$1,761,439,655	4,740	1,955
Vermont	$624,753,124	1,624	294
Virginia	$4,319,924,264	9,877	5,079
Washington	$7,867,066,655	14,413	5,464
West Virginia	$1,480,743,335	2,195	641
Wisconsin	$2,948,665,736	10,316	4,338
Wyoming	$562,557,420	851	18
TERRITORY	FUNDS AWARDED	RECIPIENT-REPORTED JOBS	EDUCATION JOBS
Northern Mariana Islands	$84,398,311	138	55
Puerto Rico	$2,340,754,806	14,506
TOTAL	$199,662,327,231	599,108

Note: “Funds Awarded” includes federal contract, grant, and loan awards for individual states and territories, as reported by prime recipients for the period February 17-December 31, 2009. “Recipient-Reported Jobs”covers the period October 1-December 31, 2009.
Source: recovery.gov 

“Education Jobs” are reported from the Department of Education for the period October 1-December 31, 2009, and include jobs such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors. Source: Department of Education

Inside Higher Ed has an article today on the report by the State Higher Education Executive Officers. The report looks at funding levels for universities. It says:

In the 2009 fiscal year, state support for higher education fell by $2.8 billion to $77.9 billion, but an infusion of $2.4 billion in federal funds largely offset those losses.
...
Just as states were seeing revenues decline, the enrollment boom hit a record high of 10.8 million students at public institutions – an uptick of 3.4 percent between 2008 and 2009. In a predictable pattern for a recession, those students have been carrying a greater share of the cost of their education. Indeed, 37.3 percent of education revenue came from tuition in 2009 -- an increase of 2.6 percentage points in five years, the report notes.

Thanks to the backstop in federal funds, universities all over America were able to keep teaching, even with a higher enrollment.

Learn how the American Recovery and Reinvestment helped backstop education funding gaps at local and state levels allowing teachers to stay in the classrooms and students to learn.

 

The 111th Congress inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the legacy of eight years of failed Bush economic policies. Over the past year, House Democrats have led an unprecedented effort to prevent a devastating recession from turning into a depression and revive our economy.

The House Education and Labor Committee has been at the center of this effort by working to address the direct concerns of the working Americans feeling the deep pain of this crisis and help rebuild our nation’s middle class. While much more needs to be done, below is an overview of the top ten areas the Committee made progress on in 2009 to improve the lives of children, students, workers and families.

On December 3rd, ABC World News with Charles Gibson investigated whether or not the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was creating jobs. It found that the ARRA was doing exactly as it was suppose to do, create jobs. They interview a skeptic turned believer whose life has changed because of stimulus investments.

Today, the Project on Student Debt released a report, “Student Debt and the Class of 2008,” providing state-by-state data on the amount of debt college students amassed. Overall, it found that "student debt continued to rise even as it got harder for recent graduates to find jobs, and that debt levels vary considerably from state to state and college to college. Nationwide, average debt for graduating seniors with loans rose from $18,650 in 2004 to $23,200 in 2008, or about six percent per year. State averages for debt at graduation in 2008 ranged from highs near $30,000 to a low of $13,000. High-debt states are concentrated in the Northeast, while low-debt states are mostly in the West. At the college level, average debt varied even more, from $5,000 to $106,000. Colleges with higher tuition tend to have higher average debt, but there are many examples of high tuition and low average debt, and vice versa."

As Committee Member, Dina Titus of Nevada, says, “A higher education is vital to the future success of our nation’s young adults, and in order to attract good jobs of tomorrow to Nevada, we must have an educated workforce that is prepared to get the job done. The actions the House has taken this year will go a long way toward lowering the cost of college and reducing the burden on our students and their families.”

So far this year, the House of Representatives has taken a number of steps to bring down the cost of a college education and reduce the amount of debt students and their families face. In September, the House passed the single largest investment in aid to help students and families pay for college. The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act reforms the federal student loan system, saving taxpayers $87 billion. Of that savings, $10 billion goes toward deficit reduction and $77 billion goes toward making college more affordable through investments in Pell Grants, college access and completion support programs, and community colleges.

