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Florida International University Webarchive

Collected by: Florida International University Libraries

Archived since: Mar, 2016

Description:

The Archive includes sites created by the University community and serve as an extension of the FIU Libraries commitment to archiving and preserving the scholarship and history of the University

Subject:   Universities & Libraries

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URL: http://ecohumanities.fiu.edu/

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URL: http://ecohumanities.fiu.edu/ecohumanities/

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URL: http://frostwoodblockprints.omeka.net/

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Title: Best Value in Publicly Funded Projects: Contractor Selection in Two County GOB Projects

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2006/best-value-in-publicly-funded-projectscontractor-selection-in-two-county-gob-projects/best_value_in_publicly_funded_projects.pdf

Description: Miami-Dade County will invest more than $100 million in taxpayer-supported General Obligation Bond (GOB) dollars in the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the renovation and expansion of Jackson South Community Hospital. For this large and important public investment the county should get the best value possible from both projects. The choice of contractor makes a big difference in the overall value of each project. The county should use a performance-based contractor selection process, such as Best Value Contracting, to obtain the best value possible and achieve the goals of Building Better Communities GOB program: investing in the present and future residents of this county and making it a better place to work, live and play.

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Title: Construction under the County's General Obligation Bond: Advantages and Disadvantages ofAlternative Ways to Renovate the Orange Bowl and Expand the Jackson South Community Hospital

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2006/construction-under-the-countys-general-obligation-bond-advantage-and-disadvantages-of-alternative/jwj_full_set_of_reports.pdf

Description: The five research reports that immediately follow this introductory overview address the ways Miami-Dade County might undertake the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of the Jackson South Community Hospital. Both of these projects will be built with partial funding from the taxpayers of the county through the “Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond” (GOB), which was passed by county voters in November of 2004. The GOB provides for up to $2.925 billion to be spent in the following 30 years for county improvements. The purpose of the reports is to determine the best way for the county to maximize the benefits it will receive from these construction projects. In particular, we examine the different employment and contracting options facing the county, and the consequences of different choices between these options. The goal is to obtain a good value for the taxpayer’s investment, obtain stable and well-paying employment for county residents, sustain healthy communities, ensure fair and equitable treatment of all in providing employment, maximize incomes within the county, and enhance the skills and long-term career prospects for Miami-Dade workers.

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Title: Healthy Work: What are the consequences of not providing health insurance on two county GOB projects?

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2006/healthy-workwhat-are-the-consequences-of-not-providing-health-insurance-on-two-county-gob-projects/healthy_work.pdf

Description: Two Miami-Dade County GOB projects, the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of Jackson South Community Hospital, will create about 2,000 construction jobs for local workers. But in order for these jobs to truly be a benefit to the community, all workers must be provided with health insurance. Only about 50% of construction industry workers in Miami-Dade County have health insurance, and without insurance it is difficult to access proper health care. The uninsured have shorter life spans than the insured because they are less likely to receive regular screenings for diseases, more likely to be diagnosed in the late stages of disease, and face more difficulties monitoring chronic conditions such as diabetes. Insurance also creates stress and financial crises for families, and community clinics cannot serve all those in need. The disparity in care between the insured and uninsured violates principles of democracy and equality and should not be financed by public dollars. Lack of health insurance also generates substantial costs for society. Unhealthy workers are less productive, and the shorter life spans of the uninsured mean tens of billions in lost health capital every year. In addition the health system experiences increased costs due to emergency room visits for non-emergency conditions. In 2004 almost 72 percent of Miami-Dade emergency room visits by the uninsured were for minor, low or moderate acuity conditions, compared with 60.6 percent of visits by the commercially insured, a difference of over $17 million per year in charges that could be avoided if the uninsured had reliable access to care for non-emergency conditions. The Jackson Memorial health care system spent $508 million dollars in charity care in 2005, or $798 per uninsured Miami-Dade County resident. We estimate that if only half of the workers on the Orange Bowl renovation or Jackson expansion are provided with health coverage, the estimated cost in charity care will be over $800,000for workers, and over $2.4 million for workers and their families. Providing construction industry workers with continuous, affordable coverage is difficult because of the cyclical and seasonal nature of the jobs. However collective bargaining units have largely solved this problem by assuming the responsibility for providing coverage to members while collecting benefits payments from employers. The low rate of insurance and lack of adequate care received by the uninsured means that spending is artificially low. Requiring that all workers be enrolled in a standard commercial healthcare plan would likely increase project costs substantially. However by using a best value contracting method and awarding points to companies that provide health insurance to their workers the county would ensure the selection of an experienced contractor capable of producing quality work on time and on budget, which is only possible with a highly productive workforce. This is a win-win-win strategy for the community: high quality, cost control, and a healthy workforce.

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Title: Hiring Our Own? The impact of local vs. non-local hiring practice in two county GOB projects

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2006/hiring-our-ownthe-impact-of-local-vs-non-local-hiring-practices-in-two-county-gob-projects/hiring_our_own.pdf

Description: On November 2, 2004 the electorate of Miami-Dade County passed the “Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond” (GOB) initiative, which authorized the county to issue bonds for up to $2.925 billion over the next 30 years. Two of these projects were the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of Jackson South Community Hospital, with the county contributing $50 million of the $150 million Orange Bowl project and $52 million toward the total $100 million cost of the hospital expansion. This report analyzes the impact on the county if the construction work on these two projects were to be done by local labor or by labor from out of the area. The purpose is to see which practice is more desirable for the county. Each project is analyzed separately; then total impact for the two project combined is computed.

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Title: Promoting Diverse Work: The benefits of using minority contractors on two county GOB projects

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2006/promoting-diverse-work-the-benefits-of-using-minority-contractors-on-two-county-gob-projects/promoting_diverse_work.pdf

Description: The Orange Bowl renovation and Jackson South Community Hospital renovation and expansion projects are large, visible, and economically important projects that will make needed improvements to important community assets. But it is imperative that all sections of our community receive the benefits of these projects and have an equal opportunity to participate. That the nature of the construction industry tends towards exclusionary networks and unequal hiring practices is all the more incentive for local governments to make sure that minority businesses are getting their fair share. By using minority contractors on the Orange Bowl renovation and Jackson South expansion projects, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami show a commitment to a diverse workforce and to helping needy communities to develop and prosper.

