Is there a social insurance response to the many economic, health, and other risks that climate change is generating?
The myriad risks posed by climate change were not envisioned during the Great Depression, out of which much of our nation’s social insurance infrastructure emerged. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 did not affect the heart of American economic activity, and was treated as an outlier, “a once in a life-time” event too unlikely to re-occur to get incorporated in actual long-term policy planning.
Read More…There is only one National Academy of Social Insurance, but many reasons to support our work. Here’s why you may wish to consider the Academy in your year-end giving:
1. We tackle big issues.
Read More…In reflecting on the passing of Representative Elijah Cummings, we at the National Academy of Social Insurance recall his stirring tribute to William (Bill) Spriggs, recipient of the 2016 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance.
We invite you to watch the late Congressman’s remarks during that memorable evening in which the Ball Award was presented to Bill Spriggs. (Congressman Cummings was actually a surprise guest speaker, so this intimate 7-minute recording was captured by none other than Bill Spriggs, via his mobile device!)
Read More…A new study indicates that the United States continues to lose ground when it comes to addressing inequality. According to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) released in September 2019, the gap between the richest and poorest U.S. households is now the largest it has been in the past fifty years. Despite a national economy with low rates of unemployment, more than ten years of consecutive growth in gross domestic product (GDP), and median household income at an all-time high ($61,937 for 2018), disparities in income along racial, generational, and geographic lines grew.
Read More…Recession Watch
A defining trait of severe recessions is the staggering levels of long-term unemployment that follow. During the last recession, between 2008 and 2009, 8.4 million jobs, or 6.1% of all payroll employment at the time, were lost. Prior to the last recession, the largest share of the unemployed experiencing long-term unemployment was 26.0% in the early 1980s. The same long-term unemployment rate exceeded 40% into the early 2010s, amounting to over 4%of the entire labor force, and is only now falling to pre-recessionary levels.
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