Kentucky’s Inflation-Adjusted Minimum Wage Now at Its Lowest Since 1950
Today marks 14 years since the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 an hour to $7.25. For the dozens of...
Analysis
Drop in Income Tax Receipts Is a Glimpse of Future Trouble
Five months into Kentucky’s experiment in reducing the individual income tax rate, the verdict is unsurprising. Cutting the rate is causing income tax receipts to fall despite low unemployment and...
13,000 Older Kentuckians Face Increased Hunger After SNAP Changes in Debt Deal
With the nation's second highest rate of food insecurity among people in their 50s, Kentucky will be hit especially hard by cuts in food assistance for older Americans included in...
Three Years of Kentucky’s Jobs Recovery in Four Charts
In April 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic bottomed out the economy, and Kentucky lost 294,900 jobs – or 15.0% of the workforce – in just two months. New...
Medicaid Renewal Process Underway for the First Time Since Start of Pandemic
Kentucky, like every other state, is re-starting its Medicaid renewals process after a three-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing downturn. During this year-long process, the state must...
More Than 17,000 Kentuckians Could Lose Food Aid With Return of SNAP Work Reporting Requirements
An estimated 17,300 Kentuckians will soon be at risk of losing much-needed grocery money due to newly reinstated requirements that tie food aid to reporting employment hours. Unless these Kentuckians...
How Kentucky Can Combat the Growing Scourge of Child Labor
Nearly 100 years after President Franklin Roosevelt called child labor an “ancient atrocity” and took action to abolish it, the scourge of exploiting kids through work is back. Corporate violations...
Public Schools Are Becoming a Lower State Budget Priority
Preschool through 12th grade public education has become less of a Kentucky budget priority in recent years, according to the official analyses of enacted budgets published by the Office of...
Kentucky’s Basic Cash Assistance Program Just Got a Much-Needed Update
Kentucky’s basic cash assistance program for families with young children was recently overhauled to make long-overdue and badly needed improvements benefitting children and families across the commonwealth. These changes in...
Progress Made on Drug Policy in 2023, Though the Legislature Increased Other Criminal Penalties
If Kentucky were a country, it would be the seventh most incarcerated place in the world – with more than 21,000 people held in county jails, 65% of which are...