Job Growth since Recession Continues, but Quality is Mixed
After major job loss in the Great Recession, Kentucky’s economy has gradually improved and the state has added 141,000 jobs...
Jobs and the Economy
Busting a Right-to-Work Myth: Why Unions Need to Cover ‘Free Riders’ in RTW States
Despite misleading explanations from “right-to-work” (RTW) advocates, the point of such laws is straightforward: weaken workers’ ability to band together through unions for better job conditions and pay. The law...
Kentucky’s Lopsided Recovery
Job growth in Kentucky has picked up over the last year, and every county saw a decline in its unemployment rate from March 2014 to March 2015. However, a closer...
Missing Workers Problem Dampens Drop in Unemployment Rate
Kentucky’s economy has garnered headlines for the decline in the state’s unemployment rate, which fell sharply from 7.9 percent in December 2013 to just 5.7 percent in December 2014. However,...
Manufacturing is Still Crucial to Kentucky’s Economy, Workers
Despite steep job losses over the last two decades resulting largely from problematic trade policies and economic recession, manufacturing still plays a key role in Kentucky’s economy. A new report...
Trade Deficit with China Has Cost 41,100 Kentucky Jobs, Many in Manufacturing
Kentucky has paid heavily for the U.S.’s growing trade deficit with China—41,100 fewer jobs between 2001 and 2013 according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Since...
Some Manufacturing Jobs Growing in Kentucky, but Not at Wages of Before
The recession hit Kentucky manufacturing jobs hard, with the state losing 48,800 or nearly 20 percent of its manufacturing employment between December 2007 and February 2010. In the last four...
Energy Future Contains Risks But Also Opportunities for Kentucky
KCEP Director Jason Bailey made the following remarks on the panel “EPA’s Carbon Pollution Rules and Kentucky” at the 2014 Governor’s Conference on Energy and the Environment: As we talk...
Don’t Pop the Champagne on a Job Recovery Just Yet
To glance at the recent headlines on jobs in Kentucky, you'd think things are really looking up. The latest monthly unemployment rate dropped from 7.4 percent to 7.1 percent. A...
There’s Precedent for the Transition Assistance Eastern Kentucky Needs
The new power plant rules proposed this week will make coal less competitive in the coming decades. It's just one factor pointing toward continued decline in eastern Kentucky coal production,...