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Title: Training for the Workforce of the Future: Advantages or disadvantages of using registered apprentices in two county GOB projects

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2006/training-for-the-workforce-of-the-futureadvantages-or-disadvantages-of-using-registered-apprentices/training_for_the_workforce_of_the_future.pdf

Description: On November 2, 2004 the electorate of Miami-Dade County passed the “Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond” (GOB) initiative, which authorized the county to issue bonds for up to $2.925 billion over the next 30 years. Two of these projects were the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of Jackson South Community Hospital campus, with the county contributing $50 million of the $150 million Orange Bowl project and $52 million toward the total $100 million cost of the hospital expansion. This report analyzes the advantages and disadvantages to the county in using registered apprenticeship programs for some of the work on these projects. The purpose is to see whether apprentice usage is a desirable practice for the county.

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Title: Miami Voter Dispositions toward the Development 'Boom' and Economic Development Policy

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2007/miami-voter-dispositions-towards-the-development-boom-and-economic-policy/cbc_focus_group_report_final.pdf

Description: In all the focus groups, negative critiques of Miami’s development predominated. Every group did an opening exercise in which respondents briefly wrote and shared aloud their opinion of the development of the built environment in Miami. Initially, almost no one had anything positive to say. The few free market, anti-government, pro-development people present immediately recognized that they were a singular minority and prefaced their remarks with statements such as, “I am pro-development,” and often felt compelled to explain why (“because I came from a small city where they did not do anything”).

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Title: Public Benefits from Public Subsidies: Advatages and Disadvantages of Alternative Ways to Build the Marlins Stadium at the Orange Bowl Site

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2007/public-benefits-from-public-subsidies-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-alternative-ways-to-build/public_benefits_public_subsidies.pdf

Description: The five research reports that immediately follow this introductory overview address the ways Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami might undertake the construction of a new, approximately $490 million stadium for the Florida Marlins at the Orange Bowl site in Little Havana. The public will cover the vast majority of the up-front costs of building the new stadium as well as improving the traffic and pedestrian infrastructure in the area around the site. The new, retractable roof stadium will be built with $445 million in up-front, public financing raised through city and county bond sales, including $50 million from the “Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond” (GOB), which was previously slated for the renovation of the Orange Bowl. Present plans call for the Marlins to pay back $162 million of the up-front bond subsidy by making rent payments over the term of their lease at the new stadium. The baseball team is also expected to cover some share of the overall cost although they recently retracted their offer to contribute $45 million. Despite the ever-changing plans, it seems clear that taxpayers will pay at least $445 million up-front. The purpose of the reports is to determine the best way for the public to maximize the benefits it will receive from this half a billion dollar investment. In particular, we examine the different employment and contracting options facing the city and county, and the consequences of different choices between these options. The goal is to obtain a good value for the taxpayer’s investment, obtain stable and well-paying employment for county residents, sustain healthy communities, ensure fair and equitable treatment of all in providing employment, maximize incomes within the county, and enhance the skills and long-term career prospects for Miami Dade workers.

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Title: Subsidized Economic Development in Miami

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2007/subsidized-economic-development-in-miami/subsidized_economic_development_in_m-d.pdf

Description: Miami-Dade County, aware of the high poverty rates in both the city of Miami and the county as a whole compared to counterparts around the country, has engaged in attempts to spur economic growth and raise incomes. State and local agencies have subsidized private sector investment in the name of economic development. The rationale behind economic development subsidies is that (1) government intervention in the market has been necessary to stimulate economic growth, particularly in the wake of the urban riots that shook Miami more than twenty years ago and the prolonged inner city disinvestment that followed; and (2) such growth creates jobs for Miami’s residents, thereby reducing unemployment and improving people’s lives. The primary economic development agency and the manager of most subsidized private business activity in Miami is the Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED). Although a number of specific subsidy deals have been negotiated between private companies and key political figures, including county commissioners and the mayor, this study focuses on four economic development programs used by Miami Dade County to disburse public subsidies to private companies. Enterprise Zone (EZ) property tax abatements, Qualified Targeted Industry (QTI) tax refunds, Targeted Job Incentive Fund (TJIF) tax refunds, and impact fee refunds are paid from the County’s coffers. The County also relies on the Beacon Council, a public/private economic development agency, to market and advertise subsidy packages to potential investors, analyze the potential economic impact of companies that apply for subsidies, and ultimately recommend public assistance for new or expanding businesses. What is Miami-Dade getting back from its investment in economic development projects? To answer this question we analyzed the outcomes of subsidized economic development in Miami from a community benefits perspective. Accordingly, we were interested in the number and quality of jobs created through public-private partnerships, as well as the extent of local hiring, the transparency and inclusiveness of the development process and the extent to which such standards were monitored and enforced by local government agencies.

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Title: Recovering From Crisis: A review of the neighborhood stabilization program in Florida's Economic Recovery

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/2010/recovering-from-crisis/recovering_from_crisis.pdf

Description: In response to the State and national economic crisis, Florida initiated the ‘Build a Fair Florida’ campaign. This campaign recognizes the need to build a more equitable and sustainable democratic structure and began with a call for the implementation of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be an equitable, transparent, and accountable process. Following the initiation of this campaign, researchers were commissioned to show how the opportunity landscape in Florida was uneven before the recession, and why ARRA investments should be targeted towards making quality‐of‐life opportunities accessible to all communities. Most recently, a study of ARRA jobs and contract procurement revealed that recovery investments and employment opportunities have continued to flow in ways that neglect communities of color despite the goals of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

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Title: Who Benefits? An Analysis of THE MIAMI WORLDCENTER "Economic Incentive Agreement"

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/community-benefits-from-development/who-benefits-report-final50415.pdf

Description: In December 2014, the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (SEOPW CRA) approved an “Economic Incentive Agreement” with the developers of the Miami World Center. This agreement provides an estimated $105 to $175 million in tax increment financing to Miami World Center. In return, the developer made pledges regarding local hiring and wage rates. In this paper, we compare the Miami World Center (MWC) “Economic Incentive Agreement” (EIA) with four other similar agreements to provide a perspective on how well the MWC agreement lines up with the benefits secured by other communities. 2 Like the MWC, these projects were planned near or within low-income communities.

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Title: Securing Florida's Future: Job loss in the recession and job creation for a sustainable economy

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/florida-future/2009/securing-floridas-future-job-loss-in-the-recession-and-job-creation-for-sustainable-economy/securing-floridas-future.pdf

Description: The steep recession which was triggered by the bursting of Florida’s housing “bubble, “Also had deeper roots. For decades wage growth has not kept up with increasing productivity. Expanding consumer debt and widening income inequality occurred even during the good times. Florida needs a sustainable economy over the long term, and that will require more than restarting the housing market. Job growth must provide middleclass incomes, and prosperity must be broadly shared. The current downturn is an opportunity to rethink Florida’s economic strategy and work on creating a much more diversified and vibrant economy and improving our ability to ride out future downturns. This report examines recent job loss in Florida and argues for investment in three key areas, which will produce short, medium, and long-term growth of middle class jobs for Florida, which will put our economy on a more stable footing.

