State Unemployment Rate Stands At a Record Low of 3.2%,
Unemployment rate stands at a record low of 3.2%
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released state employment numbers for Georgia. They show that our state unemployment rate stands at a record low of 3.2%, the lowest since the BLS began tracking in 1976.
The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “Georgia’s unemployment rate should be cause for celebration. Our state ranks 15th in the nation on this metric,” said Erik Randolph, GCO’s director of research. “On the less positive side, Georgia continues to have a labor force participation problem. Our labor force participation rate is only 61.9%, and we know that for 2021, there were around 250,000 men between the ages of 25 and 54 (the prime working years) who were absent from the labor force. That’s a staggering 12.3% of the 25-54 male population. Policymakers in Georgia must work harder to integrate our state’s workforce services with safety-net programs to encourage participation in the labor force. We also must remove barriers to entrepreneurship and allow businesses and start-ups to be unleashed, helping to reduce inflation and employ more people.” For more, read Randolph’s research report on the economic impact of the pandemic shutdowns.
Today, the Georgia Senate failed to pass Senate Bill 601, the Georgia Education Freedom Act, by a vote of 20-29. The bill would have created Promise Scholarships, offering Georgia families up to $6,000 a year for any approved education expense, such as private school tuition, tutoring, homeschool curriculum, virtual classes, college classes, therapies (for kids with special needs), or technology.
The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “What a sad day for kids in Georgia. It’s disappointing that the best interests of Georgia’s schoolchildren have once again fallen prey to politics and special-interest groups,” said Buzz Brockway, vice president of GCO. “While lawmakers will soon return to their relatively safe districts and jobs, tens of thousands of Georgia kids will be left—once again—without access to the options that would let them flourish. Simply put, a vote against S.B. 601 was a vote against the many Georgia families who desperately need help. Particularly as our state emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic where so many students are left behind, it’s unconscionable that we would deny this lifeline to families.”
A recent poll from GeorgiaCANfound that 72% of respondents favor “expanding educational options by allowing a child’s state education dollars to follow that student to the school that best fits their needs, whether that is public, private, magnet, charter, virtual, or homeschool.” Support cut across party lines, with 79% of Republicans in favor, 78% of Independents, and 64% of Democrats.
Promise Scholarships would help adoptive families like mine | Gwinnett Daily Post
The life of an adoptive parent is tough in normal times, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated those challenges. Even so, our family wouldn’t trade the adoption life for anything.
The trouble is, not everyone sees or acknowledges the struggles that adoptive families face. That means we often don’t have access to the type of resources that would best help our adopted or foster kids. That’s particularly true in the world of education.
Our adopted son, Joshua, has been in upwards of 20 schools during his educational journey. Joshua suffers from dyslexia and dysgraphia. He has experienced trauma, neglect and abuse that have also contributed to his learning challenges.
The local public school simply hasn’t been a great fit for Joshua. The school flagged him for reading challenges in the first grade but never put interventions in place because he didn’t have a parent advocate. Though Joshua was in the third grade when we adopted him, he couldn’t read even at a basic level.
The help Joshua truly needed came from outside the classroom in the form of a local private tutor who specialized in dyslexic learners. That avenue helped Joshua to thrive, growing from a kindergarten to second-grade reading level. Unfortunately, the arrival of the pandemic in spring of 2020 ended his access to that tutoring.
The pandemic also worsened his experience in public school. His academics have become a train wreck, and emotionally he is a shell of his former self. His teachers are doing the best they can, but Joshua needs alternatives. The last straw for us came when the administration at our school determined that Joshua was on a non-college track and gave him schoolwork several grade-levels below his abilities.
That’s when we decided to move him to a homeschool co-op in November. At the time, there were many gaps in his learning, and he was falling behind.
There is an urgency to Joshua’s situation, and the situation of countless other adoptive and foster kids across Georgia. We’re losing more and more time as the years pass. Joshua is a smart, bright child, but he can’t advance the way he needs to right now because he doesn’t have the necessary resources.
The solution we need are Promise Scholarships. Legislation authorizing these accounts has been introduced in the Georgia General Assembly in the form of House Bill 999, House Bill 60 and Senate Bill 601. These bills would give qualifying families $6,000 a year to spend on nonpublic education options.
Unlike other programs, a Promise Scholarship would allow my family to use funds for a variety of educational expenses, not just private school tuition. That includes specialized tutoring for dyslexic learners that would benefit Joshua greatly. Contrary to popular belief, homeschooling is not free. Promise Scholarships would also give a financial lifeline to families like mine to make home education work better for our kids.
