LOW-WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI: ENHANCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILIES MARCH 2017
REPORT PREPARED BY KATHLEEN J. FITZGERALD, PH.D., ON BEHALF OF THE JESUIT SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR OXFAM AMERICA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………………....1
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………3
CHART 1………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
WHAT IS MISSISSIPPI DOING TO PROTECT LOW-WAGE WORKERS?...... 5
WHAT COULD MISSISSIPPI REALISTICALLY BE DOING TO SUPPORT THEIR LOW-WAGE WORKERS?...... 8
TABLE 1……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19
REFERENCES
THIS REPORT MADE POSSIBLE BY A GENEROUS GRANT FROM OXFAM AMERICA
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 1
training, or volunteering a requirement for SNAP EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (food stamps) beneficiaries who are able-bodied and not caring for dependents and whose The purpose of this study is to understand the eligibility is running out. needs of low-wage workers in Mississippi, what Additional public policies are necessary to help the state is doing to address those needs, and meet the needs of low-wage workers in what additional policies and programs can be Mississippi. Expanding Medicaid will benefit implemented to address the myriad unmet needs employers because it will help workers stay of this vulnerable population. Mississippi is one of healthy, which allows them to be more reliable the poorest states in the country, with one of the employees. Implementing a state Earned Income lowest labor force participation rates; poverty, Tax Credit (EITC) and increasing the minimum unemployment, and underemployment wage are policies that put more money directly disproportionately affect racial minorities and into the hands of low-wage workers, which will women. ultimately boost the economy when these Mississippi ranks as the most dependent state; workers spend their increased income. state dependency refers to how much each state Another suggestion is that Mississippi take the receives back in federal dollars versus what they millions of dollars in unspent funds associated contribute to the federal treasury in taxes with their Child Development Block Grant and (Kiernan 2016). Mississippi gets $3.00 in federal TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families) and funds for every dollar it contributes to the federal spend it on child care assistance. This will allow government (Tierney 2014). Neighboring Alabama more low-wage women to enter the paid labor and Louisiana also rank high as dependent states. force. Currently, states spend only slightly more This is primarily due to the high poverty rates in than one-quarter of their combined federal and these states that result in them receiving a state TANF funds on basic assistance for families, disproportionate share of federal funds through 8% on work-related activities and support, and anti-poverty programs such as Temporary 16% on childcare (Schott, Pavetti, and Floyd Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and the 2015). These choices have weakened the safety Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program net for poor families nationwide. Additionally, (SNAP) (Tierney 2014). there has been significant erosion of TANF The State of Mississippi is focused on helping benefits in terms of purchasing power; due to residents find work. One of the primary inflation, the real value of TANF block grants has investments the state has made is the declined by 32.5% since the program was introduction of MS Works in 2015, a website for implemented in 1997 (Falk 2016; Stanley, Floyd, job seekers and employers. In addition to listing and Hill 2016). Cash assistance for 99% of open jobs and allowing people to apply directly recipients, the nation’s poorest families, has a through their website, the program is designed to purchasing power that is below 1996 levels help workers explore ways to increase their job (Stanley, Floyd, and Hill 2016). There have been market skills. Thus, an applicant can be directed no increases in federal TANF spending to adjust to a community college program where they can for inflation or increasing population size in two increase their skill set and marketability. This is decades; federal TANF spending has remained at designed to help the state address what they $16.5 billion for two decades (Vallas and Boteach perceive as a shortage of mid-skill level workers. 2015). Mississippi has also made employment, job
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 2
Mississippi can reform unemployment insurance even more dire for public sector unions: benefits eligibility requirements, such as allowing nationwide, 35.2% of public employees are eligibility for part-time workers and those who unionized compared to 9.4% in Mississippi. The quit a job for a legitimate reason, which will make state can support workers attempting to unionize more low-wage workers, especially women, at the Nissan plant in Canton, MS, and the eligible for benefits. Additionally, some research unionization of service workers through Unite finds that child support enforcement can help Here!, working to unionize casino workers in keep custodial parents off of welfare. The average Biloxi and Tunica. Additionally, the state could child support payment for custodial parents in support the Living Wage campaign at the Mississippi in 2015 was $1,000 per year, a University of Mississippi. distressingly low amount that needs to increase. Finally, Mississippi must be proactive in Mississippi’s child support enforcement policies reintegrating formerly incarcerated citizens into can be reformed to include subsidies for legal the labor market. Until recently, Mississippi had representation for low-income parents who need the second highest incarceration rate in the to return to court to adjust their court ordered country, thus, tens of thousands of residents are child support. constrained from employment by a felony record. The state needs to find a way to encourage Policies and program options include offering employers to commit to hiring fewer temporary more community based alternatives to juveniles workers, perhaps relying on higher education as a convicted of status offenses or adults convicted of model for creating balance between temporary non-violent drug crimes, removing state obstacles and permanent workers. In higher education, to employment licensure, funding reentry colleges and universities are relying more and programs, banning the question on an application more on temporary and part-time faculty that asks if the person has ever been convicted of members due to budgetary concerns. However, a felony, incentivizing the hiring of ex-offenders these institutions generally have established by offering tax breaks to employers, or guidelines as to what percentage of faculty can be establishing a state version of the federal bonding part-time or temporary. This not only protects program. from too much faculty exploitation, but it also While increasing the minimum wage, expanding helps maintain some faculty power within Medicaid, and establishing a state EITC would institutions. One way this can happen is to require legislative approval, spending unused increase the percentage of the state labor force TANF and child care block grant funds is strictly an that is unionized and to support living wage administrative shift which would not require campaigns. The more unionized workers in a convincing legislators to make the necessary state, the higher all workers’ wages; plus, it would changes. Strategies to help ex-offenders gain help decrease industry reliance on temporary employment vary in terms of implementation; workers. Unionization is particularly effective at some can be done administratively, some eroding the gender wage gap and the racial wage legislatively. But Mississippi has shown a gap, both of which contribute to disproportionate willingness to make some of these changes poverty rates among women and racial already by implementing criminal justice reform minorities. Additionally, unionization is effective in 2014 and by extending the MS Works program at narrowing the gender wage gap. Only 6.8% of to soon-to-be released state prisoners. Mississippi workers are currently unionized, compared to 11.1% nationwide. The situation is
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 3
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 4
overall poverty rates; 51st in terms of poverty INTRODUCTION rates among women, with 23.1% of Mississippi women falling below the poverty level, compared Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the to a national average of 13.4% for women; and nation, with high unemployment and the second 50th in child poverty rates, with 29% of Mississippi lowest labor force participation rate at 52.2% as children living below the poverty line of September 2016, trailing only West Virginia, (“Mississippi…” 2015). compared with the labor force participation rate Women’s disproportionate poverty rates are of the nation at large (62.8%), according to the partially explained by the gender wage gap, Bureau of Labor Statistics (“Civilian where women earn 83% of men’s wages Noninstitutional Population…” 2016). There is a nationally. The gender wage gap is also racialized; considerable racial gap and gender gap on all Black and Hispanic women earn 58% of white economic measures, with African Americans and male wages (Gould, Schieder, and Geier 2016). women faring much more poorly compared with Nationwide, two-thirds of low-wage workers are whites. As the chart showing Average Weekly women, as they are twice as likely to work in Wages by County in Mississippi, Second Quarter, occupations that pay $10.50 per hour or less. 2015, shows, wages in Mississippi are well below Even compared to men in low-wage occupations, the national average (see Chart 1, left). Southern women in low-wage jobs face a gender wage gap states, led by Mississippi and Arkansas, have the that results in them earning about 15% less than highest percentage of low-wage workers in the their male counterparts. The gender wage gap in nation (“Working Poor in America” 2014). Some Mississippi is 76% of male wages, according to the counties in Mississippi, primarily in the Delta, National Women’s Law Center (“State by State” have 40-45% poverty rates. The Mississippi Delta 2016). has remained one of the poorest places in the The shift from a manufacturing economy to a United States, along with Appalachia, for decades service economy has also negatively affected (Slack and Myers 2012). Poverty in the Delta has working class men, both in Mississippi and historical roots, and can be “linked to a history of nationwide. For instance, gainful employment for slave-based plantation agriculture and the American men without a college degree, such as institutional mechanisms used to maintain a jobs in manufacturing, has been disappearing for plantation economy and continue labor decades: some of it due to plant closings, others exploitation and subjugation after slavery was due to corporations’ choosing to relocate abolished (e.g. Jim Crow, sharecropping, tenant manufacturing plants to offshore locations to take farming)… [and to] social and geographic advantage of cheap labor, while much of it is due isolation… the elite…have been able to exert great to the increase in automation simply making control over local life and influence development employees in certain industries obsolete. trajectories to their benefit” (Slack and Myers Displaced workers have been disproportionately 2012). racial minority group members (Kletzer 2004). Job Social scientists have long recognized that poverty growth has been in the service sector, jobs is not random; women, racial minorities, and historically considered “women’s work.” Service children, for instance, are all disproportionately sector jobs are two-tiered: there are high-end impoverished. This is true whether the poverty is service jobs that pay well and include benefits, a result of unemployment or low wages. As of which require higher education and, in many st 2014, Mississippi ranked 51 in the nation on cases, advanced degrees; and there are low-end