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Title: Beyond the Quick Fix: ARRA Contracting, jobs, and building a fair recovery for florida

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/florida-future/2010/beyond-the-quick-fix-arra-contracting-jobs-and-building-fair-recovery-for-florida/beyond_the_quick_fix_web.pdf

Description: One of the most painful aspects of the recession has been the rising economic hardship that has been inflicted upon families and communities across the country during these challenging times. Florida has been at the epicenter of this unfolding crisis, losing more jobs since November of2008 than nearly every other state. However, even within the Sunshine State, some communities are feeling the pain more than others, and the recent economic downturn has plunged these into depressionlikeconditions. Communities of color have been most impacted during the housing crisis and this recession’s corresponding job losses, and these communities were highly marginalized and vulnerable even prior to the recession. Between November of 2008and November of 2009Florida saw 284,800 jobs disappear, and in 2009 unemployment in Florida reached 15.4%among African Americans and 11.6% among Hispanics compared with 8.9% for non-Hispanic Whites. This report examines the economic impact of the recession on Florida’s marginalized communities and populations. The report focuses on the impact of ARRA (or the stimulus) and other economic recovery activity in addressing the widening economic disparities facing Florida’s marginalized communities. The basic premise of this research is simple: Given the severe economic hardships facing Florida’s most marginalized workers, are recovery programs working and sufficient? Are our recovery programs producing economic empowerment for marginalized groups in Florida, and are those efforts sufficient to reverse the unfolding economic trauma facing Florida’s most vulnerable residents?

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Title: Florida's Future: Who Wins, Who Loses?

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/florida-future/2011/floridas-future-who-wins-who-loses/metro_presentation.pdf

Description: "Race" and Income Matter. Hispanics Growing Top 5% Gaining Everyone Else Losing

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Title: Affordable Housing Cost for Families Residing in

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2005/affordable-housing-cost-for-families-residing-in-low-income-miami-dade-neighborhoods/affordablehousingcost_familieslowincdadeneighborhoods.pdf

Description: In recent years Miami has ranked among the most impoverished communities in the Untied States. In 2003 The City of Miami ranked 5th in persons living below poverty, an improvement from 1st place in the three previous years (ACS Ranking Tables, 2000-03). At the same time, Miami-Dade County has experienced a housing boom characterized by high rates of condominium conversion and an increasing shortage of affordable rental units. As local media continues to document the gentrification process by which renters are forced to make way for new high-rise condominium projects, concerned citizens wonder if the many low-income families in one of the nation’s poorest metropolitan areas will be able to find affordable housing. In light of these circumstances, this report seeks to answer the following question: How much can low-income families in selected Miami-Dade neighborhoods afford to pay in monthly housing costs? The following analysis provides affordable housing costs for families within the City of Miami and selected low-income neighborhoods. We used data on the number of families and their median incomes from the 2000 Census to determine how many families can afford to pay in monthly rent or mortgage and utilities. Further, we used 80 percent of the median family income to determine how much low-income families can afford to pay in monthly rent or mortgage and utilities. In addition to the City of Miami, we selected six neighborhoods for analysis: Allapattah, East Little Havana, Liberty City, Little Haiti, over town, and Wynwood. Table 1 provides an estimate of the number of families residing in each of these neighborhoods. We chose these neighborhoods because they are home to some of Miami-Dade’s poorest families and therefore are more vulnerable to the process of gentrification that is transforming many of Miami’s low-income communities. Moreover, the central location of these neighborhoods makes them particularly attractive to developers, planners and public officials interested in “revitalizing” the urban core. As the wave of new housing development sweeps through these neighborhoods in the coming years, it is critical to understand how much these families can afford to pay for housing.

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Title: Housing Palm Beach County: An Analysis of Housing Needs and Housing Affordability Problems

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2006/housing-palm-beach-county-an-analysis-of-housing-needs-and-housing-affordability-problems/palmbeachhousingreport_finaldraftc.pdf

Description: In the wake of the recent housing boom a wide range of stakeholders, including policymakers and key members of the business community, have drawn attention to the growing shortage of affordable housing in Palm Beach County.1 But while the impact of home appreciation on middle- and higher-income workers has led to the proposal of “workforce housing” and similar policies in Palm Beach County, 2 no new and significant affordable housing policies are aimed at resolving the increasing and widespread housing affordability problems of low-income families and workers. Recent hurricanes have exacerbated the housing crisis already faced by Palm Beach County’s working poor as result of rapidly rising housing costs, persistently low wages and a declining stock of affordable rentals.3To focus attention on the most severe of Palm Beach County’s housing problems, this report examines the need for affordable housing for low-income workers and households. The most recent available Census data was used to determine, (1) how much low-income households can afford to pay for housing, (2) the gap between their incomes and typical housing costs, and (3) the magnitude of the housing affordability problems for lower income owners and renters. Although this analysis is focused on the county as a whole there is similar information provided in appendix II for selected municipalities.

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Title: Workforce Housing and Miami’s Affordable Housing Needs:

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2006/workforce-housing-and-miamis-affordable-housing-needs-issues-and-policy-options/workforce_housing_policy_paper.pdf

Description: Public officials and business leaders have become increasingly concerned that the soaring costs of housing in Miami may dampen plans for urban revitalization. Many observers have noted that middle- and upper-income professionals can no longer afford housing in Southeast Florida.1 Moreover, in the aftermath of an unprecedented hurricane season which left many homeless or forced to live in substandard conditions, attention has been drawn to the fact that Miami’s housing market is not affordable for moderate and lower-income workers.2 Thus observers have come to recognize the need for affordable housing for an economically diverse range of workers and households.

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Title: How are the Displaced Scott-Carver Residents

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2007/how-are-the-displaced-scott-carver-residents-faring-the-aftermath-of-hope-vi-public-housing-redevel/find_our_people.pdf

Description: Until their demolition in the past two years, Scott Homes and Carver Homes public housing projects contained a total of 850 conventional public housing rental units. The projects were demolished as part of a HOPE VI grant, which Miami Dade Housing Agency received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1999. The HOPE VI redevelopment plan was to relocate all of the existing residents, demolish all of the public housing units and rebuild a mixed income community with only eighty traditional public housing units. The relocated residents were required to either move into other public housing units or to utilize Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers to move into private rentals. Most of the relocating residents chose to use the Section 8 vouchers. The Miami Workers Center and Low Income Families Fighting Together have recently identified 187 former heads of households that were displaced from Scott-Carver Homes. These former Scott-Carver residents filled out questionnaires about their experiences after relocation, and their responses revealed serious problems with the success of the relocation effort.

