News & Stories

By Karen Pesapane, National Partnership for Women and Families The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps updating its guidelines to help child care and early childhood programs – – and all of us – – respond to influenza during the 2009-2010 flu season. Guidelines for providers include separating children with signs of illness from […]

Despite warnings from the CDC, millions Americans can’t afford to stay home when they or their child catches the flu. In this video, ABC News investigates how the H1N1 flu season is affecting students, parents and millions of American workers who could be facing the loss of pay or even the loss of their job. […]

Video from a December 4th hearing Washington State House Commerce and Labor Committee hearing. The H1N1 hearing starts about halfway through–I recommend starting at 01:06:18 to hear personal testimony from a restaurant worker. | Watch

Janet Bauer | Oregon Center for Public Policy In the pantheon of American values, few are more venerated than work. The esteem accorded to a strong work ethic dates from the days of the Puritans and was evident in President Obama’s recent address to the nation’s schoolchildren. But if we rightly value work, why does […]

An emergency job creation program for the Washington State We’ve got an official unemployment rate of 9.3% here in Washington, and the likelihood of increased unemployment in the coming months.  This understates the actual unemployment and underemployment of workers in our state, and the decrease in the employment to population ratio.  The national underemployment rate […]

From the Everett Herald: For anyone who thought we could just elect a new president and magically fix all our problems, the bloom is probably off the rose. Not even one year in, the Obama administration is grappling with fixing Wall Street, completing the job in Afghanistan and Iraq, getting a universal health care solution […]

From the Washington Post By Petula Dvorak The coughing starts in the middle of the night. And while you are watching your child’s poor little body in footed pajamas curl up with every hacking spasm, you are doing the calculations in your head, realizing that you are absolutely hosed if you miss work the next […]

The “experts” who could not see the $8 trillion housing bubble that wrecked the economy are now telling us that we have to create a special commission so that they can cut Social Security and Medicare. With much of Washington’s punditry behind this effort, they could succeed. The basic story is straightforward. There is a […]

EOI’s latest analysis of Washington’s economy reveals that many hallmarks of middle-class life – owning a home, sending the kids to college, having health care, and building a retirement nest egg – have become increasingly unattainable for local families: Owning a home: Falling home prices are good news for people looking to buy – but […]

Seattle Times: Guest columnist James N. Gregory urges state lawmakers to stop being afraid of Eyman and the voters, exercise some leadership and reform our tax system: Tim Eyman may be finished. His Initiative 1033 proposal to freeze government spending was not only rejected by voters, it was crushed by a 15-percent margin. And he […]

From the Everett Herald: Voters east of the Cascades turned conventional wisdom on its head last week. These voters are often portrayed by the Seattle media market as conservative, anti-tax, anti-government citizens. Turns out they can recognize snake oil as soon as they see it. Twelve out of 20 counties in Eastern Washington rejected Tim […]

From the Washington Post: When Great Falls resident Carolyn Cuppernull’s 10-year-old daughter came down with swine flu, she didn’t have to take time off work to stay home with her. Cuppernull is senior marketing manager of the Washington office of the law firm Akerman Senterfitt. Under the group’s former policy, she would have had to […]

Come on down! It’s been over 50 years since The Price is Right began challenging contestants – most often women – to guess the price of consumer goods and “showcase” their ability to make sound financial decisions at home. Since then, most women have entered the workforce; today they earn the majority of college degrees. […]

Rich Nafziger -> A Rocky Road Ahead: We have a long way to go if we are going to create enough jobs to get us back to where we were before the four quarter of 2007. Since that time the economy has shed 7.2 million jobs. The most recent forecasts (from the Washington State Revenue […]

From the New York Times: Public health experts worried about the spread of the H1N1 flu are raising concerns that workers who deal with the public, like waiters and child care employees, are jeopardizing others by reporting to work sick because they do not get paid for days they miss for illness. Tens of millions […]

Without large-scale health reform, rising unemployment could push the number of uninsured people under 65 to over 50 million by 2010 The health insurance most Americans depend on, employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), has declined every year since 2000, currently leaving 45.7 million people under 65 without coverage. As Congress debates the future of health care reform, […]

Find out on TVW’s Inside Olympia, when host Austin Jenkins interviews representatives from five Washington state think tanks – including EOI’s very own policy director Marilyn Watkins. I recommend you start the video at 00:29:44

Tables are filling up fast for What Price is Right? – our very own “showcase showdown” of public policies to improve women’s economic security. If you haven’t RSVP’d, now is your chance to join us for an evening of game show contests, drinks, dinner and program. After all, no one knows more about the dollars […]

From the Everett Herald: A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to a group of employees at the Everett Labor Temple. One woman raised her hand and asked how we were going to protect ourselves from the government taking our money for taxes. I asked her where she worked, and she responded that she […]

Nafzblog -> The Big W Recovery: The nature of unemployment has changed. The percentage of the unemployed who are considered by employers “permanently unemployed” is the highest in history. This combined with a lack of political will for a second stimulus package could be the second V in the “W recovery”. | More Daily Kos […]

With public funding for state higher education at a 30-year low, how will tuition hikes affect family economic security, workforce development, and Washington’s long-term business climate? What new sources of public revenue could increase public investment in higher education, to build a more competitive workforce and improve our business climate? Sponsored by the University of […]