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 5
service sector jobs, sometimes referred to as Working Mississippi 2016” report was for “McJobs,” which are low pay, lack benefits, and Mississippi to invest more in public education, offer little to no opportunity for advancement, from pre-K through college in order to “allow and are the kinds of jobs that individuals with a Mississippians to receive the education they high school degree or less qualify for (Bluestone deserve and help create the educated workforce and Harrison 1984). These jobs result in full-time the state largely lacks” (Donovan and McCormick workers still falling below the poverty line. Finally, 2016:42). This report builds on the findings from the shift to a service sector has been especially State of Working Mississippi 2016 and explores damaging for those without a college degree. In policy options designed to strengthen low-wage, Mississippi, the labor force participation rate of working families that are politically feasible, those with less than a high school education is relatively inexpensive, and effective for the State only 31.1% and for those with a high school of Mississippi. In Mississippi, a meritocratic education it is 54.6% (Donovan and McCormick ideology prevails; there is an embrace of the 2016). Additionally, “boot strap” myth, the idea that anyone who works hard and takes personal responsibility for [Pull Quote: their life can succeed economically and achieve “More than a fifth of American men – social mobility. However, according to the Pew about 20 million people – between 20 Study on the American Dream, 42% of people on and 65 had no paid work last year. Seven the bottom rungs of the income ladder remain million men between 25 and 55 are no entrenched at the bottom as adults (“Renewing longer even looking for work, twice as the American Dream” 2009). Social mobility, like many black men as white. There are 20 poverty, is also patterned: women and African million men with felony records who are Americans are more likely to experience this not in jail, with dim prospects for “stickiness.” employment, and more of these are black men. Half of the men not in the labor What is Mississippi doing to address the force report they are in bad physical or needs of low-wage workers? mental health. Men account for only 42 SWIB (State Workforce Investment Board) percent of college graduates…” (Chira Workforce Development Needs Study – The State 2016:6). Workforce Investment Board is under Governor End Quote] Phil Bryant and is responsible for increasing economic opportunities for Mississippians and The population of Mississippi “lags behind providing business partners with a well-trained national averages for educational attainment at workforce. According to their report to the all levels. Most notably, 15.4% of Mississippi Mississippi Legislature (Feb. 2015), the State of residents do not complete high school, compared Mississippi was facing two primary workforce to 11.6 % for the country. What’s more, 34% of development needs: Mississippi lacked enough Mississippi residents complete high school but do mid-skill workers, yet this is where many jobs are. not pursue post-secondary education, compared Thus, the state should invest in increasing the skill to 29.5% of U.S. residents. Just 21.8% of level of many low-skill workers. Second, the state Mississippians earn a bachelor’s degree or higher, lacks a coordinated workforce development a rate one-third less than the national figure of system that operates as an ecosystem where all 32.5%” (Donovan and McCormick 2016:6). Due to this, one of the recommendations of the “State of
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 6
parts are connected and line up to achieve workforce needs, to raise the workforce common goals and visions. participation rate, and to provide a coordinated workforce development system. By June 2017, MS Works – To address both needs identified in the program will be connected to other state the study, the state created MS Works in 2015, an programs referred to as “key partners”: The app and website where jobseekers can turn to Department of Employment Security will be find work and employers can post an open connected to ABE (Adult Basic Education), position. They still have 44 brick and mortar Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Human offices where residents can come in and over 100 Services (SNAP). They intent is that a user’s other access sites (in SNAP offices, libraries, etc.) experience with these various state agencies will where job seekers can use a computer and gain be seamless. access to MS Works, if they are unable to use the website or app or do not have the technology in SNAP – The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance their home. Mississippi is one of ten states that Program (SNAP) is the federally funded food received a federal grant to develop innovative stamp program administered through the strategies to move people into job training. There Department of Human Services in Mississippi. The was a specific emphasis on the introduction of need for food assistance is high in Mississippi, as technology – connecting people to jobs through every county has more than 16% SNAP technology. It is updated in real time; at one participation, and the overall rate of SNAP point, the MS Works app showed that there were participation statewide is 19.4%. The Mississippi 39,100 open jobs in the state of MS. Food Insecurity Project at Mississippi State estimates that food insecurity is greatest in the Described as a “game changer” by members of South, with 22% of Mississippi residents being the Mississippi state government, this app does food insecure. Food insecurity is defined as lack of more than just list jobs; when people turn in an access to enough food to remain healthy and application for unemployment benefits through active (“About the Project” n.d.). To qualify for MS Works, they not only get a list of jobs near SNAP benefits in Mississippi, one must work for them that they are qualified for, but they also are low wages, or be unemployed or work part-time; informed as to what kind of jobs they will be receive SSI or other assistance program; or be eligible for with more training. According to Robin elderly or disabled and live on a low-income. Stewart, Director of the Office of Job Connections, this is designed for people to “dream bigger.” Mississippi is mimicking Washington’s State’s They are linked in real time to a community success in linking SNAP benefits to education and college that offers the suggested job training job training, which is linked to MS Works, the (classes they can take to improve their skills and technology designed to help Mississippians search marketability). They are connected with an for jobs. Governor Bryant introduced a 3-month advisor to help them navigate community college limit on food stamp recipients who are able- (someone who can help them identify resources bodied and have no dependents. After 90 days, or assistance they may be eligible for, such as they are required to find a job or enter a training child care assistance, etc.). Mississippi officials program (and work at least 20 hours per week) (d’ argue that this is a better approach than simply Amora 2016). Mississippi is in the second year of a mandating that they get job training, and “leaving three year grant through the USDA that allows them alone to figure” the system out. The able-bodied workers who, in the past, would have objectives of MS Works are to move low-wage lost SNAP benefits to maintain their benefits if workers into mid-skill jobs to address the gap in they enter a community college program. If they
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 7
agree to participate, they enter a 4-week As is evident by the discussion so far, Mississippi orientation program at a community college to is not pursuing an increase in the minimum wage help them achieve self-sufficiency. They get a and is instead focused on introducing market- personal coach who can help them navigate based solutions; specifically, MS Works. MS Works college and address barriers to their success (such is a policy solution that makes workers more as helping them with their need for child care or competitive, so that they can get mid-skill level transportation assistance, for instance). They put jobs, which is a workforce development policy them on a career path by getting them an designed to meet the needs of employers. This apprenticeship after they finish their four weeks policy solution is limited in that it will facilitate of training. The hope is that the employer hires moving some low-skill workers into mid-skill jobs, them at the completion of their apprenticeship. which presumably pay better, but there will still be plenty of low-skill jobs out there and tens of As of April 2016, almost 10,000 SNAP recipients thousands of poorly educated Mississippians will were at risk of losing their benefits because they still be among the “working poor.” The “working were required to get a job, be in an approved poor” is a term used to refer to individuals who workforce training program, or volunteer in an spend 27 or more weeks per year in the labor approved program. Critics of the policy claim that force or looking for work, but whose incomes still the numbers just don’t add up – there are simply fall below the poverty level, according to the not enough slots (jobs, training programs, and Bureau of Labor Statistics (“A Profile of The…” approved volunteer sites) to absorb all of the 2016). These are not policies designed to provide SNAP participants (Hampton 2016). By the first a safety net for all workers and their families, but half of 2016, 42,000 people disappeared from instead benefit employers by providing an SNAP rolls (d’ Amora 2016). incentive for some workers to improve their The state is gathering a lot of data on this new marketability. program. The idea is that this could become a These programs are clearly addressing what model for the nation since, “if you can make it Mississippi officials saw as their workforce work in MS” with their significant issues (poverty, development needs in SWIB Workforce low educational levels, rural, high Development Study (2015): additional workforce unemployment), it can work anywhere, according training to improve skills, particularly moving to one state official. According to MS Works people from low-skill to mid-skill level jobs, and to performance measures, which are reported to the offer industry relevant training; and meet their Department of Labor, in the first quarter of 2015, long term goal of “restructuring of the state’s 64% of MS Works participants entered workforce programs and delivery systems” (SWIB employment, 85% retained employment, and the 2015). In other words, the state has not identified average earning was $11,612.00 for a six-month the needs of low-wage workers as a problem they period, according to Robin Stewart, Director of should attempt to alleviate. This is unfortunate; the Office of Job Connections (the second quarter just as previous policies created the “nation’s of 2015 had similar numbers). Importantly, while burgeoning low-wage job market, a new set of the program appears to be able to connect policy interventions could improve the lot of the residents with jobs, many of the jobs are still low- nation’s most exploited and insecure wage- wage jobs, which means workers are still earners” (Luce, Luff, McCartin, and Milkman extremely vulnerable economically. 2014:8).
