The income gap between the rich and the poor remains near its highest level ever, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Budget Project and COWS at UW Madison. The wide chasm between the …
Press Releases
Using Workforce Dollars to Boost Job Quality
MADISON (December 17, 2015) — A new report released today in Wisconsin by COWS highlights innovative and practical ways states can build job quality into future workforce development policy and practice using state workforce plans …
Analyzing Paid Leave Insurance Program for Wisconsin
Madison, WI— Today, COWS has released Putting Families First in Wisconsin: Estimating Utilization and Financing of Paid Family Leave Insurance. Paid Family Leave Insurance allows workers to take short-term paid leave in order to care for …
Wisconsin has Highest Black Unemployment Rate in the Nation
Madison – At 19.9 percent, Wisconsin had the nation’s highest unemployment rate for African Americans in 2014, according to a new analysis from Economic Policy Institute. In Projected Decline in Unemployment in 2015 Won’t Lift …
Minority Working Families in Wisconsin Falling Behind
MADISON – A sharp racial/ethnic divide has emerged within the world of low-income working families, posing a critical equity and economic challenge to Wisconsin and the nation, a new study concludes. n n Unless …
Pulling Apart 2014: Focus on Wisconsin's 1%
Income inequality in Wisconsin is widening, according to a new report by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) and the Wisconsin Budget Project. The top 1% of earners in Wisconsin have experienced tremendous gains in …
Report: Impact of Minimum Wage Increase on Wisconsin Families
A new report from COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy) analyzes the economic impact of a minimum wage increase to $10.10 per hour for Wisconsin workers. Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 by July 2016 would …
Estimating the Impact of a $12.45 Living Wage for Milwaukee County
The recently proposed Living Wage Ordinance for Milwaukee County would establish a floor on wages of $12.45 per hour for the work done in support of the public priorities achieved through county contracts, leases, and …
Fast Food's Cheap Meals Cost Us All
Fast food workers in Wisconsin make so little money that they routinely rely on government programs in order to make ends meet. The public costs of fast food jobs amount to $166 million in the …
Raise the Floor Milwaukee
Raising the low-wage floor will improve quality of life for the 100,000 workers in poverty-wage jobs in the city, and for a roughly equal number of poverty-wage workers in the suburban counties around city, says …