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Title: The State of Miami’s Housing Crisis:

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2007/the-state-of-miamis-housing-crisis-an-updated-look-at-housing-affordability-problems-in-one-of-the/state_of_housing_crisis.pdf

Description: At the same time as the City of Miami is pursuing higher-density up-scale development and “world city” status, its’ residents face an affordable housing shortage of crisisproportions.1 Using recently released Census data from the 2006 American CommunitySurvey, 2 this report provides an updated assessment of housing affordability problems in the City of Miami, and analyzes three fundamental aspects of the housing crisis: housing “stress” or cost-burden, overcrowding in housing, and recent trends in housing costs compared to workers’ wages. As the recent building boom in South Florida has been pronounced in the urban core, the report draws particular attention to trends and conditions among renters and owners in the City of Miami. Since city residents are also affected by economic and specifically housing market conditions in the broader metropolitan area, the report examines patterns in the larger Miami-Ft. Lauderdale metropolitan area.

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Title: Research Brief

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2009/research-brief-floridas-affordable-housing-needs-after-the-bust/brief_housing_apr09.pdf

Description: Florida’s urban areas were heavily impacted by the housing boom and bust of the last six years. Different parts of the state (like Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville and even Cape Coral) and the state overall have had some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country at different points in the last two years. I But the boom and bust have affected different sectors of the housing market differently. While the middle- and higher-priced sectors of the housing market are now oversupplied, including thousands of financially “distressed” properties, the market for the lowest cost rentals is increasingly under-supplied given the size of the demand in Florida. This report uses census data from the 2007 American Community Survey to provide an updated snapshot of the state’s housing needs. Census data from 2007 reveals the extent to which housing costs have out-stripped incomes. In Florida over one-quarter (25.52%) of the state’s renters were “severely” cost-burdened by their housing expenses, meaning they were spending 50% or more of their monthly income on rent and utilities. As Table 1 below shows, this ranks Florida’s renters as the 4th most cost-burdened in the country, behind Michigan, California and New York, and higher than the national average of 22.94%.

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Title: Mobile Home Parks under Pressure of Redevelopment:

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/equitable-urban-development/housing/2010/mobile-home-parks-under-pressure-of-redevelopment-participatory-survey-research-project/mhp_report.pdf

Description: In Miami-Dade County there are 90 remaining mobile home parks with 14,954 registered mobile home units. Although the U.S. Census estimates 33,8563 persons living in mobile homes in Miami-Dade County, census counts of mobile homes are known to be inaccurate due to a variety of problems related to the fact that, unlike other types of housing, building permit data is not used to count mobile homes.4 Based on years of experience organizing in and assisting residents in Miami-Dade County mobile home parks, South Florida Jobs with Justice estimates the total residency across these parks to be 59,819 persons

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Title: Immigrants In Florida: Characteristics and Contributions

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/immigration/immigration-in-florida/2007/immigrants-in-florida-characteristics-and-contributions/immigrants_spring_2007_reduced.pdf

Description: Immigrants comprise almost one quarter of the entire workforce of Florida. Their workforce participation varies greatly from industry to industry, but certain sectors of the state’s economy rely very heavily on immigrant labor. This report statistically describes the state of immigrant workers in Florida for the five year time period between 2000 and 2005. It relates state migration demographics, immigrant labor force characteristics, and the role and contributions of immigrants in the state’s economy.

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Title: Characteristics and Crontributions of Immigrants in Florida Fact Sheet

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/immigration/immigration-in-florida/2007/immigrants-in-florida-fact-sheet/immigrants_fact_sheet.pdf

Description: This sheet presents facts from Census and CPS data from 2000 to 2005 From Immigrants in Florida: Characteristics and Contributions, July 2007, RISEP

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Title: Love and Respect of Self and Community: Struggles for Justice in Three Miami-Dade Neighborhoods

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/immigration/immigration-in-florida/2008/love-and-respect-for-self-and-community-struggles-for-justice-in-miami-dade-neighborhoods/ej_exhibitionbooklet_small.pdf

Description: This book is the result of a yearlong project conducted in three Miami-Dade neighborhoods, Overtown, Little Havana, and Homestead/Florida City. FIU Labor Center Researchers and local community organizers worked together to shape the project in each area, beginning with the understanding that low-income people often face particular environmental challenges in their neighborhoods and must struggle to define and bring attention to these challenges. Community organization members and neighborhood residents were asked to photograph 1.Things they like and want to keep in their neighborhoods, and 2. Things they don’t like and want to change in their neighborhoods. With funding from the Dade Community Foundation and the assistance of David Zalben, photographer and artist with the Art Center South Florida, participants were instructed in the basics of photography, and then given simple film cameras. These works were exhibited at community spaces in each neighborhood and at Florida International University. The results exceeded our expectations, and we hope you enjoy the images of dignity, history, action, hope, while also contemplating the neglect and struggle for recognition. We invite you to see these neighborhoods through the eyes of community members.

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Title: Considering Tax Contributions from

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/immigration/immigration-in-florida/2017/risep-2017-undocumented-immigrant-tax-contributions/risep-2017-undocumented-immigrant-tax-contributions.pdf

Description: On January 25, 2017, President Donald Trump issued an executive order detailing aggressive efforts to deport undocumented immigrants and calling for the immediate construction of a border wall with Mexico. President Trump’s order threatens to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary

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Title: HEALTHCARE COVERAGE AND

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/healthcare/2006/healthcare-coverage-and-employment-status-in-florida-report/florida_healthcare_report_risep.pdf

Description: This report provides a portrait of the uninsured in the state of Florida. We look particularly at employment and industry issues related to lack of coverage, and examine a proposal being suggested as a partial solution in the Florida state legislature. The data are drawn from U.S. government data, the Current Population Survey, on healthcare insurance coverage in the state and major metropolitan areas.