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 8
What could Mississippi realistically be decade and is benefitting families, workers, and doing to support their low-wage workers? employers (Litton 2016). Louisiana is the 31st state and the first state in the The state should expand Medicaid, implement a Deep South to expand Medicaid (Meyer 2016). In state EITC, increase the minimum wage, spend addition to viewing it as a cost saving measure, more of their TANF funds and their child care the governor described it as the “right thing to block grant on basic needs and child care for low- do,” given the state’s large population of wage workers, reform address poverty among the uninsured residents and budget problems. He disabled, reduce the use of temporary workers, believes that it will be especially beneficial to increase the percentage of unionized workers, rural hospitals, based upon what has happened and help ex-offenders obtain gainful employment. with Medicaid expansion in other states, which is These are realistic policy proposals supported by another lesson for Mississippi, a similarly rural examples and research in similar states. state (Litton 2016). Edwards argued that, “70% of Medicaid Expansion – Mississippi should expand the beneficiaries would be full-time workers in Medicaid so that low-wage workers have health low-paid jobs in construction, tourism, care coverage; this will not only benefit an restaurants and other industries” (Meyer 2016). additional 300,000 citizens of Mississippi, but it Medicaid expansion is designed to offer coverage will also benefit businesses by contributing to the to people who fall within the “coverage gap,” maintenance of healthier workers (“Where the people whose incomes are above the Medicaid States Stand…” 2016). By denying the ACA and eligibility limit, yet below the “lower limit for Medicaid expansion, the state of Mississippi is Marketplace premium tax credits” (Garfield losing almost half a billion dollars per year from 2016). In Mississippi, approximately 59% of those the federal government (Glied and Ma 2013). As a who would benefit by Medicaid expansion are neighboring state, with similar poverty rates, working; 49% are female; 82% have dependent Louisiana provides a good comparison to children; and 51% are people of color (Garfield Mississippi on this issue. Louisiana recently 2016). If more Mississippi residents had expanded Medicaid coverage, effective as of July preventative health care and health insurance 2016; by November 2016, over 336,000 people coverage, fewer would end up disabled (Hill 2008; had enrolled (Crisp 2016). The state projected see below). Clearly, expanding Medicaid in that 375,000 Louisiana residents would be newly Mississippi will strengthen workers and families, eligible for Medicaid, allowing them regular as well as benefit employers. access to a physician, health screenings, and State EITC – In the absence of requiring health insurance (Litton 2016b). Expanding employers to pay their workers a living wage, Medicaid may initially cost the state money, but it states should offer assistance to low-wage has made more Louisiana residents reliable workers through tax exemptions. One of the employees. It allows them to address highly easiest ways for states to assist low- wage treatable, common conditions like high blood workers and their families is to follow the lead of pressure or diabetes that could otherwise “lead to twenty-six states, including neighboring Louisiana, chronic illness, threatening their livelihoods, their and the District of Columbia, and pass a state EITC long-term financial security, and, in the most (Earned Income Tax Credit). Despite Governor tragic cases, their lives” (Litton 2016b). Current Bryant’s efforts to include a non-refundable EITC Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards estimates it in the 2016 budget, which according to the Hope will save the state over a billion dollars over a Policy Institute would have benefited 250,000
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 9
Mississippi families, the legislature did not the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour will support the proposal (“A State Earned…” 2015). benefit 24% of Mississippi workers (“Working Modeled after the federal EITC, state EITCs allow Poor in America” 2014). Mississippi has not low-wage workers to keep more of their income increased their minimum wage since 2009. Yet, and help make state tax systems more equitable – nationwide, we are seeing a shift away from this since they are generally regressive, with low- perspective, among workers, politicians, and even income people paying a higher percentage of many businesses. President Obama called on their income in taxes than wealthy people Congress to increase the minimum wage to (Williams 2016b). According to research, if $10.10 in 2014. Congress has not acted on this Mississippi were to implement EITC, it would cost call. Fourteen states began 2016 with an anywhere from 57 to 227 million dollars in 2017 increased minimum wage; twelve through (depending on whether it is set at 5, 10, or 20 legislative action. The States of California and percent of the federal EITC or whether it is New York, as well as the District of Columbia have refundable) (Williams 2016). This could have a all increased their minimum wage to $15.00 per dramatic impact on children; because “the hour, to be implemented over the next few years. additional resources help parents better meet Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia their needs, young children in low-income have state minimum wages higher than the families getting an income boost like that from federal minimum. Mississippi, along with its the EITC tend to do better and go further in neighbors Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, school” (Williams 2016). According to Dr. Laurie and Tennessee have not adopted a state Smith, Education and Workforce Development minimum wage. Yet, increasing the minimum Policy Advisor for Governor Bryant, the state wage spurs the economy, as workers have more recognizes it has to go beyond workforce money to spend (“State Minimum Wages…” development for adults; a focus on education is 2016). an essential investment in the future labor force. Contrary to stereotypes, minimum wage workers Thus, a state EITC can be viewed as an affordable are not mostly teenagers. Instead, 51% are 25 investment in Mississippi’s future labor force, years and older and the great majority of them since more children will experience academic are attempting to support families on this low- success as they grow up in households wage (“Characteristics…” 2015). In Mississippi, experiencing less dire poverty. Despite offering 72% of minimum wage jobs are held by women, the smallest EITC credit in the country, Louisiana’s and two-thirds of families in poverty are headed EITC returned 48.8 million dollars into the pockets by single mothers (Mitchell 2016). The federal of its residents in 2015 (Spires 2016). minimum wage of $7.25 per hour leaves a family Increasing Minimum Wage – Mississippi officials of three below the poverty level. More money in remain opposed to increasing the minimum wage the pockets of workers through a higher wage beyond the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per would best address the needs of low-wage hour; in fact, the legislature has prohibited any workers. Policies need to address the lives that municipality from increasing the minimum wage workers actually lead: instead of focusing on beyond the federal level (individual employers increasing the skills of low skill workers to can, of course, set their minimums higher). medium skill workers, focus on improving the According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.2% lives of the low skill workers through an increase of Mississippi workers earn at or below the in the minimum wage since there will always be a minimum wage (“Characteristics…” 2015). Raising need for low-wage workers (Applebaum 2016).
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 10
Even the nation’s largest employer, Walmart, long claiming that the way MS operates its federal committed to earning profits through cutting Child Care and Development Block Grant (from labor costs, recently shifted toward an investment the US Department of Health and Human in their workforce in 2015 as a response to Services) program is racially discriminatory; with decreasing sales nationwide. They are now thousands of eligible children left unserved (this is embracing a philosophy economists refer to as thought to be the first civil rights investigation “efficiency wages,” the idea that when you pay into child care subsidies). According to the report, workers more, they are more loyal, harder the program serves only 15% of the state’s working, and more productive in return (Irwin eligible children and $11.8 million of the grant 2016). In other words, paying workers more is was left unspent in 2013. Program rules obstruct good for business. access to services, such as requiring single mothers to file for child support before they can Child Care Assistance – Research shows that qualify for the program. Since 92% of eligible spending on child care is the best investment for people benefitting from the Child Care and getting women off public assistance and into the Development Fund are black in Mississippi, workforce. Specifically, variations in availability compared with 42% nationwide, the report and in generosity have significant impacts on low- questions whether the barriers the state puts up income mothers’ hours of work (Joo 2008). Child to program participation are racially care difficulties often lead women to quit school discriminatory. Child care providers also face or job training programs and return to public barriers in that many cannot meet the criteria assistance (Lemke, Witte, Querault, and Witt established by Mississippi’s Quality Rating 2000). The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care System; thus, this ends up limiting low-income Initiative finds that 71% of children aged birth to 5 child care providers, who are overwhelmingly years are unserved and 95% of those aged 6 to 12 African American. Carol Burnett of the Mississippi years of age are unserved. Child care support for Low-Income Child Care Initiative said that while low-income families can come directly from the child care advocates throughout the state were Childcare and Development Block Grant or from excited about the Civil Rights Report, nothing has TANF, as both programs have unspent funds (both really come of it. One reason is that the Civil discussed below). Legislators do not have to vote Rights Commission does not have any on the TANF spending, so the state agency could enforcement authority. do so without legislative approval. The state has not yet acted on the Civil Rights Numerous studies find that children of working Report, stating that the federal government has mothers are not disadvantaged in any way (e.g. rewritten how states can spend these child care Joo 2008; Lemke, Witte, Querault, and Witt block grants. They have added some 2000). Nationwide, 35% of families were headed requirements concerning quality of child care. by a single female in 2014. In Mississippi, 49% of Since a large number of low-income children children live in single-parent families and single- under the age of 5 are in a child care setting, and female headed families account for 64% of nothing is more important than early childhood families living in poverty (“Women and Economic education, according to state government Security…” 2015). officials. One stated, “if you are going to impact The US Commission on Civil Rights issued a report poverty, we have to address early childhood on “Civil Rights and Federal Low-Income Childcare education; you can’t just attempt to address Subsidy Distributions in Mississippi” (Dec. 2015) workforce participation among adults.”
