Work & Money
271,000 Minnesota households pay more than 30% of their income in rent
Just one in four households that are eligible for rental assistance actually get it. When the state’s three largest housing agencies opened up their waiting lists for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers last summer, they received more than 45,000 applications for just 7,500 spots. That was for a spot on the waiting list, not for […]
Rep. Betty McCollum’s effort to stop Twin Metals mine near Boundary Waters divides fellow Democrats
WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration pushes to allow mining near Minnesota’s iconic Boundary Waters, Rep. Betty McCollum is waging an attempt to thwart the plans. But the Minnesota Democrat lacks broad support from the rest of the state’s congressional delegation. Only two other Minnesota lawmakers have publicly backed the legislation she introduced earlier this […]
3,000 HealthPartners workers prepared to strike over their own health care
More than 1,800 nurses and other medical care workers at HealthPartners could vote to strike next week if they don’t reach a new contract agreement by Friday at midnight. The workers say they are standing firm against a company effort to cut employee health benefits. HealthPartners, which has 26,000 employees and more than $7 billion […]
What happens in Minnesota if Obamacare gets struck down by the courts?
At least 300,000 Minnesotans may lose health coverage if the Affordable Care Act is overturned, which is the entirely possible outcome of a lawsuit winding its way through the courts. The 2018 election hinged on the largely successful Democratic message that they would keep in place protections afforded by the Affordable Care Act, sometimes known […]
Here’s how the pay of CEOs of Minnesota’s biggest companies compares to their average workers
CEO pay at Minnesota’s Fortune 500 companies was 278 times more on average than the pay of median workers at their companies in 2018, an analysis of data from company proxy statements shows. The Dodd Frank Act’s requirement that public companies report ratios of CEO-to-median worker pay, effective in 2018, was met with protest by […]
Measuring progress among black Americans since Dr. King’s death
On Apr. 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while assisting striking sanitation workers. Back then, over a half century ago, the wholesale racial integration required by the 1964 Civil Rights Act was just beginning to chip away at discrimination in education, jobs and public facilities. Black voters had only […]
Minnesota students are missing out on federal aid for college
On average, nearly half of 12th graders at most Minnesota high schools didn’t submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid last year, according to data from the University of Wisconsin. The FAFSA — a lengthy, complicated form required to receive federal aid for higher education, as well as to access aid from many states […]
The most in demand jobs in Minnesota don’t pay enough to live here
Of the 10 most in-demand jobs in Minnesota right now, only half pay the $15 an hour needed to meet the basic costs of living in the state. And that’s assuming you’re single, with no kids or anyone else to support, don’t have student debt, can find a cheaper-than-average home, and can get 40 hours […]
