EITC News Conference Highlights

Emanuel, IRS Commissioner, Northwestern President, Business Leaders Outline Plan to Put More Money in the Pockets of Working Families

Here are some highlights from this morning’s news conference in Chicago that spotlighted efforts to inform low-wage employees about the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, Northwestern University President Henry S. Bienen and CVS Corporation’s Steve Wing today outlined their efforts to ensure working families receive tax breaks through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In Congress, Emanuel has introduced bipartisan legislation that would help expand the use of the Earned Income Tax Credit. At the press conference, President Bienen and Steve Wing announced Northwestern and CVS’s support for Emanuel’s legislation and discussed their plans to voluntarily alert their employees about the EITC.

Steve Wing, director of workplace initiatives, CVS, congratulated Representative Emanuel for his leadership on the important issue of educating employees about the Earned Income Tax Credit. Wing said that CVS and many other employers have for years successfully helped employees take advantage of the EITC benefits they have earned. Wing said that many companies are using an EITC tool kit developed every year by Corporate Voices for Working Families, a national business membership organization located in Washington, D.C., that represents the private sector on public policy issues involving working families.

283,000 Chicagoans took advantage of the EITC in 2007 and received an average benefit of $2,240. Unfortunately, every year, nearly 95,000 working Chicagoans fail to claim $211 million in tax benefits they are entitled to under the EITC.

“Too many families in Chicago and across America are struggling to get by. The cost of gas, food, education, and health care are skyrocketing. Yet millions of Americans aren’t claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit and are losing out on potentially thousands of dollars that could help them make ends meet,” said Emanuel. “We can’t sit by and let hard-working Chicago families leave $211 million on the table. I’ve introduced a common sense plan that will help the American people get the tax benefits they deserve.”

“The IRS is committed to continuing our outreach efforts with employers, community groups and others to raise awareness about the EITC program. This is one of the government’s largest and most successful programs to help hard-working families, but millions of Americans overlook it. We encourage businesses, both small and large, to help us make their employees aware of the benefits of EITC,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.

Over the last 30 years, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has grown into the largest Federal anti-poverty program in the United States. In 2006, 22.4 million tax filers received $43.4 billion in tax credits through the program, with the average recipient receiving more than $1,900. At $4 per gallon, an average EITC check can pay for approximately 32 tanks of gas. However, 7.5 million families eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit failed to take advantage of the program, costing themselves a total of $14.5 billion in tax benefits.

Emanuel’s bipartisan legislation, entitled the Earned Income Credit Information Act of 2008 (H.R. 6371), requires that employers notify workers that they may be eligible for the EITC. Employers would be required to provide this notice at the same time the employer provides the W-2 form to the employee. The legislation exempts small businesses that have 25 or fewer employees from the requirement to provide their employees with a notice. Emanuel’s legislation is modeled on a bill signed into law by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that requires California employers notify employees of their potential eligibility for the EITC. Emanuel’s legislation was introduced on June 25, 2008 and now has twenty House co-sponsors. Senator Schumer (D-NY) introduced the Senate companion bill.

Photo: Steve Wing told reporters and others attending the news conference that his company and others have been using successfully the EITC Took Kit prepared and distributed by Corporate Voices for Working Families.

EITC news conference this morning

Corporate Voices for Working Families Board member Steve Wing is going to join Representative Rahm Emanuel and others at a news conference in Chicago this morning designed to call attention to efforts to expand education to low-wage employees about the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Corporate Voices for Working Families strongly supports this initiative and for the past five years has produced and shared with hundreds of organizations an EITC tool kit that helps inform low-wage employees about a host of federal benefits available to them.

Wing is director of workforce initiatives with CVS Caremark.

We’ll provide more specific details about the news conference later this morning.

by Rob Jewell

A vision of schools as community centers

Randi Weingarten, new president of the American Federation of Teachers, has optimistic plans for the success of public schools. Weingarten’s vision is to create a comprehensive design that would integrate education into a center that serves the community- a place where underprivileged students are offered more than just classroom learning time. Sam Dillon wrote about her plans in an interesting New York Times article, “New Vision for Schools Proposes Broad Role.”