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 11
The state also had $35.8 million in TANF families a priority and spend more of their TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families) funding that funds on child care. went unspent in 2015, $21 million in 2014, and Child Support Payments – Like all states, $7.8 million in 2013, which could have been used Mississippi offers child support enforcement for child care; the state currently spends $19 through help with parental location, million on child care (“Child Care in Mississippi” establishment of paternity, collection and 2016). According to the Center on Budget and distribution of child support orders through a Policy Priorities, states only spent an average of central unit, and review and adjustment of 16% of their TANF money on child care in 2014, orders, among other services, through the while Mississippi spent 18%; nevertheless, with Department of Human Services. Congress enacted Mississippi’s extreme poverty and low wages, federal-state child support enforcement in 1975 they should not leave any funds unspent as long with the dual goals of decreasing child poverty as there are eligible families who need child care rates and reducing welfare rolls (Harris 2011). The assistance. As a block grant, states can spend Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study finds TANF funds as they see fit, so long as they meet that child support enforcement policies are one of the four broad goals established by the actually harmful to poor children and their federal government, including meeting the child custodial mothers, often reducing economic care needs of low-income families, preparing support from fathers and interfering with the adults for the labor force, reducing out-of- father’s relationship with the child or children wedlock pregnancies, and encouraging the (McLanahan et al. 2003). Harris argues that formation of two-parent families (“Policy “because trying to collect cash child support from Basics…” 2015). Block grants allow some flexibility poor fathers is largely unsuccessful on its own to states to meet their specific needs. According terms and undermines the relationship between to Schott, Pavetti, and Floyd (2015), in the early the fathers and their children, these efforts [by years of welfare reform, states often shifted the state] should be curtailed. Instead, the child money toward child care and welfare to work support program should encourage absent programs. But since the Great Recession, states father’s efforts to provide for their children have instead been using the funds to plug holes in voluntarily, both by paying money and giving their budgets. Essentially, “the cash assistance noncash assistance” (2011:158). safety net for the nation’s poorest families with children has weakened considerably under the Other research finds that receipt of consistent TANF block grant, with potentially devastating child support can prevent mothers from relying long-term consequences for children growing up” on welfare (Huang, Kunz, and Garfinkel 2002). in poor families (Schott, Pavetti, and Floyd 2015). Child support payments to custodial parents only Two states, Delaware and Illinois, spend more average about $1,000 per year in Mississippi in than 50% of their TANF funds on childcare, while 2015, which is discouragingly low. While DHS 9 states spend less than 3%; as mentioned, offers help with the review and adjustment of Mississippi spends approximately 18% of its TANF child support orders if the noncustodial parent’s funds on child care. This is cause for concern income increases, or as the child ages, or as because TANF lifts fewer children out of deep expenses increase due to medical conditions, any poverty than AFDC did; the number of children change in a court ordered child support requires a living in deep poverty has increased 50% since the court date and obtaining the assistance of legal shift to TANF (Schott, Pavetti, and Floyd 2015). counsel, an obvious obstacle for low-wage Mississippi should make protecting children and working parents. This obstacle needs to be
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 12
removed through some kind of state subsidized women and 15.4% of men were disabled. The legal assistance for low-wage working parents. breakdown by race/ethnicity is as follows: whites Clearly, child support enforcement alone or 14.7%, African Americans 19.2%, Hispanics 6.3%, increasing the amount of child support awarded 5.9% of Asian Americans, and 34.8% of Native will not be effective, especially for poor families; Americans have a disability (“Disability Status increasing the minimum wage and assisting men Report…” 2008). People with disabilities are with felony records to find jobs (see below) will disproportionately impoverished, often because also put more low-wage working men in a their disability limits their ability to work full-time, position to pay their child support. year-round (Hill 2008; Soffer, McDonald, and Blanck 2010). Policy solutions involve reforming Unemployment Benefits Eligibility – Current SSDI (Supplemental Security Disability Insurance) eligibility requirements in many states, including and TANF so that people with disabilities who Mississippi, exclude many workers. These are receive either of those benefits are not forced to especially discriminatory toward women because limit their hours worked, as both programs take they often work part-time, or have to quit jobs benefits away from individuals after they earn a due to their family obligations, which means they certain amount of money. In other words, these often have not worked at one establishment long programs could instead be modeled after the enough to be eligible for unemployment benefits. Veterans Administration disability program, which Mississippi can reform their unemployment “does not take away health and other benefits eligibility rules as 39 other states have done, from veterans in its program, and earnings among including Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and these veterans averaged $2,300 per month in Arkansas, encouraged by the offer of federal 2001, compared to $80 per month among funding under the Unemployment Insurance persons on SSDI” (Hill 2008). Another policy Modernization Act as part of President Obama’s solution is to encourage SSI recipients to stimulus package (Rampell 2009). These eligibility accumulate assets, primarily through the use of reforms specifically target low-wage workers, Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), without those who work part-time, individuals who leave losing their SSI benefits. According to Soffer, work for compelling reasons (to care for a sick McDonald, and Blanck (2010), “the central and family member, or are victims of domestic most cited barrier for asset accumulation among violence, for instance), workers who have people with disabilities in the US are means- or dependent family members, the long-term asset-tests applied by the majority of the states to unemployed, and permanently laid off workers determine eligibility for public assistance, such as who require access to training (“Federal Stimulus TANF and SSI” (p. 380). Funding…” 2009; “Modernizing…” 2012). While federal incentives are no longer available, many Temporary Workers - According to the Bureau of states have kept the reforms in place, making Labor Statistics, use of contingent, temporary over 200,000 jobless Americans eligible for workers was declining until July 2009 (1.7 million unemployment insurance that would not have workers), then it rose to 1.9 million workers by been eligible in the past (“Modernizing…” 2012). December 2010 (this is an underestimate, since they only track through agencies, not when Addressing Poverty Among the Disabled – employers hire individual temporary workers). An Approximately 24.5% of persons between the increase in contingent work is part of the post- ages of 21 and 64 are disabled in Mississippi, industrial economy. Temporary workers generally which is higher than the national average of cost an employer 15-20 percent more in pay, but 19.2% (Hill 2008). As of 2008, 18% of Mississippi
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 13
that is because the employees cover their own temporary workers undermines the promises benefits and because there is a fee for the temp company leaders made to state government in agency (“Ten Pros and Cons…” 2011). Employers the years preceding plant construction, promises benefit by being able to terminate the employee that they would bring stable, high-paying jobs to at will, not having to provide them any benefits the area in exchange for millions of dollars in tax (insurance, vacation), and they don’t have to pay breaks and government investment” (“Anti-Union worker’s compensation or unemployment and Out…” 2016). insurance for them. Recent research finds that Manufacturing jobs tend to be the focus of “instead of using temps to fill in for absent politicians; they retain a “powerful hold on the employees or to meet short-term spikes in American imagination,” but they are not coming demand, employers are increasingly using temps back due to automation; “there simply are far as part of a long-term strategy to permanently fewer jobs in manufacturing today” (Applebaum ‘temp out’ specific jobs or job categories. 2016:22). “This myopic focus on factory jobs Although temps are popularly associated with distracts from another, simpler way to help clerical work, numerous studies have shown that working Americans: Improve the conditions of the the industry has long outgrown its pink-collar work they already do. Fast-food workers scrape days, penetrating virtually every sector of the by on minimum wage; contract workers are economy” (Hatton 2011:12-3). Additionally, the denied benefits; child-care providers have no paid temp industry has exerted downward pressure on leave to spend with their own children. According wages, labor standards, and job security to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were (Theodore and Peck 2002). 64,000 steelworkers in America last year, and According to an article on temporary employees 820,000 home health aides” (Applebaum at Nissan plant in Tennessee; “Such experiences 2016:22). The best way to address the increasing are increasingly common, according to Leone Jose ́ use of temporary workers is to increase the Bicchieri, executive director of the Chicago percentage of workers who are unionized (see Workers Collaborative (CWC), a non-profit below). workers center that organizes low-wage and temp The state can offer incentives for employers to workers. Not only has temporary employment hire more permanent workers and fewer expanded into sectors that used to be sources of temporary workers. Academia provides a model – stable full-time employment, he says, but it is most institutions of higher education limit the often no longer really temporary. Some temps are percentage of part-time and temporary faculty brought on for only days or weeks, others work members versus tenure-track and tenured faculty for years at the same plant through the same members their institutions can hire. This is not agency,” (Jaffe 2014). The Nissan plant in Canton, just to limit the exploitation of temporary faculty MS, is also staffed with many temporary members but also so that the faculty are not employees by Kelly Services. While manufacturing completely disempowered by the administration, jobs have been declining in the US since the as temporary faculty are unlikely to speak up at 1970s, these industries have dramatically faculty meetings and resist changes imposed by increased their use of temporary workers. the administration. This model could be applied Mississippi leaders can put pressure on Nissan to to other industries. higher more permanent workers by referencing their original agreement with the company to Unionization in MS – According to the State of locate their plant in Canton, MS: “reliance upon Working Mississippi 2016 Report, unions in MS
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 14