On July 1, a number of new benefits took effect to make college more affordable. Interest rates on subsidized federal student loans decreased from 6 percent to 5.6 percent. This was the second of four annual cuts to this rate, and it will continue to drop until it reaches 3.4 percent in 2011. Under the Income-Based Repayment program, borrowers’ monthly loan payments can be capped at 15 percent of their discretionary income.

Finally, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress in February, the maximum Pell Grant Award was increased by $500 to $5,350 for 2009-2010 and to $5,550 for 2010-2011.

Last night, the CBO released a report on the Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output as of September 2009.

Bloomberg reported on the findings:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the $787 billion stimulus package approved in February lowered the nation’s unemployment rate by between 0.3 and 0.9 percentage points.

That’s a boost for the administration, which faced renewed questions last month over how many jobs the stimulus has produced after the Government Accountability Office said it found “significant” problems with the White House’s tally. The administration has estimated the stimulus created or saved 640,329 jobs through October.

The report by the CBO, released yesterday, “leaves no doubt that the economy would be in much worse shape if the recovery act had not been implemented,” said House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, a California Democrat. “As the Obama administration and Congress continue to explore additional strategies to create jobs and build a foundation for long-term economic growth, it is critical to acknowledge the progress that has already been made.”

...

The CBO said the White House’s 640,329 jobs figure underestimated the number created or saved because it only includes reports from entities receiving federal grants, contracts or loans through the stimulus package. That doesn’t include jobs created indirectly through tax cuts or the effect of expanded unemployment benefits that were part of the legislation. Those benefits “probably had substantial effects on purchases of goods and services and thus on employment,” the CBO said.

Additionally, the report also reinforces that the estimates only capture jobs created by direct spending – they do not measure the “spillover effect” of jobs created or saved indirectly due to higher incomes or increased demand for goods and services.

This will not be the final report because "the recipients’ reports reflect only about one quarter of the total dollar amount of spending increases or tax reductions that resulted through September 2009 from ARRA’s policies.” [emphasis added]

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s impact on the economy and employment and found that in the third quarter of 2009, because of recovery dollars, 600,000 to 1.6 million more U.S. workers had jobs; Gross Domestic Product was 1.2 percent to 3.2 percent higher; and the unemployment rate was 0.3 to 0.9 percentage points lower than it would have been if no action had been taken. The report also reinforces that the estimates only capture jobs created by direct spending – they do not measure the “spillover effect” of jobs created or saved indirectly due to higher incomes or increased demand for goods and services.

Chairman George Miller, a key architect of the education investments in ARRA, said, “This report leaves no doubt that the economy would be in much worse shape if the Recovery Act had not been implemented: up to 1.6 million fewer Americans would have jobs, unemployment would be higher, and GDP would be lower. As the Obama administration and Congress continue to explore additional strategies to create jobs and build a foundation for long-term economic growth, it is critical to acknowledge the progress that has already been made as a result of these policies – and that our economy was rescued from the brink of what could have been an even more devastating catastrophe. This snapshot offers encouraging signs – but is also a reminder that we still have a long road ahead to continue growing jobs, reviving our economy, and helping every worker and family feeling the very deep pain of this crisis.”

According to a preliminary review by the USA Today, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has created or saved more than 388,000 jobs so far this year.That number is only for jobs created directly by the stimulus package and doesn't include jobs created indirectly by workers spending their new earnings.

While jobs were created across all sectors of the economy, the USA Today highlights some jobs created in the education sector.

The states' reports suggest the biggest impact has been at schools. Twenty-three states that have reported school job numbers said more than 156,000 jobs had been created or saved.