“Imagine schools that are open all day and offer after-school and evening recreational activities and homework assistance,” Weingarten said. “Suppose the schools included childcare and dental, medical and counseling clinics.”

Weingarten hopes to blend government funded programs and education under one school-roof. For Weingarten, government-supported programs such as child care and dental care combined with classroom education will create a public school utopia.

“Imagine if schools had the education resources we have long advocated…so no child feels anonymous,” she said.

In a recent speech in Chicago, Weingarten criticized the No Child Left Behind Law as “too badly broken to be fixed,” according to the New York Times article. She claims No Child Left Behind is doing a “huge disservice to America.”

Instead of changing the No Child Left Behind law, which she believes is too big of a mess to work with, Weingarten outlined a plan that takes a huge leap from the current education laws.

“Can you imagine a federal law that promoted community schools — schools that serve the neediest children by bringing together under one roof all the services and activities they and their families need?” Ms. Weingarten asked in the speech.

In the upcoming presidential election, education needs to be a priority and whoever the next president may be, he needs to believe in the youth of America, said Weingarten.

Corporate Voices for Working Families has conducted considerable research looking at the problems facing young people in school and as they prepare to enter the workforce. Copies of our research studies and position papers are available on our website.

by Amy Simon

High School Dropouts — The California Story

The Los Angeles Times published an article last week titled “1 in 4 California high school students drop out, state says.” The story indicates that the extent of the dropout crisis in California is worse than expected — and spotlights an issue that should concern everyone in this nation.

And to try to obtain even more reliable information on this serious problem, California is now tracking students by an identification number so that it is clear whether they transfer schools or drop out. The tracking system will reportedly cost $33 million and will provide better information about students who dropout such as their reasoning for leaving high school and where they go after they leave.

According to the Los Angeles Times article:

For the state overall, it [high school drop out rate] was 24.2%, up substantially from the 13.9% calculated for the previous school year using an older, discredited method. Statewide, 67.6% of students graduated and 8.2% were neither graduates nor dropouts. The last category included those who transferred to private schools or left the state.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, while commending the efforts to examine these numbers, emphasized that it is equally, if not more important, to look at the reasons behind the large dropout rates. And according to the article:

Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, presented the new data, based on the 2006-07 school year, as a quantum leap forward in understanding the nature of the dropout problem. But, he said, “no one will argue that the number of dropouts is good news. . . . It represents an enormous loss of potential.”

Loss of potential. Clearly. With the job market looking less and less welcoming to young people, and with employers demanding higher academic and applied skills, it is a scary thought that many will enter the workforce so ill equipped to succeed.

For comprehensive information prepared by Corporate Voices for Working Families about workforce readiness and how the business community can help participate in solving the challenges facing our young people, visit our Corporate Voices website.

by Allison Keyser

Corporate Voices Spotlights Workforce Readiness Challenges, Solutions

Corporate Voices has issued a comprehensive position paper and statement of principles that spotlights workforce readiness challenges and solutions.

Titled Tomorrow’s Workforce: Ready or Not: It’s A Choice the Business Community Must Make Now – the report identifies the challenges facing the business community and highlights actions that can be taken now to help solve a problem that involves not just America’s young people, but one that touches the lives of everyone.

“Businesses throughout the United States are facing a crisis. Young people today – the workforce of tomorrow – are not prepared to succeed in a knowledge-based economy,” Donna Klein, CEO and president of Corporate Voices for Working Families, said. “This crisis is one that threatens our nation’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing and more competitive global economy. And if left unresolved, it is a crisis that will undercut the standard of living and way of life for our children – and theirs. But it is also a problem with solutions, if we can harness the skills, resources and vision of all the stakeholders – parents, business leaders, educators, community leaders, policy makers, and young people themselves.”