continue to lose power due to long established Mississippi government workers are unionized state “Right to Work” laws. The percentage of (Sauter and Stebbins 2016). Mississippi teacher workers represented by a union was 6.8% in 2015 unions are also some of the weakest in the nation in MS, compared to 11.1% nationwide, according (ranking 46 out of 50) due to their low to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016. While most membership and lack of resources and prohibition neighboring states have similar low unionization on teacher strikes (“How Strong Are…” 2012). rates (Georgia 4.0%; Louisiana 6.8%; Texas 4.5%), Current Governor Phil Bryant emphasized his Alabama has 11%, these are even more support of Mississippi as a non-union state, discouraging numbers if analyzed by race. claiming in his inaugural address that right-to- Nationwide, black workers have higher rates of work protected workers from intimidation by unionization (13.6%) than white workers (10.0%) union organizers (Fowler 2016). or Hispanics. Having a higher percentage of The United Auto Workers (UAW) have been trying workers unionized can help decrease industry to unionize the 6,000 employees at the Nissan reliance on temporary workers and increase plant in Canton, MS, to no avail. They claim that wages. Unions help reduce the gender wage gap workers attempting to organize there have faced as well. Unionized black women workers earn retaliation, including termination, something the 34% more than their nonunionized counterparts, company denies (Fowler 2016). Employees are Hispanic unionized women workers earn 42% split on the issue, with a vote in 2008 failing by a 2 more, and white unionized women earn 31% to 1 margin. In 2014, over 100 Mississippi more (Anderson, Hegewisch, and Hayes 2015). ministers called for another union vote at the The low rate of unionization in Mississippi is no plant (“Clergy Group Supports…” 2014). accident. One of former Governor Hailey Instead of inhibiting unionization through the Barbour’s objectives when he entered office was passage of right-to-work laws, Mississippi could to shrink the size of Mississippi state government encourage unionization as a way to strengthen and to reduce state employee benefits (Pettus the state economy. In addition to the unionization and Schlezig 2011). He actively sought to weaken of auto manufacturing plants like the Nissan plant the state employees’ union, the Mississippi in Canton, other examples include: Unite Here! Alliance of State Employees, specifically by and a Living Wage Campaign at the University of denying them the right to collectively bargain. Mississippi. Thus, they have a right to voice their concerns to the legislature and the Governor, but without Unite Here! is a service and hospitality workers’ collective bargaining, lawmakers can make union in the US and Canada, with over 270,000 changes to their pensions, health insurance, or members. They are engaged in two campaigns in any other benefits without consulting workers MS, one in Biloxi and the other in Tunica, to try (Pettus and Schlezig 2011). Public sector unions and unionize casino workers. Unionizing account for about half of union membership hospitality workers is forward thinking, since that nationwide, which is why they have been targeted is where the job growth is, as opposed to focusing by lawmakers’ hostile to unions (Sauter and on factories and unionization of industrial Stebbins 2016). This has contributed to workers; “The old working class still controls the Mississippi having one of the lowest rates of megaphone of the labor movement, in part public sector unionization in the country; because unions have struggled to organize service nationally, 35.2% of government workers are in workers. Manufacturing was, logistically speaking, public sector unions, whereas just 9.4% of easier to organize. There were lots of workers at
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 15
Table 1: Percentage of Population Incarcerated by Race/Ethnicity, Mississippi and Nationally, 2010 Percentage Percentage of Percentage of of Incarcerated Percentage of Race/Ethnicity Mississippi U.S. Population Population Mississippi Inmates Population
64% 39% White, non-Hispanic 58% 30% Black/African 13% 40% 37% 57% American 16% 19% Hispanic/Latino 3% 12% Source: Prison Policy Initiative, US Census 2010 Summary File 1. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2016. (http://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/MS.html). each factory, and most knew one another. Service setting a minimum wage higher than the federal work is more dispersed and done in smaller minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Individual crews” (Applebaum 2016:24; Draut 2016). The employers can, however, have a higher minimum fact that most union workers today are in service wage, but the government cannot require it. The occupations, and are more likely to be female and Ole Miss Living Wage Campaign is hoping that if people of color, illustrates how biased our vision they succeed, other universities and businesses of unions as white, male, manufacturing workers will follow, and they hope to influence the state remains. on this issue as well. University of Mississippi administrators say they made a commitment in [Pull Quote: 2000 for a “10 by 2010” campaign, and they “The enduring political focus on factory workers almost made it (due to the economic crisis, they partly reflects the low profile of the new working did not make it to a $10.00 per hour minimum class. Instead of white men who make stuff, the wage until 2011, but they have come a long way) group is increasingly made up of minority women (Turnage 2015). who serve people” (Applebaum 2016:24). Living wage campaigns have succeeded on other End Quote] campuses, including Southampton College of New Living Wage Campaign at Ole Miss – This York (Dolgon 2000). Despite their name, campus campaign is designed to address the problem of living wage campaigns seek more than a living low-wage workers, who are disproportionately wage; often they are fighting for health care, women and people of color, on the University of tuition remission, child care assistance, and other Mississippi campus. Started by an Ole Miss faculty benefits. Recently, the dining hall workers at member and his students, they use the Living Harvard University were on strike over wages and Wage Calculator (developed by Amy Glasmeier; the cost of health care after four months of includes cost of food, transportation, housing, negotiations that failed to result in a new contract and other geographically variable factors) to (Douglas-Gabriel 2016). The 750 food service estimate what the living wage should be in workers at Harvard are represented by UNITE Oxford, MS. Right now, the university pays a HERE Local 26 (see discussion of UNITE HERE! $10.25 minimum wage; according to the Living above). After a two-month strike, the university Wage Calculator, a living wage is $17.25 per hour agreed to the workers’ demands. in Oxford, MS. The goal of the campaign is to get Reintegration of Formerly Incarcerated to this within 3 years. The state legislature in MS Individuals into the Labor Market – As passed House Bill 141 in 2013 which prohibited mentioned at the beginning of this report, one of any city, county, or municipality in the state from the reasons for the low rate of labor force
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 16
participation, particularly among men, has to do probation, community corrections, and a with the number of individuals burdened by range of efforts commonly referred to as felony convictions. In 2013, Mississippi had the ‘justice reinvestment’ and ‘restorative second highest incarceration rate in the country, justice’” (Edelman and Holzer 2014:95). trailing only Louisiana on this measure. The prison End Quote] population in Mississippi, like that of the nation at large, is disproportionately composed of racial While the reforms have the state moving in the minorities. For instance, only 30% of Mississippi right direction, a focus on job placement for the prisoners are white, despite whites making up more than 20,000 formerly incarcerated 58% of the state population; 12% are Hispanic, individuals must be implemented. When looking while Hispanics are only 3% of the state at unemployment rates and low labor force population, and African Americans make up 57% participation rates in Mississippi, especially of of the incarcerated population, which is black men, one cannot overlook the role of a disproportionate to their 37% of state population felony conviction in explaining this. Political (see Table 1). economist Nicholas Eberstadt (2016) argues that the presence of a criminal record is one of the Between 1983 and 2013, the prison population in most important explanations for why millions of Mississippi grew by 300 percent, to more than men of prime working age are not in the labor 22,400 inmates (“Mississippi’s 2014 force (NILF). In 2016, 9.6 percent of Mississippi’s Corrections…” 2014). In 2014, Mississippi population was disenfranchised due to a felony politicians got off that treadmill and, in a conviction, which also means this is a population bipartisan effort, embraced criminal justice of people who face significant employment reform, resulting in a 15% reduction in the obstacles (Uggen, Larson, and Shannon 2016). number of prisoners within a year (Curry 2015). This is an especially difficult population when it Most of the reforms involved changes in comes to employment prospects because, “many sentencing, especially shorter sentences for have served multiple terms in prison…many have property and drug crimes. These reforms are very low levels of education and little work projected to save the state $266 million over the experience, are disproportionately male and coming decade, although the demand for change minority, and return to social networks with weak was also based on moral and ethical ties to the labor market… [yet] Stable considerations associated with mass incarceration employment is often characterized as being of rather than just on cost savings (Curry 2015). In central importance to the successful reentry of 2014, Mississippi’s imprisonment rate was 5th former inmates into non-institutionalized society” highest in the nation, at 597 (per 100,000), while (Raphael 2010). African American men have been the US average was 471 (per 100,000). disproportionately targeted by the war on drugs [Pull Quote: since the 1980s, which explains their disproportionate incarceration rates (Alexander While “the best thing we can do in this 2010). For instance, between the mid-1980s and regard would be to incarcerate fewer the mid-1990s, the number of black men young men to start with, especially for sentenced to prison for drug offenses increased nonviolent drug offenses. Recent efforts 700 percent, despite the fact that whites actually to incarcerate fewer young people have use drugs at slightly higher rates than African centered on various alternatives to Americans (Brown et al. 2003; Fitzgerald 2014). prison, such as drug courts, ‘smart’
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 17
Pager’s (2003, 2007) research finds that a criminal Connecticut’s Reentry Strategy 2010 (“Partners in record acts as a negative credential for black and Progress…” 2010). white job seekers, but is much more problematic Strategies the state can implement include for African Americans, as “employers, already funding reentry programs, like Paroled to Pride, reluctant to hire blacks, appear even more wary described below, and a ban the box program of blacks with proven criminal involvement” where employers cannot ask on an application (2003:959). Thus, Mississippi has historically had whether or not an applicant has been convicted some of the highest rates of incarceration in the of a felony. Employers have a right to know if nation, and has the largest percentage of African applicants have a criminal history, but the “ban American residents in the nation, and according the box” movement is trying to allow formerly to Pager’s research, both race and a criminal incarcerated individuals a foot in the door. record are negative credentials for job seekers. Instead of disregarding the applicant because he Thus, it is safe to say that the problem of felony or she checked “yes” to whether or not they have convictions contributing to the numbers of men ever been convicted of a felony, employers don’t of prime working age not in the labor force is find out about the applicant’s criminal record even more severe in Mississippi than in the nation until after an interview. Another strategy is to at large. encourage employers to stop discriminating Mississippi has recently expanded MS Works to against people with criminal records, which could connect with the MS Department of Corrections happen if the state incentivized hiring formerly so that any incarcerated individual who is about incarcerated individuals; South Carolina Governor to be released from prison can register with MS Nikki Haley is encouraging businesses to hire Works and they will have a list of job leads near qualified, nonviolent ex-offenders upon release, where they will be living the day they get out. This as a way to reduce recidivism. While this effort is so new; they do not yet have more than one was only implemented in 2014, Haley is month of statistics. This is not in private or federal expanding the program to try and have prisoners prisons yet, only MDOC. But, this program hired before they even get out of prison so they provides more than just a list of jobs; it also can get to work immediately (Roldán 2016). connects applicants to necessary training Governor Haley is not offering businesses a programs which focus on job skills, and also concrete incentive to hire formerly incarcerated programs that teach “soft skills,” such as the individuals, but other states do. Examples of such importance of punctuality, attitude, and incentive programs include the Federal Bonding communication skills, things that are especially Program and the Work Opportunities Tax Credit. important for the ex-offender population Most employers are unaware that the federal (“Results-Based Public Policy…” 2012). government offers a program that provides free insurance to employers to cover theft – from While this move is certainly laudable, Mississippi larceny to embezzlement – if employers hire should do more than provide job leads for people former offenders (“Federal Bonding Program…” currently being released. They must address the n.d.). This is part of President Obama’s Fair employment obstacles that face the tens of Chance Business Pledge. Employers who take this thousands of formerly incarcerated individuals. pledge are committed to providing ex-offenders The State of Mississippi needs to extend their with a fair shot at a second chance and set an criminal justice reform strategies to include a example for their peers (“Federal Bonding focus on prisoner reentry, similar to the State of Program” n.d.). Mississippi could implement a