Carol Bingham, director of fiscal policy for the California Department of Education, estimated the stimulus saved about 20,000 teaching positions. But she and others warn that precisely counting saved jobs has proved almost impossible. "It was intended to be a count. The way it was done, I think it's going to end up being an estimate," she said.

Indiana officials reported that the stimulus had created or saved about 13,000 school jobs. Asked whether he had any idea how many layoffs the plan had prevented, state Education Department spokesman Cam Savage replied: "I really don't."

Learn more about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and read Chairman Miller's statement about the Administration's estimates on education jobs.

The big economic news for today is that the jobless rate has dipped to 9.4% in July, down 0.1% from June.

Employers throttled back on layoffs in July, cutting just 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent, its first decline in 15 months.

Although the unemployment number is still too high, it is headed in the right direction. This improvement is validation that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is working.

Specifically, the Committee is pleased to see the efforts in key areas are working.

• Modernizing our schools and universities – creating green jobs
• Investing in early education
• Helping states prevent teacher layoffs and other critical public sector jobs
• Training workers for 21st century jobs
• Creating service and volunteer opportunities to rebuild America

US News and World Reports has an article answering the 8 Questions You May Have About the New COBRA Subsidy. It is a good addendum to our Our Frequently Asked Questions on the COBRA Premium Reduction.

Michelle Andrews wrote:

Anxious readers who had lost their jobs wanted to know how they could apply for the subsidy, which will cover 65 percent of laid-off workers' COBRA health insurance premiums if they choose to continue their health insurance under their former employer's plan. The reason for their concern is no mystery: The federal law known as COBRA that permits them to extend their health insurance also requires them to pay 100 percent of the premium, plus an administrative fee of 2 percent. For people trying to get by on an unemployment insurance check of around $325 a week, shelling out $1,000 or more a month for health insurance is often not feasible. Even a helping hand of 65 percent doesn't make COBRA cheap, but for some the subsidy will at least make coverage affordable.

If you have questions about the COBRA subsidy make sure to visit our FAQ, the article and the Department of Labor's COBRA website.

In Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, they highlighted how the $100 billion in funding dedicated to education touches programs for almost every age group, from early-childhood programs to financial aid for college students.

Some highlights include:

Early Childhood - The law provides $5 billion for early-childhood programs, including the federally funded Head Start for low-income families.

K-12 - The law calls for distribution of $53.6 billion in "stabilization" funds that will go to states to help avert further education cuts...the Atlanta Public School District, whose general fund is expected to decline to $640 million next school year from the current $661 million, says that the stabilization funds will help save teaching jobs and avert potential cuts to programs, such as professional-development workshops for teachers and student counseling.

Another $12 billion is set aside specifically for programs related to students with disabilities.

Included in the stimulus package is up to $33.6 billion toward school modernization. At the Indianapolis Public Schools, school officials have created a "working document" over the past two weeks to identify structural priorities in their 72 school buildings that could be addressed with stimulus money. "Frankly, it's student safety," says spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley. "Things like ensuring exterior doors are working well."

Higher Education - The stimulus law increases Pell Grants for low-income students to a maximum of $5,350 from the current $4,731 and provides an additional $200 million boost for the federal work-study program, where the government and colleges provide funds to pay students who work part-time.

Read the rest here

In today's USA Today, Sandra Block highlights some of the important provisions regarding ensuring continued access to health care for unemployed workers in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

The economic stimulus package signed into law last month seeks to address the high costs by subsidizing COBRA premiums for unemployed workers. Under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, laid-off workers can continue their former employer's health coverage for up to 18 months, but only if they pay the entire premium, plus a 2% administrative fee. Average COBRA premiums exceed $400 a month for individuals, and more than $1,000 a month for families.

The stimulus package will subsidize 65% of COBRA premiums for employees who were laid off between Sept. 1 and the end of this year. If you delayed signing up for COBRA coverage when you lost your job, you have 60 days to re-enroll after you receive a notice from your employer.

Read the rest of the article for additional important information about eligibility and COBRA expiry.