It’s time for Georgia to act. Twenty-three other states have recently passed legislation to create or expand educational opportunity programs due to learning losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We support the traditional public school system. For most parents, public schools are the right choice. But we don’t live in a one-size-fits-all reality anymore when it comes to education. School options should be as diverse as the individual needs of students. For many families like mine, alternatives to the public schools are what’s best for students. It’s time to prioritize the needs of our most vulnerable students and pass Promise Scholarships.
Gina McCarn lives in Norcross with her husband Phil and their five children.
Update: State Employment Numbers Includes Major Revisions Going Back to 1990
A look at the state employment numbers.
Yesterday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released state employment numbers that included major revisions going back to 1990. According to the revisions, Georgia had recovered all its jobs lost during the pandemic in December 2021. Prior to the revision, Georgia was three percentage points shy of that goal.
The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “For the January 2022 estimates, Georgia ranks 9th in the nation in recovering lost jobs due to the pandemic, having recovered 4.5% more than what were lost,” said Erik Randolph, GCO’s director of research. “Although Georgia remains short 137,600 jobs from its pre-pandemic job-growth trajectory, our state is fairing much better than other states that imposed more draconian lockdown measures due to COVID-19.”
Consumer Price Index Increased 7.9% Over the Last 12 Months
The CPI is up 7.9% over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted.
On March 10th, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that in February the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The CPI is up 7.9% over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted.
The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “The United States is now in a precarious position where our rampant inflation rate is going to begin to infringe on the economic recovery,” said Erik Randolph, GCO’s director of research. “Stagflation could very well be just around the corner. As gas prices surge and there is no let-up in other categories, Americans will begin having to make cutbacks. The impact on the economy will be significant.”
“We’re seeing firsthand the problem with accepting high levels of inflation as normal. When an unexpected event comes along, like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, it upends everything. The February inflation rate does not fully cover the most recent fallout from the invasion. We’re anticipating that the March CPI will be far worse, as the economic aftershocks of Russia’s war against Ukraine will be more fully baked in.”
Education advocate: Rural Georgia families need Promise Scholarships
Rural families in Georgia, like mine, don’t always have access to educational options. Promise Scholarships would fix this inequity.
My family moved to Burke County six years ago. My husband and I have two children, both withIndividualized Education Plansfor special needs. My daughter has dyslexia and dysgraphia, while my son has mild autism, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia and severe dysgraphia.
For the past five years, I’ve been fighting for my children every single day in the local public school system. Unfortunately, children in Burke County with special needs don’t always have access to the help they desperately need.
I began my fight by advocating on behalf of my daughter. Although she had an IEP, she continued to fall behind in reading and writing. I was able to convince the school district to purchase theBarton Reading Programfor my daughter. I wanted all students with reading challenges to have access to the program. When this program wasn’t implemented with fidelity, she was able to access tutoring that would support her needs. She remains in the public school but only because we have advocated every step of the way.
The story with my son has been more challenging. He would routinely come home from school with tears in his eyes, saying the school wasn’t treating him fairly. In digging more, I discovered they were not implementing his IEP as written but were putting pressure on my son to perform outside of the accommodations that were agreed upon. It caused a lot of meltdowns and angst.
The situation eventually became so severe that he began self-harm. That progression broke my heart because he is a good kid. He’s not aggressive. He’s not violent. But the pressures the school system put on him caused him to hurt himself.
For his own safety, we decided that he needed to be homeschooled. But what many people don’t realize is that home education is anything but cheap. My son has so many needs that we simply can’t pay for. He requires specialized therapies that our budget won’t allow for right now.
That’s wherePromise Scholarshipscome in. These accounts would provide up to $6,000 a year for families like mine to devote to a flexible menu of education options, such as occupational, speech or other therapies for special needs, tutoring assistance or homeschool co-ops that would help my son socialize and connect with other young people his age. Traditional vouchers that are available in Georgia right now wouldn’t work for our situation. Promise Scholarships would. I think many rural families are in the same boat.
It’s time for Georgia’s General Assembly to pass this legislation. Many other states have recently expanded school choice options to help families who have struggled during the pandemic with learning loss. We can’t afford to wait any longer.
There are so many other families like mine in Burke County. We basically have no school choice here, as the only private schools around do not have special educators or services and our closest charter school is 35 minutes away. Home education is our best option so that we can tailor an education to the unique needs of our children. Promise Scholarships would provide the type of resources to ensure that our children are not left behind.