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 18
state-level version of the Federal Bonding 19 years old. All states have enacted laws that Program as a way to help ex-offenders find gainful allow people to expunge arrests and convictions employment. from their records; once expunged, a person can honestly answer “no” to a potential employer’s Expanding Medicaid (discussed above) is also a question, “have you ever been convicted of a necessary part of economic development for ex- felony.” Currently in Mississippi, a person can get offenders. By promoting access to health care, ex- a felony conviction expunged if their conviction is offenders will be healthier, better able to for shoplifting, writing bad checks, or possession maintain their jobs, and thus save the state of a controlled substance or paraphernalia for money by reducing recidivism. which the person received a suspended sentence. Mississippi can also implement community-based Mississippi legislators could expand expungement alternatives to court for juvenile offenders. eligibility to convictions for nonviolent drug Juveniles who commit what are known as “status offenses in which the offender served his or her offenses,” truancy, running away, underage sentence. drinking, should not be held in detention in a A final strategy that the state could try that would juvenile facility, according to the Vera Institute of reduce recidivism by increasing employment Justice. Mississippi could model neighboring opportunities is removing obstacles to the Louisiana who has turned to the Vera Institute employment of ex-offenders, specifically by and their Status Offense Reform Center for ending prohibitions on ex-offenders’ right to assistance (“Status Offense…” 2016). The Vera obtain a certain job. While each state sets their Institute encourages community-based and own specific laws, occupations such as hairstylists, family-focused responses to status offenses by barbers, make-up artists, security guards, juveniles. Courts are ill-equipped to deal with the residential painters, and florists, require state underlying causes of these kinds of offenses and licensure which prohibits people with a felony incarcerating these young people who have conviction from qualifying for them. committed status offenses with others who have committed more serious offenses negatively Paroled to Pride is an organization based in affects their behavior (“Keeping Kids Out” 2014). Columbus, MS, that provides counseling, job The Status Offense Reform Center provides states training with accredited programs, and job with the tools and resources to make the placement for nonviolent offenders, specifically necessary reforms. Youth of color are hospitality industry training. Since 45% of disproportionately represented in juvenile justice Mississippi’s prisoners are nonviolent, this systems, particularly for status offenses. It is in program has the potential to help a large number the interest of Mississippi policymakers to engage of formerly incarcerated individuals (“Mississippi’s in status offense reform efforts that have worked 2014 Corrections…” 2014). While this in other states as a way to keep youth of color out organization is doing important work, it should of the juvenile justice system (Davis 2014). not be overlooked that many of the jobs in the hospitality industry are low-wage and thus, States can also expunge a felony record after a returning prisoners will simply be members of the certain number of years in which a person has not working poor unless the state increases the re-offended (Edelman and Holzer 2014). This minimum wage. Or other, similar, programs can makes more sense than permanently barring be implemented to make ex-offenders more someone from gainful employment because of a employable. An example is Edwin’s Leadership felony conviction they incurred when they were and Restaurant Institute in Cleveland, OH, which
LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 19
trains ex-offenders in all aspects of high-end action to address the needs of low-wage workers. dining, from culinary arts to hospitality. This This report offers a range of suggestions that are program began in 2007 and was initially a 6- designed to directly improve the lives of low- month program conducted in prisons and is now a wage workers: expand Medicaid so that low-wage full-service restaurant that employs ex-offenders workers can have access to health care; and teaches them every aspect of the business, implement a state Earned Income Tax Credit offering worthy people a second chance. Clearly, (EITC); offer more child care assistance so women this model goes beyond only training ex-offenders are able to work outside the home. This can be for low-wage jobs. accomplished simply by spending more of the federal TANF funds and the Child Care Seven years ago, neighboring Louisiana Development Block Grant that come to the state established a Re-Entry Court program where (millions of federal dollars designated to the state young inmates who qualified could learn a trade through these grants go unused every year). The like plumbing, welding, or auto mechanics while state can also look to reforming unemployment they are incarcerated, so that when they are benefits eligibility and child support payment released, they have an employable skill. The enforcement. Poverty among the disabled can be program also offers anger management, addressed through reforming eligibility criteria for parenting classes, and GED classes. This program SSDI and TANF. A major shift in Mississippi’s is limited, however, in that it is only available at economic and political culture is necessary for the Angola, where “lifers” who graduated from state to increase the minimum wage, decrease Angola Bible College serve as unpaid mentors to industry reliance on temporary workers, and the young inmates who are chosen to participate increase unionization rates. While Mississippi is a in the program (Lane 2014). Mississippi could right-to-work state, this position is not benefitting implement a similar program, which would deter workers and instead, is making them more recidivism among young people entering prison vulnerable economically. Finally, we recommend for the first time. But this is not the kind of the state implement a number of policies and program that would address the thousands of programs designed to help ex-offenders Mississippians who are currently struggling to find reintegrate into the labor market. For many years, work with a felony conviction on their record. Mississippi had the second highest rate of incarceration in the country. While criminal CONCLUSION justice reform has them improving on that statistic, there are still tens of thousands of The state of Mississippi is one of the poorest formerly incarcerated individuals who struggle to states, with high unemployment and one of the find gainful employment or are simply not in the lowest labor-force participation rates in the labor force and are no longer even looking for nation. The state is focused on economic and work. workforce development, through tax cuts to businesses and the top wage earners and the implementation of MS Works, a website and app designed for job seekers and employers seeking workers. As mentioned previously, the state has not identified the needs of low-wage workers as a problem they should attempt to alleviate. In this report, we instead suggest that the state take
REFERENCES
REFERENCES
“About the Project.” N.d. Mississippi Food Insecurity Project – Mississippi State University. Retrieved Nov. 13, 2016. (http://www.mfip.msstate.edu/). Anderson, Julie, Ariane Hegewisch, and Jeff Hayes. 2015. “The Union Advantage for Women.” Institute for Women’s Policy Research, August. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2016. (http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/the- union-advantage-for-women). “Anti-Union and Out of Compliance at Nissan.” 2016. MS NAACP State Conference, August 19. Retrieved December 1, 2016. (http://naacpms.org/anti-union-and-out-of-compliance-at-nissan/). Applebaum, Binyamin. 2016. “Every Election Season, Politicians Promise to Bring Back Manufacturing. Why Won’t They Focus on the Jobs Americans Actually Have?” The New York Times Magazine, October 9:20—24. “A Profile of the Working Poor, 2014.” 2016. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved December 11, 2016. (http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/working-poor/2014/home.htm http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/working-poor/2014/home.htm Bazelon, Emily. 2016. “Family Planning.” The New York Times Magazine, Oct. 9:17-19. Bluestone, Barry and Bennett Harrison. 1984. The Deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books. Brown, Michael K., Martin Carnoy, Elliot Currie, Troy Duster, David B. Oppenheimer, Marjorie M. Shultz, and David Wellman. 2003. Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Colorblind Society. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. “Bryant Signs Largest Tax Cut in History.” 2016. The Associated Press. The Clarion-Ledger, May 17. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2016. (http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/13/bryant-signs-bill-cut-415- million-business-income-taxes/84353830/). “Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2014.” 2015. BLS Reports, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, April. Retrieved October 14, 2016. (http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/archive/characteristics-of- minimum-wage-workers-2014.pdf). “Child Care in Mississippi.” 2016. Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative Legislative Hearing, Jackson, MS. Oct. 12. Chira, Susan. 2016. “Men Need Help. Is Hillary the Answer?” The New York Times, Sunday, Oct. 23:SR6-7. “Civilian Noninstitutional Population and Associated Rate and Ratio Models for Model-Based Areas.” 2016. Local Area Unemployment Statistics - Bureau of Labor Statistics, September. Retrieved November 12, 2016. (http://www.bls.gov/lau/rdscnp16.htm). “Clergy Group Supports Pro-Union Nissan Workers.” 2014. Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, October. Retrieved Dec. 1, 2016. (http://naacpms.org/support-nissan-workers/). Crisp, Elizabeth. 2016. “Trump’s Election Leaves Questions for Future of Medicaid Expansion in Louisiana.” The Acadiana Advocate, November 11, 2016. Retrieved Nov. 17, 2016. (http://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/politics/elections/article_d05ff3c2-a842-11e6-a119- 33fb13098941.html). Curry, Colleen. 2015. “How Mississippi Slashed its Prison Population and Embraced Criminal Justice Reform.” Vice.com, Sept. 23. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2016. (https://news.vice.com/article/how-mississippi-slashed-its- prison-population-and-embraced-criminal-justice-reform).