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Title: Healthy Work:

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/healthcare/2006/healthy-work-what-are-the-consequences-of-not-providing-health-insurance-on-two-county-gob-projects/healthy_work.pdf

Description: Two Miami-Dade County GOB projects, the renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of Jackson South Community Hospital, will create about 2,000 construction jobs for local workers. But in order for these jobs to truly be a benefit to the community, all workers must be provided with health insurance. Only about 50% of construction industry workers in Miami-Dade County have health insurance, and without insurance it is difficult to access proper health care. The uninsured have shorter life-spans than the insured because they are less likely to receive regular screenings for diseases, more likely to be diagnosed in the late stages of disease, and face more difficulties monitoring chronic conditions such as diabetes. Uninsurance also creates stress and financial crises for families, and community clinics cannot serve all those in need. The disparity in care between the insured and uninsured violates principles of democracy and equality and should not be financed by public dollars. Lack of health insurance also generates substantial costs for society. Unhealthy workers are less productive, and the shorter life spans of the uninsured mean tens of billions in lost health capital every year. In addition the health system experiences increased costs due to emergency room visits for non-emergency conditions. In 2004 almost 72 percent of Miami-Dade emergency room visits by the uninsured were for minor, low or moderate acuity conditions, compared with 60.6 percent of visits by the commercially insured, a difference of over $17 million per year in charges that could be avoided if the uninsured had reliable access to care for non-emergency conditions. The Jackson Memorial health care system spent $508 million dollars in charity care in 2005, or $798 per uninsured Miami-Dade County resident. We estimate that if only half of the workers on the Orange Bowl renovation or Jackson expansion are provided with health coverage, the estimated cost in charity care will be over $800,000for workers, and over $2.4 million for workers and their families. Providing construction industry workers with continuous, affordable coverage is difficult because of the cyclical and seasonal nature of the jobs. However collective bargaining units have largely solved this problem by assuming the responsibility for providing coverage to members while collecting benefits payments from employers. The low rate of insurance and lack of adequate care received by the uninsured means that spending is artificially low. Requiring that all workers be enrolled in a standard commercial healthcare plan would likely increase project costs substantially. However by using a best value contracting method and awarding points to companies that provide health insurance to their workers the county would ensure the selection of an experienced contractor capable of producing quality work on time and on budget, which is only possible with a highly productive workforce. This is a win-win-win strategy for the community: high quality, cost control, and a healthy workforce.

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Title: IMMIGRANT CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/healthcare/2007/immigrant-construction-workers-and-safety-and-health-in-south-florida/immigrant_construction_workers_and_s_20h1.pdf

Description: This report is based on surveys conducted with four hundred construction workers on large construction sites in South Florida in 2006. The survey elicited information on the safety training received, personal protective safety equipment regularly used, and the safety policies and practices of the employers of these workers. It also collected a wide variety of demographic data and information on non-safety employer practices that were thought to be possibly related to safety conditions on the job. The purpose of the study is threefold:(1) To provide a portrait of south Florida immigrant construction workers: demographics, incomes, safety conditions on the job, and employer treatment in other ways that may be related to their safety conditions;(2) To determine if union membership or documented legal status of these workers is associated (perhaps causally) with different safety outcomes (measured by degree of safety training, use of personal protective equipment, and employer safety policies and practices) and secondarily to see if other factors may be associated with better or worse safety conditions; and(3) To analyze results to determine any public policy measures that may improve the safety conditions of these workers.

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Title: Almost Half of Florida Workers without Paid Sick Leave

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/healthcare/2007/paid-sick-leave/paid_sick_days_brief.pdf

Description: These findings come from analysis of 2005 National Health Interview Survey data, which had as ample size of over 19,000 U.S. adults. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The NHIS administers face-to-face interviews in a nationally representative sample of households. Each week a probability sample of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the United States is interviewed by personnel of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Information is obtained about the health and other characteristics of each member of the household.

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Title: Florida 44th in the nation for employer sponsored health insurance

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/healthcare/2010/florida-44th-in-the-nation-for-employer-sponsored-health-insurance/fl_esi_2010.pdf

Description: On November 16 the Economic Policy Institute released a new briefing paper showing that the percent of the population that has health insurance through an employer, either their own or a relative’s, has declined every year since 2000. Florida has some of the lowest rates of employer sponsored health care coverage, coming in 44th in the nation for the percent of the population under 65covered by health insurance through an employer. At the beginning of the decade62.2% of the population was covered under an employer’s health insurance plan, but that rate dropped to 54.3% last year, well below the national average of60.4%. The drop in coverage is due not just to recession but to increasing health care costs which make it more and more difficult for businesses, especially small business, to offer coverage to their workers. The continuing uncertainty in the economy and rising health care costs means that the share of workers with employer coverage is likely to continue to decline in coming years. Public programs have filled some of the gap, and EPI points out that, “Increasing public insurance coverage, particularly among children, is the only reason the uninsured rate did not rise one-for-one with losses in ESI.” The percent of the population with any health care coverage has declined over the decade in both Florida and the U.S. Employer sponsored insurance has declined dramatically while public coverage through programs like Medicare and Medicaid has increased and filled some of the gap, leader to a smaller increase in the uninsured population than would have been the case otherwise.

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Title: El Robo de Salario: En el sur de la Florida

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2010/wage-theft-stories-in-south-florida/wwwrisep-fiuorg_wp-content_uploads_2010_11_wage-theft-stories.pdf

Description: The South Florida Wage Theft Task Force (WWTTF), was formed in 2007 to increase public awareness of wage theft through advocacy and research, educate workers about their rights, respond to cases of wage theft, and press for systemic change. The Task Force is comprised of several member organizations from legal services, private attorneys, immigrant rights, labor unions, university researchers, faith based organizations, and concerned residents. The WTTF has received recognition from national organizations such as the National Employment Law Project for our innovative work against wage theft and is looked to as a model for change in other parts of the country

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Title: Wage Theft in Florida: A Real Problem with Real Solutions

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2011/wage-theft-in-florida-real-problem-with-real-solutions/wage-theft-in-florida_-a-real-probelm-with-real-solutions1.pdf

Description: This report is the first in a series describing and exposing the extent of wage violations in the state of Florida. This project is an initiative of the Florida Wage Theft Task Force (WTTF) whose mission is to find solutions to and increase public awareness about wage violations experienced by Florida’s workingmen and women. The report is being released for a countywide day of action against wage theft that the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners is expected to declare to coincide with an upcoming National Day of Action on November 18, 2010.

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Title: Seeds of Justice

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2012/planting-seeds-of-justice-combating-wage-theft-among-south-floridas-plant-nursery-workers/angee_hernandez_planting_seeds_of_jutice.pdf

Description: Wage theft, or the lack of payment of a worker’s partial or full salary through systematic or unintentional action, is often experienced by migratory workers in the United States. Throughout the nation many cases go unreported due to workers’ lack of English skills or because of ignorance of basic labor rights and laws; others stay silent in order to avoid unwanted attention to their lack of legal migratory status; while others find themselves threatened by the very employers who benefit from their labor. In South Florida, cases of wage theft are particularly detrimental, as several factors merge to create and perpetuate its occurrence. There, the existence of a large low-wage workforce, a large immigrant population, and a variety of economic, political, and global forces interact to intensify the issue.

