The State of Working Kentucky 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic downturn reshaped Kentucky’s economy in ways that are still revealing themselves thirty months after...
Jobs & The Economy
State Workers Help Us All; It’s Past Time to Help Them Too
Everyone in the commonwealth relies on services provided by the state government, and the workers providing them are our friends, neighbors and family. They help children in crisis, defend those...
Personnel Cabinet Recommends Improving Compensation to Stave off State Workforce Crisis
Kentucky faces a crisis-level shortage of workers in state government. Past legislative actions resulting in poor job quality for public defenders, social workers and all other public service positions mean...
Addressing Corporate Power Is Key to Tackling Inflation
Inflation is straining Americans’ budgets. While the immediate cause is the COVID-19 pandemic, the preexisting condition of corporate-driven policy choices over recent decades has made the problem much worse. A...
Kentucky’s Jobs Recovery Is Very Strong — False Claims to the Contrary Are Being Used to Justify Harmful Benefit Cuts
Kentucky is currently experiencing a historically strong recovery from the devastating job losses that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. By April 2020, Kentucky had lost 294,900 jobs,...
Let’s Do More Than Light a Candle for the Mayfield Factory Workers
Eight people died in the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory when it was hit by a massive tornado last Friday night, and there were serious injuries among the 102 other...
New Federal Infrastructure Law Moves Kentucky Forward
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which the President has now signed into law, includes much-needed new investments in modernizing Kentucky's physical infrastructure. The law funds a broad array...
Understanding the Workforce Requires Being Honest About Work
The latest version of a decades-long narrative that Kentuckians lack the motivation to work now says we have a “workforce crisis.” Like in the past, this story from employers ignores...
Honor Labor Day by Supporting Workers as if They Are Essential
Starting last year, as COVID-19 led people to social distance and quarantine, a new term entered the lexicon: "essential worker." Though everyday working people have always been the key to...
$300 Weekly Jobless Benefit Is Good for Kentucky’s Economy
The expanded $300 a week in federally-funded jobless benefits known as Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) is providing a necessary bridge for families and the economy as we begin to...