REFERENCES
D’Amora, Delphine. 2016. “Snap Judgement: The 1996 Welfare Reform Law is Being Used to Cut Food Aid to Some of the Poorest Americans.” Mother Jones, November 1. (Retrieved Nov. 13, 2016). Davis, Tiana. 2014. “Status Offenders and Race.” Retrieved December 3, 2016. (file:///C:/Users/Kathleen/Downloads/Status_Offenders_and_Race.pdf). “Disability Status Report: Mississippi.” 2008. Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics. Retrieved Nov. 10, 2016. (https://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/report.cfm?fips=2028000#about). Dolgon, Corey. 2000. “Justice for Janitors: Organizing Against Outsourcing at Southampton College.” Pp. 342- 357. In Campus, Inc.: Corporate Power in the Ivory Tower. Geoffrey D. White, Editor. New York: Prometheus Books. Donovan, Jeanie and William McCormick. 2016. “The State of Working Mississippi.” Jesuit Social Research Institute. September. Douglas-Gabrielle, Danielle. 2016. “Harvard University Dining Hal Workers Strike Over Wages and Health Care Costs.” The Washington Post, Oct. 5. Retrieved Oct. 15, 2016. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/10/05/harvard-university-dining-hall- workers-strike-over-wages-and-health-care-costs/). Draut, Tamara. 2016. Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America. New York: Doubleday. Eberstadt, Nicholas. 2016. Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press. Edelman, Peter B. and Harry J. Holzer. 2014. “Connecting the Disconnected: Improving Education and Employment Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Youth.” Pp. 81-107 in What Works for Workers? Public Policies and Innovative Strategies for Low-Wage Workers. Stephanie Luce, Jennifer Luff, Joseph A. McCartin, and Ruth Milkman, Editors. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Falk, Gene. 2016. “The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions.” Congressional Research Service, March 18. Retrieved December 10, 2016. (https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32760.pdf). “The Federal Bonding Program.” N.d. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved December 9, 2016. (http://bonds4jobs.com/). “Federal Stimulus Funding Produces Unprecedented Wave of State Unemployment Insurance Reforms.” 2009. National Employment Law Project, June 16. Retrieved December 8, 2016. (http://nelp.3cdn.net/045dbfa4719454865f_1pm6iyyjf.pdf). Fitzgerald, Kathleen. 2014. Recognizing Race and Ethnicity: Power, Privilege, and Inequality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Fowler, Sarah. 2016. “Unions: Friend or Foe to Mississippi Workers?” The Clarion-Ledger, Feb. 10. Retrieved Dec. 1, 2016. (http://www.clarionledger.com/story/business/businessledger/2016/02/10/unions-friend-foe- mississippi-workers/80055952/). Garfield, Rachel. 2016. “The Coverage Gap: Uninsured Poor Adults in States That Do Not Expand Medicaid.” The Kaiser Family Foundation, October 19. Retrieved October 30, 2016. (http://kff.org/uninsured/issue- brief/the-coverage-gap-uninsured-poor-adults-in-states-that-do-not-expand-medicaid/).
REFERENCES
Glied, Sherry and Stephanie Ma. 2013. “How States Stand to Gain or Lose Federal Funds by Opting In or Out of the Medicaid Expansion.” The Commonwealth Fund December. Retrieved October 30, 2016. (http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Issue%20Brief/2013/Dec/1718_Glied_ho w_states_stand_gain_lose_Medicaid_expansion_ib_v2.pdf). Gould, Elise, Jessica Schieder, and Kathleen Geier. 2016. “What is the Gender Pay Gap and Is it Real?” Economic Policy Institute, October 20. Retrieved November 13, 2016. (file:///C:/Users/Kathleen/Downloads/Gender%20Pay%20Gap-EPI-1016-pov%20(3).pdf). Grundman, Dylan. 2016. “Tax Cut Madness in Mississippi.” Tax Justice Blog, April 21. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2016. (http://www.taxjusticeblog.org/archive/2016/04/tax_cut_madness_in_mississippi.php#.WBZTtPkrI2x). Hampton, Paul. 2016. “About 25% of Food Stamp Recipients in South Mississippi About To Lose Benefits.” Sun Herald, April 9. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2016. (http://www.sunherald.com/news/article70963872.html). Harris, Leslie Joan. 2011. “Questioning Child Support Enforcement Policy for Poor Families.” Family Law Quarterly 45(2):157-172. Hatton, Erin. 2011. The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Hill, Marianne. 2008. “Solving the Poverty Problem in Mississippi.” University Research Center, June. Retrieved October 26, 2016. (http://www.mississippi.edu/urc/downloads/articles/SolvingPovertyProbleminMS-June2008.pdf). “How Strong Are U.S. Teacher Unions? A State-by-State Comparison.” 2012. Thomas B. Fordham Institute: Advancing Educational Excellence, October 29. Retrieved Dec. 3, 2016. (https://edexcellence.net/publications/how-strong-are-us-teacher-unions.html). Huang, Chien Chung, James Kunz, and Irwin Garfinkel. 2002. “The Effect of Child Support on Welfare Exits and Re-entries.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 21(4):557-76. Irving, Shae. n.d. “Expunging or Sealing Adult Criminal Records in Mississippi.” Criminal Defense Lawyer Published by NOLO. Retrieved December 10, 2016. (http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/criminal-records- expungement/mississippi.htm). Irwin, Neil. 2016. “And in This Aisle, Higher Pay.” The New York Times, Sunday Business, Oct. 16:1,4. Jaffe, Sarah. 2014. “Forever Temp? Once a Bastion for Good Jobs, Manufacturing Has Gone Gaga for Temps.” In These Times, Jan. 6. Retrieved Oct. 12, 2016. (http://inthesetimes.com/article/15972/permatemps_in_manufacturing). Joo, Myungkook. 2008. “The Impact of Availability and Generosity of Subsidized Child Care on Low-Income Mothers’ Hours of Work.” Journal of Policy Practice 7(4):298-313. “Keeping Kids Out of Court: Rethinking Our Response to Status Offenses.” 2014. Vera Institute of Justice. Retrieved Dec. 3, 2016. (file:///C:/Users/Kathleen/Downloads/Keeping_Kids_Out_of_Court_Rethinking_Our_Response_to_Status_O ffenses%20(1).pdf). Kiernan, John S. 2016. “2016’s Most and Least Federally Dependent States.” WalletHub, March 29. Retrieved Dec. 1, 2016. (https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/).
REFERENCES
Kletzer, Laurie. 2004. “Trade-Related Job Loss and Wage Insurance: A Synthetic Review.” Review of International Economics 12(5):724-48. Lane, Emily. 2014. “High Demand for Louisiana Inmate Reentry Program Prompts Tizzy in House Committee.” NOLA.com, March 20. Retrieved Oct. 16, 2016. (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/high_demand_for_inmate_re-entr.html). Leachman, Michael and Chris Mai. 2014. “Lessons For Other States From Kansas’ Massive Tax Cuts.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 27. Retrieved Oct. 15, 2016. (http://www.cbpp.org/research/lessons- for-other-states-from-kansas-massive-tax-cuts). Lemke, Robert J., Ann Dryden Witte, Magaly Queralt, and Robert Witt. 2000. “Child Care and the Welfare to Work Transition.” National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2016. (http://www.nber.org/papers/w7583.) Litton, Kevin. 2016. “Medicaid Expansion to Save Louisiana $677 Million Over the Next Five Years.” NOLA.com, April 18. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2016. (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/john_bel_edwards_medicaid_1.html). ______. 2016b. “Louisiana Medicaid Expansion and the Promise of Economic Security.” NOLA.com, June 30. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2016. (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/06/medicaid_expansion_louisiana_e_1.html). Luce, Stephanie, Jennifer Luff, Joseph A. McCartin, and Ruth Milkman. 2014. “Introduction.” Pp. 1-15 in What Works for Workers? Public Policies and Innovative Strategies for Low-Wage Workers. Stephanie Luce, Jennifer Luff, Joseph A. McCartin, and Ruth Milkman, Editors. New York: Russell Sage Foundations. McLanahan, Sarah, Irving Garfinkel, Marcia Carlson, Kathryn Edin, Paula Edin, and Frank Furstenberg. 2003. The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study: Baseline National Report. Princeton. Retrieved December 9, 2016. (http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/). Meyer, Harris. 2016. “Medicaid Expansion Hits the Deep South.” Modern Healthcare.com, June 18. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2016. (http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160618/MAGAZINE/306189989). “Mississippi.” 2015. Talkpoverty.org. Retrieved November 7, 2016. (https://talkpoverty.org/state-year- report/mississippi-2015-report/). “Mississippi’s 2014 Corrections and Criminal Justice Reform.” 2014. The PEW Charitable Trusts, May. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2016 (pspp_mississippi_2014_corrections_justice_reform.pdf). Mitchell, Jerry. 2016. “More Mississippi Women Earn Minimum Wage.” The Clarion-Ledger, March 8. Retrieved November 10, 2016. (http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/03/03/most-ms-women- earn-minimum-wage/81274892/). “Modernizing Unemployment Insurance: Federal Incentives Pave the Way for State Reforms.” 2012. National Employment Law Project, May. Retrieved December 9, 2016. (http://nelp.3cdn.net/a77bc3b5988571ee4b_dfm6btygh.pdf). Pager, Devah. 2003. “The Mark of a Criminal Record.” American Journal of Sociology 108(5):937-75. _____. 2007. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. “Partners in Progress: The State of Connecticut Reentry Strategy.” State of Connecticut, May. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2016. (http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/cjppd/cjcjpac/cjpac_2010_reentry_strategy_%282%29.pdf).