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Title: The Current State of Wage Theft in Miami-Dade

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2012/the-current-state-of-wage-theft-in-miami-dade-county/current-state-of-wage-theft-in-mdc.pdf

Description: Miami-Dade County has the largest amount of documented wage theft cases (7,641) and the largest average amount of wage recovery per worker ($775) in the state of Florida.1• Since Miami-Dade enacted the Wage Theft Ordinance in February of 2010, wage theft claims have been on the rise, doubling in one year. • Small Business Development (SBD) 2, the county office that oversees the Wage Theft Program, has received 1,927 complaints and has recovered a total of $511,429 through the conciliation process. 3• The average number of days it took to recover wages through the conciliation phase was 103days. • There are more than 500 workers who have filed complaints that are still waiting to be helped. • Over $2 million dollars that has yet to be collected for workers filing complaints.• The Wage theft program is understaffed with only 1.5 staff dedicated to handling complaints.

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Title: Wage Theft: An Economic Drain on Florida. How Milions of Dollars are Stolen from Florida's Workforce

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2012/wage-theft-how-millions-of-dollars-are-stolen-from-floridas-workforce/wage-theft_how-millions-of-dollars-are-stolen-from-floridas-workforce_finaldocx1.pdf

Description: This is the second in a series of reports monitoring the growing problem of wage theft in Florida. Using previously unanalyzed data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and separate data from various community organizations, this report shows evidence of a widespread problem across abroad spectrum of industries in Florida. The industries especially impacted are those commonly thought of as the core of Florida’s economy—tourism, retail trade, and construction. Moreover, it appears more likely to affect those workers who can least afford it. Workers who receive low wages seem to be more likely to have their wages stolen by employers and as demonstrated in this report this is a large number of people. But, even this data does not account for the full magnitude of the problem, as an unknown number of cases go unreported. Indeed, as data on wage theft accumulates, the more it becomes clear how widespread wage theft is in the state of Florida and throughout the state’s industries. Wage theft is defined as workers not receiving wages that they are legally owed. It occurs in different forms including unpaid overtime, not being paid at least the minimum wage, working during meal breaks, misclassification of employees as independent contractors, forcing employees to work off the clock, altering time cards or pay stubs, illegally deducting money from employees’ pay checks, paying employees late, or simply not paying employees at all. Unfortunately, many employers know they can getaway with wage theft and have little fear of sanction. Enforcement mechanisms are weak, due to lack of dedicated enforcement capacity at the state level, limited capacity of local branches of the Federal Department of Labor, and the gaps in U.S. labor laws that leave many employees unprotected.

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Title: Wage Theft in Broward County:

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2012/wage-theft-in-broward-county-the-accumulating-evidence-of-spreading-illegal-anti-business/broward-wage-theft-report.pdf

Description: This report is part of a series of reports monitoring the growing problem of wage theft in Florida. Using previously analyzed data from the Federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and stories collected from various community organizations, this report shows evidence of a widespread problem in Broward County. The data in the report does not account for the full magnitude of the problem, as an unknown number of wage theft cases go unreported. Indeed, as data on wage theft accumulates, the more it becomes clear how widespread wage theft is in Broward County and throughout the county’s industries. The impact of wage theft also raises the question of whether Broward’s economy can be healthy and grow while tolerating an unjust business model that avoids contributing to tax revenues. The employers who fail to follow the laws concerning their workers create an unfair business environment that penalizes those who do follow the law. Maintaining a level playing field for businesses is critical to maintaining a competitive business environment and to economic growth. The dishonest business model of practicing wage theft puts law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage and undermines Broward’s efforts to attract business.

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Title: Wage Theft in Alachua County Florida

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2013/wage-theft-in-alachua/2013-wage-theft-in-alachua.pdf

Description: Since 2006, the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP)1 at Florida International University has been working with the Florida Wage Theft Task Force (WTTF)2tocreate a database of wage violations collected by community organizations throughout Florida and, wage and hour violations reported by the U.S. Department of Labor throughout the state. The purpose of the database is to document the extent of wage theft, to quantify how much lost wages have been recovered, and to see which industries in Florida are most affected by the problem. The data in this report highlights wage theft cases reported to the Wage and Hour Division of the Florida office of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in Alachua County and wage theft stories collected by the Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force3and shared with RISEP. The data in this report is limited to only the cases reported to the DOL agency and to the Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force, and does not account for the full magnitude of wage theft cases in Alachua County, as an unknown number of cases are unreported.

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Title: Wage Theft in St. Petersburg,

URL: http://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/wage-theft/2015/wage-theft-in-st-petersburg-florida/wage-theft-report-for-st-petersburg.pdf

Description: Wage theft is defined as an employee not receiving the wages or benefits to which he or she is legally entitled. There are many ways that wage theft occurs. A few of the most common are listed here. Minimum Wage. Paying an employee less than the minimum wage constitutes wage theft. (In Florida the current minimum wage is $7.93 per hour; going up to $8.05 in 2015.)

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Title: eyesontherise.org

URL: http://www.eyesontherise.org/

Description: eyesontherise.org, which focuses on creating student journalism related to environmental impacts related to sea level rise, emerged as an initiative among four journalism faculty members at Florida International University to raise public awareness of sea level rise through student and community engagement.

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URL: https://artfiulibraries.omeka.net

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URL: https://artfiulibraries.omeka.net/

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URL: https://artfiulibraries.omeka.net/exhibits/show/etta-barnett-collection

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URL: https://artfiulibraries.omeka.net/exhibits/show/ramiro-casanas

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Title: MATTERS SETTLED BUT NOT RESOLVED:

URL: https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt42q1792z/qt42q1792z.pdf

