By:
Shiloh Kantz
October 26, 2023 // Updated: December 18, 2023
Have you ever rearranged your living room furniture? When the light touches the space in new ways, the pieces create a new refreshing ensemble. Much like reviving a dark, stale living room, it is time for Oklahoma lawmakers to shed…
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Unemployment insurance became a lifeline to many Oklahomans during the pandemic. In a period of widespread job loss, the transfer payments that this program provided working people with the means to feed their families and pay the bills while they…
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To protect the long-term health of our economy, Oklahoma’s lawmakers should enact policies that will strengthen Oklahoma’s labor force participation, which has been declining for more than a decade. Policies that invest in our workforce — such as guaranteeing paid…
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The legislature should reject HB 1933 and any other bills that would inhibit the ability of the unemployment insurance program to provide the support our workers and our economy need.
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While macroeconomic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (the size of an economy) and the unemployment rate (the percentage of people who want work but can’t find it) are useful for measuring the overall health of an economy, they conceal inequalities and long-standing structural challenges that hurt many Oklahomans' ability to provide for themselves and participate in our economy.
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Given the reasonably anticipated increase in need for employment accommodations due to COVID-related symptoms, Oklahoma’s Legislature should act now to create and implement a state paid family and medical leave program that will support job and paycheck stability to workers caring for their own or their families’ long COVID-related conditions.
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When talking about raising the minimum wage, opponents sometimes claim that a higher minimum wage will raise the prices of goods, especially in labor-intensive industries like restaurants. This is sometimes accompanied by a jab such as “enjoy paying $20 for…
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While paid family and medical leave policies are standard in nearly every country, the U.S. is one of only eight countries in the world (and the only “developed” country) to not guarantee access to paid family and medical leave. However, nine states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation that provides paid family and medical leave to most employees.
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Despite its benefits, access to paid family leave is not widespread, especially for lower-wage families. To improve Oklahomans’ health and increase the labor force, the Oklahoma Legislature should guarantee paid family leave benefits to our state’s workers.
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A new report from the Oklahoma Policy Institute — entitled “Plateaus and Cliff Effects in Oklahoma” — is among the first of its kind to examine how public supports and income interact to impact low-income Oklahomans.
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