REFERENCES
Pettus, Emily Wagster and Erik Schelzig. 2011. “Union Bargaining a Dream for Many State Workers.” NBC News.com, Feb. 27. Retrieved Dec. 1, 2016. (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/41810901/ns/business- us_business/t/union-bargaining-dream-many-state-workers/#.WEXp3_krI2w). “Policy Basics: An Introduction to TANF.” 2015. Center on Budget and Policy Analysis, June. Retrieved October 29, 2016. (http://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-an-introduction-to-tanf). Rampell, Catherine. 2009. “Yes, Many States Are Expanding Unemployment Benefits.” The New York Times, June 18. Retrieved December 9, 2016. (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/yes-many-states- are-expanding-unemployment-benefits/?_r=0). Raphael, Steven. 2010. “Improving Employment Prospects for Former Prison Inmates: Challenges and Policy.” National Bureau of Economic Research, April. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2016 (http://www.nber.org/papers/w15874.pdf). “Renewing the American Dream: A Road Map to Enhancing Economic Mobility in America.” 2016. Economic Mobility Project – Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved Nov. 10, 2016. (http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/economic_mobility/e mproadmappdf.pdf). “Results Based Public Policy Strategies for Promoting Workforce Strategies for Reintegration of Ex- Offenders.” 2012. Center for the Study of Social Policy April. Retrieved Oct. 24, 2016. (http://www.cssp.org/policy/papers/Promoting-Workforce-Strategies-for-Reintegrating-Ex-Offenders.pdf). Robles, Frances. 2013. “Florida Law on Drug Tests for Welfare is Struck Down.” New York Times, Dec. 31, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2016. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/us/florida-law-on-drug-testing- for-welfare-is-struck-down.html?_r=0). Roldán, Cynthia. 2016. “Haley Pushes for Hiring Non-Violent S.C. Prisoners Upon Release.” The State, Oct. 24. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2016. (http://www.thestate.com/latest-news/article110192392.html). Schott, Liz, Ladonna Pavetti, and Ife Floyd. 2015. “How States Use Federal and State Funds Under the TANF Block Grant.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 15. Retrieved October 25, 2016. (http://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/how-states-use-federal-and-state-funds-under-the- tanf-block-grant). Slack, Tim and Candice L. Myers. 2012. “Understanding the Geography of Food Stamp Program Participation: Do Space and Place Matter?” Social Science Research 41(2):263-275. Retrieved Nov. 13, 2016. (http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.tulane.edu:2048/science/article/pii/S0049089X11001700). Soffer, Michal, Katherine E. McDonald, and Peter Blanck. 2010. “Poverty Among Adults With Disabilities: Barriers to Promoting Asset Accumulation in Individual Development Accounts.” American Journal of Community Psychology 46:376-385. Spires, Steve. 2016. “Louisiana’s EITC: A Smart Investment in Working Families.” Louisiana Budget Project, Feb. Retrieved Oct. 21, 2016. (http://www.labudget.org/lbp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EITC-2016- Report-update.pdf). Stanley, Megan, Ife Floyd, and Misha Hill. 2016. “TANF Cash Benefits Have Fallen by More Than 20 Percent in Most States and Continue to Erode.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 17. Retrieved December 1, 2016. (http://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/tanf-cash-benefits-have-fallen- by-more-than-20-percent-in-most-states).
REFERENCES
“Status Offense Reform Center.” 2016. Vera Institute of Justice. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2016. (https://www.vera.org/projects/status-offense-reform-center/learn-more). “A State Earned Income Tax Credit – A Boost for Mississippi Families – A Policy Brief.” Hope Policy Institut,e Jan. 28. Retrieved October 29, 2016. (http://hopepolicy.org/briefs/a-state-earned-income-tax-credit-a- boost-for-mississippi-families-a-policy-brief/). “State by State.” 2016. National Women’s Law Center. Retrieved November 9, 2016. (https://nwlc.org/state- by-state/). “State Minimum Wages: 2016 Minimum Wage by State.” 2016. National Conference of State Legislators, October 18. Retrieved October 30, 2016. (http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state- minimum-wage-chart.aspx). “Surveying State Tax Policy Changes Thus Far in 2016.” 2016. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff. Tax Justice Blog, August 18. Retrieved Nov. 8, 2016. (http://www.taxjusticeblog.org/archive/2016/08/surveying_state_tax_policy_cha.php#.WCzOxIWcE2w). SWIB Workforce Development Needs Study: A Report to the Mississippi Legislature. 2015. State Workforce Investment Board, Office of the Governor, February. Retrieved Sept. 21, 2016. (http://nsparc.msstate.edu/res/documents/The%20SWIB%20Workforce%20Development%20Needs%20Stu dy.pdf). “Ten Pros and Cons of Using Temps.” 2011. Temp Staff.net, Dec. 31. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2016. (http://www.tempstaff.net/2011/12/31/10-pros-and-cons-of-using-temps/). Theodore, Jamie and Nik Peck. 2002. “Temped Out? Industry Rhetoric, Labor Regulation, and Economic Restructuring in the Temporary Staffing Business.” Economic and Industrial Democracy 23(2):143-175. Tierney, John. 2014. “Which States Are Givers and Which Are Takers?” The Atlantic, May 5. Retrieved December 1, 2016. (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/which-states-are-givers-and- which-are-takers/361668/). Turnage, Clara. 2015. “Living Wage Campaign.” The Daily Mississippian, May 1. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2016. (http://libarts.olemiss.edu/living-wage-campaign/). Uggen, Christopher, Larson, Ryan and Sarah Shannon. 2016. “6 Million Lost Voters: State Level Estimates of Felony Disenfranchisement.” The Sentencing Project, Oct. 6. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2016. (http://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/6-million-lost-voters-state-level-estimates-felony- disenfranchisement-2016/#II. Disenfranchisement in 2016). “U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report.” 2015. The Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Retrieved Sept. 12, 2016. (http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/MississippiCCS_memo_final_with%20appendix.pdf). Vallas, Rebecca and Melissa Boteach. 2015. “Top 5 Reasons Why TANF is Not a Model for Other Income Assistance Programs.” Center for American Progress, April 29. Retrieved Dec. 10, 2016. (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2015/04/29/112034/top-5-reasons-why-tanf-is- not-a-model-for-other-income-assistance-programs/). “Where the States Stand on Medicaid Expansion.” 2016. Advisory Board, Jan. 13. Retrieved Oct. 30, 2016. (https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/resources/primers/medicaidmap).
REFERENCES
Williams, Erica. 2016. “How Much Would a State Earned Income Tax Credit Cost in Fiscal Year 2017?” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Jan. 13. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2016. (http://www.cbpp.org/research/state- budget-and-tax/how-much-would-a-state-earned-income-tax-credit-cost-in-fiscal-year). _____. 2016b. “State EITCs: Helping Working Families and Communities Thrive.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Jan. 21. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2016. (http://www.cbpp.org/blog/state-eitcs-helping-working-families- and-communities-thrive). “Women and Economic Security in Mississippi: A Data Brief.” 2015. Mississippi Economic Policy Center – A Hope Initiative, May 27. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2016. (http://hopepolicy.org/manage/wp- content/uploads/WOMEN-AND-ECONOMIC-SECURITY-IN-MISSISSIPPI-2-21.pdf). “Working Poor in America.” 2014. Oxfam America. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2016. (https://www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/Working-Poor-in-America-report-Oxfam-America.pdf).
This report relied on the cooperation and contributions of many individuals and organizations, including:
Carol Burnett, Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative Dr. Marianne Hill, URC (retired) Dr. Mark Klinedinst, University of Southern Mississippi Dr. Mimmo Parisi, NSPARC (National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center), Mississippi State University Dominique Scott, UNITE HERE! Jessica Shapley, Hope Policy Institute Robin Stewart, Director, Office of Job Connections Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University New Orleans Dale Smith, Mississippi Division of Employment Security Dr. Laurie Smith, Education and Workforce Development Policy Advisor for Governor Bryant Dr. James Thomas, University of Mississippi