Description: A recent innovation, the ride-share sector, is the fastest growing sector of the sharing economy. These companies provide drivers with a mobile-based platform to find a fare and take a cut of the same, discouraging cash tipping. As advertisements for the companies suggest that these drivers can make anywhere between $20-$40 per hour, it’s no surprise that the companies are welcoming throngs of workers suffering in a sluggish economy and searching for a way to make ends meet, advertising themselves a potential vehicle for micro-entrepreneurial opportunity that allows workers to have more control and flexibility at work. Although the grounding tenet of the sharing economy is collaborative consumption and the sharing of resources, these companies are privately owned, venture capital funded corporations like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. And for these companies, business is booming, the companies employing a steadily growing global workforce, providing alluring economic opportunities to struggling workers in times of high underemployment and unemployment.2 However, a worrisome picture of the direction of the rapidly growing ride-share sector has started to emerge. Cases filed by rideshare workers, research, media coverage, and worker organizing efforts have revealed evidence and worker claims of low wages, nonpayment of wages, tip skimming, harassment from consumers, and misclassification. Whether or not the growing cadres of rideshare workers are employees misclassified as independent contractors, is perhaps the most significant issue currently facing rideshare workers today. Rideshare drivers have filed multiple class-action lawsuits alleging the same. While recent settlements by Uber and Lyft of misclassification cases have allowed both companies to retain their independent contractor models, the settlements have done nothing to resolve the underlying issue of worker misclassification, neither for the workers receiving said settlements, nor for rideshare workers more generally. This paper provides a brief examination of the relevant legal framework as concerns the misclassification of rideshare drivers; recent misclassification decisions in Oregon, Florida, and California; and the recent Uber and Lyft settlements. This analysis considers the way rideshared rivers are impacted by the fact that no one determinative test concerning misclassification exists, and looks at the ways in which different jurisdictions have come to different conclusions regarding the same set of workers. The article focuses on key similarities between the major misclassification tests and the essentially uniform company policies and practices applicable teach individual company’s workforce, to provide a meaningful review of the relevant facts which can guide the decision-making processes of courts, policymakers, and other stakeholders, as well as research that concerns worker classification in the ridesharing sector. This analysis reveals that upon close examination, ride share drivers are indeed misclassified as independent contractors, when in fact they are employees.

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URL: https://edwardswayducklegacy.omeka.net

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URL: https://edwardswayducklegacy.omeka.net/

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URL: https://frostwoodblockprints.omeka.net

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URL: https://frostwoodblockprints.omeka.net/exhibits

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URL: https://frostwoodblockprints.omeka.net/items/browse

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URL: https://humanities.fiu.edu/news-events/index.html

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URL: https://law.fiu.edu/

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URL: https://ledesma.omeka.net

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URL: https://metropolitan.fiu.edu/research/

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URL: https://metropolitan.fiu.edu/research/periodic-publications/

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URL: https://nancyprince.omeka.net

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URL: https://raceinad.omeka.net

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Title: Florida's Workers by the Number

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/press-room/2016/florida-workers-by-the-number/risep-florida-by-the-numbers-brief-sept-1-2016-rev.pdf

Description: According to the most recently available government data, 65 percent of Florida workers earn annual salaries below the state average annual salary of $39,099.The position of a worker along the distribution of earnings in Florida is largely dependent on their occupation and is heavily influenced by their sex, race and ethnicity. This brief will present Florida’s occupational structure by annual earnings and the demographics associated with low, middle, and high earning jobs.

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Title: Matters Settled but Not Resolved: Worker Misclassification in the Rideshare Sector

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/press-room/2016/when-matters-are-settled-but-not-resolved-misclassification-in-the-rideshare-sector/when-matters-are-settled-but-not-resolvedmisclassification-in-the-rideshare-sector.pdf

Description: A recent innovation, the ride-share sector, is the fastest growing sector of the sharing economy. These companies provide drivers with a mobile-based platform to find a fare and take a cut of the same, discouraging cash tipping. As advertisements for the companies suggest that these drivers can make anywhere between $20-$40 per hour, it’s no surprise that the companies are welcoming throngs of workers suffering in a sluggish economy and searching for a way to make ends meet, advertising themselves a potential vehicle for micro-entrepreneurial opportunity that allows workers to have more control and flexibility at work. This paper provides a brief examination of the relevant legal framework as concerns them is classification of rideshare drivers; recent misclassification decisions in Oregon, Florida, and California; and the recent Uber and Lyft settlements. This analysis considers the way ride share drivers are impacted by the fact that no one determinative test concerning misclassification exists, and looks at the ways in which different jurisdictions have come to different conclusions regarding the same set of workers. The article focuses on key similarities between the major misclassification tests and the essentially uniform company policies and practices applicable to each individual company’s workforce, to provide a meaningful review of the relevant facts which can guide the decision-making processes of courts, policymakers, and other stakeholders, as well as research that concerns worker classification in the ridesharing sector. This analysis reveals that upon close examination, ride share drivers are indeed misclassified as independent contractors, when in fact they are employees.

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Title: Considering Tax Contributions from

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/press-room/2017/risep-2017-undocumented-immigrant-tax-contributions/risep-2017-undocumented-immigrant-tax-contributions.pdf

Description: On January 25, 2017, President Donald Trump issued an executive order detailing aggressive efforts to deport undocumented immigrants and calling for the immediate construction of a border wall with Mexico. President Trump’s order threatens to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary jurisdictions,” state and municipal governments that fail to carry out this order and honor federal immigration detainers. Questions regarding the legality of President Trump’s order have prompted many local governments to resist the implementation of the executive order. As of February 10, 2017, about 226 local municipalities, four states, and Washington D.C. can be considered “sanctuary jurisdictions.” In Florida, six counties have opposed the implementation of immigration detainers: Broward, Hernando, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.

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Title: Florida Labor Market Prospective: 2017, Florida Labor Market Prospective:

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/press-room/2017/risep-florida-labor-market-prospective-2017/risep-florida-labor-market-prospective-2017.pdf

Description: This report seeks to contextualize the state of the current labor market in Florida as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to succeed President Obama on January 20, 2017. Employing government statistics from 2000 to 2016, we explain how Florida workers have fared during the past two presidencies and set performance expectations for the incoming president. We find that strong job creation during the past six years has returned Florida's labor market to the long-run normal rate of unemployment and led a rise in wages and incomes. Furthermore, a decline in the uninsured rate and a rise in union membership shows signs that workers' general well-being is improving beyond wage compensation. However, Florida's poverty rate remains high and the share of employed prime aged adults remains low. Increasing the state minimum wage is critical to continuing Florida’s economic growth while increasing labor force participation and reducing poverty.

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Title: State of Working Florida 2017

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/press-room/2017/the-state-of-working-florida-2017/state-or-working-florida-2017.pdf

Description: The State of Working Florida 2017 analyzes the period from 2005 through 2016 and finds that, while Florida’s economic and employment levels have recovered from the Great Recession, levels of economic security have-not improved. This report shows that increases in the share of low-wage employment and the persistence of wage disparities for women and people of color after the Great Recession enabled an uneven economic recovery and fueled greater income inequality. It concludes that by making strategic public investments and policy changes, Florida’s leaders have an opportunity to improve the economic reality of all workers and their families.

