2022 legislative session: A big win for working families; but more must be done
Legislators adopted two priority economic justice policies to deliver a significant household income boost to hundreds of thousands of Hawaiʻi workers.
Hawaiʻi should eliminate its tipped sub-minimum wage
Research shows that employers frequently exploit tip credit provisions to pay their employees beneath the legal minimum wage. As a result, tipped workers tend to earn lower, less consistent wages than non-tipped workers, and they are more likely to experience poverty.
A pandemic recession update in charts
Unprecedented job loss, a rise in housing costs, and inflation in food, fuel and consumer goods has made the pandemic recession especially devastating to Hawaiʻi’s working families.
Following the money: Where Hawaiʻi’s budget is going over the 2021–2023 Fiscal Biennium
A breakdown of state spending over the next two years, authorized by the legislature through a variety of appropriations bills.
Highlights from the 2021–2023 Hawaiʻi budget
Critical federal pandemic relief funds will allow the state avoid damaging cuts and maintain its spending levels on investments in the community.
Hawaiʻi can and must do better on gender equity
One area with a glaring and persistent lack of parity is how much we pay for work performed by women compared to that of men.
How COVID-19 shaped Appleseed’s work in 2020
The year 2020 was a turbulent one, but it proved the power of Hawaiʻi’s greatest strength—its people.
What’s included in the new federal coronavirus aid and what was left out?
The $900 billion COVID relief agreement provides urgently-needed relief to Hawaiʻi’s families, but the short timeline is worrisome and several important items were left out of the final deal.
A better kind of unemployment insurance
Short-Time Compensation allows employees to stay in their jobs at reduced hours, pays more than the state’s current UI does, and ensures that they keep their benefits.
This Labor Day, Hawaiʻi’s workers need more help than ever
Hawaiʻi’s workers keep our state and economy going through good times and bad. This upcoming Labor Day, they desperately need support to weather what’s become a storm of record unemployment.
The Micronesian community is being disproportionately harmed by COVID-19
Given the precarious situation in which COVID-19 places the Micronesian community, the State of Hawaiʻi must take steps to help in both the short and long term.
Unemployed workers in Hawaiʻi can’t wait for Congress
Hawaiʻi has more than 200,000 unemployed workers and contractors. The state must move now to offer immediate support for these workers and their families.
Hawaiʻi drops to 44th in the nation in children’s summer meal participation
The drop means that 123 fewer children in Hawaiʻi received meals through summer lunch programs in July 2019 compared to July 2018.
Hawaiʻi still needs federal relief funds
Without further federal aid to state and local governments, Hawai'i is projected to lose 23,700 private and public jobs by the end of 2021.
Counties may need to fill gaps left in state coronavirus response
Some 35,000 additional households could fall into poverty or financial insecurity by the end of the year unless these gaps in state funding are addressed.
Hawaiʻi’s job losses are increasing economic inequity
Because of the way Hawaiʻi’s economy is structured, those who were already struggling to earn enough before COVID-19 are also the most likely to lose a job.
Allocating $100 million in CARES Act relief to housing support is good state policy
To help more than 100,000 Hawaiʻi residents stay in their homes, $100 million in CARES Act housing support is money well spent.
Setting the stage for a crucial June special session
CARES Act funds must be spent by the end of December, and careful decisions need to be made to address critical needs in our community.
High levels of consumer debt add to Hawaiʻi household financial struggles
Hawaiʻi’s high debt load is usually invisible, but that may change soon as households become unable to carry this burden in the COVID-19 economy.
Hawaiʻi’s household income loss is the highest in the nation
6 in 10 Hawaiʻi adults now live in a household in which at least one person has lost income