Corporate Voices released the research findings and analysis in conjunction with the Workforce Innovations 2008 conference being held in New Orleans July 15 -17. The conference is co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). Workforce Innovations promotes collaboration among leaders from workforce development, business, economic development, education, community-based organizations and philanthropy.

“Corporate Voices for Working Families and our 50 partner companies believe that different approaches must be taken now to prepare our nation’s young people – our next generation of workers and citizens – to be successful in school, on the job and throughout life,” Klein said. “To achieve results, we need a comprehensive, coordinated and integrated system of learning and development that provides all young people with the opportunity to develop the skills they need.”

Copies of the Corporate Voices’ workforce readiness position paper, statement of principles and executive summary can be downloaded at our Web site.

by Rob Jewell

Retirement: Find work — and luck

With the baby boomers’ retirement looming in the near future, many fear about the strain it will place on the United States economy. In a New York Times article “For Good Retirement, Find Work. Good Luck,” Steve Lohr gives an overview of the negative effects of early retirement on the economy and offers some helpful insights regarding what can be done to lessen the financial blow.

And this isn’t just an issue involving individuals. It’s an issue that is important from the standpoint of workforce readiness today — and will be even more so in the years ahead.

Lohr explains that if the age of retirement is postponed three to four years, there will be a significant difference in the lifestyles of the retirees and the economy.  For instance, currently the average age of retirement for women and men is 63 and 62 respectively.  However, if the baby boomers pushed pack their retirement to 66 rather than 63, it would add approximately, “$13 trillion to the economy by 2025, or about a year’s total output of goods and services today.”

While it is not possible for every senior to stay in the workforce until age 66, it is a viable possibility for many. However, they are often not given the chance to continue working.

Unfortunately many companies do not actively recruit older workers or make an effort to retain them.  According to Joanna Lahey, an economist at Texas A. & M. University, “If there is a failure in the market for older workers, it is the result of ‘“statistical discrimination.”’

Statistics show that companies are hesitant when it comes to hiring and retaining older workers because they believe that older workers are “less energetic, less productive, adaptable and more likely to have outdated skills than younger workers.”

However,  a report by Corporate Voices for Working Families found that:

“While mature workers are valued for their knowledge, reliability, and dedication (74 percent), only half of the responding organizations reported that they actively recruit mature workers. Those that do report that they attempt to rehire retired workers (25 percent) and turn to non-traditional recruiting sources, such as community networks (20 percent).”

According to Lohr, other statistics show that times have changed and being 65 today is radically different than being 65, 40 years ago. Therefore, while retiring at 60 was normal for those in the workforce in the past, today the baby-boomer generation is capable of a remaining in the workforce longer.

One suggestion Lohr makes to facilitate the retention of older workers is to no longer take money out of workers salaries for Social Security and Medicare after a certain age and not longer require companies to contribute on behalf of workers past a certain age.  With this “paid up” incentive, and other obvious benefits to the economy, it seems as if working longer can lead to living better.

And it’s an issue that has implications for individual retirees, our economy and our nation’s future workforce.

by Allison Keyser

by Amy Simon

Sloan Network News Interviews Maggie Jackson

Just read the June Network News, an electronic newsletter edited by Karen Corday and the Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College. The newsletter provides an informative and thought-provoking interview with Maggie Jackson about her new book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention.

Here’s information about Maggie Jackson from the interview:

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her penetrating coverage of U.S. social issues. She writes the popular “Balancing Acts” column in the Sunday Boston Globe, and her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Gastronomica and on National Public Radio. Her latest book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, details the steep costs of our current epidemic deficits of attention, while revealing the astonishing scientific discoveries that can help us rekindle our powers of focus in a world of speed and overload. Her acclaimed first book, What’s Happening to Home? Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age, examined the loss of home as a refuge.

Also featured in the newsletter is an article by Jessica Glenn of Workplace Flexibility 2010. She writes about that organization’s new community policy forums.

by Rob Jewell