OKPOLICY.ORG
What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.
This week at OK Policy, we reported on the first meeting of a legislative task force to evaluate state tax credits and economic incentives. The meeting made clear that it will be a long and sometimes contentious process, but that this Task Force is serious about meeting the challenge. We blogged on Wednesday about how the recent FAA shutdown proves business taxes aren’t always passed on to consumers.
Also this week, we examined the persistence of racial disparities in the state’s unemployment rate. Black workers in the state were unemployed at more than twice the rate (13.1 percent) of white workers (5.9 percent) in 2010. Finally, we highlighted an upcoming workshop on hiring ex-offenders and long-term unemployed. The workshop will be held on Friday, August 5th and will address the economic cultures and challenges that develop with long-term unemployment, as well as employer questions and concerns about hiring those with criminal backgrounds.
In the Know, Policy Notes
- A Stateline infographic shows how a federal default could affect states.
- The Infrastructurist looks at what will happen to U.S. infrastructure if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
- The Pew Research Center shows a widening racial wealth gap; the median wealth of white households is now 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households.
- Massachusetts is developing “innovation schools,” which operate within the traditional school system but are allowed more flexibility, to compete more aggressively with charter schools.
- The Economix blog shows how corporate tax loopholes provide significant benefits to shareholders, at considerable cost to everyone else.
- 120°F – Temperature in Tipton Oklahoma on June 27, 1994, the state’s highest recorded temperature to date
- 21.8 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma’s school-age children living in poverty in 2009, 8th highest in the nation
- 608,497 – Number of people on food stamps in Oklahoma in April 2011, up 4.5 percent, or 26,446 people, from the same month last year
- 2nd – Oklahoma’s rank nationally in job growth during the last 6 months (December 2010-June 2011). The number of jobs in the state grew 2.1 percent
- $2,197,065 – Amount paid in restitution by criminal offenders that was distributed to crime victims in Oklahoma in FY 2010