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Title: Some of Them Are Brave: The Unfulfulled Promise of American Labor Law

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/immigration/immigration-in-florida/2003/some-of-them-are-brave-the-unfulfilled-promise-of-american-labor-law/arawbravefinal1.pdf

Description: To gain a better understanding of the current state of U.S. labor law, American Rights at Work examined the experience of one, fairly typical local union that successfully assists workers who wish to organize. We chose Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199 Florida because it is a midsize union concentrated in one industry (nursing homes); it runs many campaigns using the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections process; and, it attempts to negotiate many first contracts. Nursing home workers’ low wages, limited benefits, safety problems, and lack of respect are representative of issues facing workers throughout the burgeoning service sector. Thus, the case of SEIU 1199 Florida serves as a microcosm of work

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Title: Considering Tax Contributions from

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/immigration/immigration-in-florida/2017/risep-2017-undocumented-immigrant-tax-contributions/risep-2017-undocumented-immigrant-tax-contributions.pdf

Description: On January 25, 2017, President Donald Trump issued an executive order detailing aggressive efforts to deport undocumented immigrants and calling for the immediate construction of a border wall with Mexico. President Trump’s order threatens to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary jurisdictions,” state and municipal governments that fail to carry out this order and honor federal immigration detainers. Questions regarding the legality of President Trump’s order has prompted many local governments to resist the implementation of the executive order. As of February 10, 2017, about 226 local municipalities, four states, and Washington D.C. can be considered “sanctuary jurisdictions.” In Florida, six counties have opposed the implementation of immigration detainers: Broward, Hernando, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.

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Title: MATTERS SETTLED BUT NOT RESOLVED:

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/income-inequality/2017/matters-settled-but-not-resolved-worker-misclassification-in-the-rideshare-sector/matters-settled-but-not-resolved-worker-misclassification-in-the-rideshare-sector.pdf

Description: The rideshare sector, a recent innovation, is the fastest growing sector of the sharing economy. These companies provide drivers with a mobile-based platform to find a fare and take a cut of the same, all while discouraging cash tipping. As advertisements for the companies suggest that these drivers make anywhere between $20–$40 per hour, it is no surprise that the companies are welcoming throngs of workers suffering in a sluggish economy and searching for a way to make ends meet—advertising themselves as a potential vehicle for micro-entrepreneurial opportunity that allows workers to have more control and flexibility at work.

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Title: Walt Disney World’s Hidden Costs: The Impact of

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/labor-unions/2007/walt-disney-worlds-hidden-costs/2007-disney-hidden-costs.pdf

Description: This report examines the impact of changes in the pay practices of Walt Disney World in the years from 1998 to 2006. One major change was the institution of a two-tier wage system that lowered the pay increases of new entrants to its labor force hired after December 12, 1998compared to those hired on or before that date.

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Title: Benefits of Unionization in Florida: Facts and Figures

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/labor-unions/2009/benefits-of-unionization-in-florida/unionization_fact_sheet.pdf

Description: The Employee Free Choice Act, if passed, is expected to make it easier for workers to form unions. Unionization is at a very low level, with only 12.4% of workers nationally belonging to unions in 2008 (unionstats.com). But unions improve wages and benefits of workers, especially low-income and minority workers. Increased unionization would be a step towards rebuilding the middle class and in this country, particularly in Florida which must find new ways to increase the number of middle class jobs in order to recover from the current recession. In Florida, 6.4% of workers belonged to a union in 2008, but the public sector is unionized at a much greater rate than the private sector. Twenty-eight percent of public sector (government) workers were union members in 2008, compared with only 2.3% of private sector workers. Because Florida is a so-called “Right to Work” state, workers can be covered by a union contract even if they are not official dues-paying union members. Almost 8% of the Florida workforce is covered by a union contract even though only 6.4% are dues-paying members.

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Title: How Does FIU Spend Its Money?

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/labor-unions/2009/how-does-fiu-spend-its-money-part-ii/how_does_fiu_spend_its_money-part-ii.pdf

Description: In March 2009 the FIU chapter of the United Faculty of Florida commissioned RISEP to produce a report investigating the budgetary and personnel changes in the university in the past few years at Florida International University. In April that report was concluded and published; it formed the basis of a teach-in at the university. The FIU administration disputed the results of that report and insisted that its data showing a massive transfer of salaries and personnel from faculty toward administration were faulty. Since the data used for the report came directly from the FIU administration, the claims of faulty data were a puzzle to the researchers. For the original report, the administration had claimed that they could not provide names to attach to the positions and salary data they supplied. After disputing our data (which was in fact their data, as supplied to us), they did supply names for each position with accompanying salary in the database. This revealed that the original database they had given us contained a number of duplications and even occasional triplications in the administrative category, thus leading to an over count of the number of administrators and administrative salaries. Thus, the administration has now given us a new database, which has been adjusted to eliminate duplications and to make a few other minor modifications to the data, which the administration again found with their re-analysis. We have looked at the new database, and conclude that all of our conclusions still hold, even with the adjusted data. The only thing that has changed a bit is the magnitude of the resource shift toward administration and away from faculty. But the trend is still very apparent, and is still enormous. The following report will re-analyze the data using the latest data provided us by the FIU administration. We stand 100% behind our previous report, given the data we were supplied at that time. But the more complete data now available to us and endorsed by the FIU administration shows essentially the same results as our previous analysis, albeit with a slightly less magnitude. The original report is contained as Appendix A in this report. Analysis with the updated data is contained in the body of the report prior to the appendix. For those who want to learn only the most essential numbers indicating trends without wading through all the data, the following are the essence of our findings from the numbers that are now agreed upon by the FIU administration.

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Title: How is the Money Spent?

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/labor-unions/2009/how-is-the-money-spent-fau-expenditures-on-faculty-and-higher-level-administration-in-the-period-fr/how-is-the-money-spent.pdf

Description: In a period of tight budgets, how a public university spends its money can become a question of great interest. The FIU Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) was contacted by the FAU chapter of the United Faculty of Florida with a request to analyze the FAU budget in terms of its relative expenditure of resources on salaries for faculty and the salaries of higher-level administrators. The following report provides the results of our findings.

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Title: Transforming Lives: The Impact of SEIU Healthcare Florida on Its Members

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/labor-unions/2009/transforming-lives-the-impact-of-seiu-healthcare-florida-on-its-members/transforming_lives.pdf

Description: The Service Employees International Union Florida Healthcare Union, better known as SEIU Healthcare Florida, is the major union in the healthcare sector in Florida. This union is growing in a state with extremely low union membership, and in an industry that has been virtually union free in Florida in the past. In the private sector, Florida’s unionization rate in 2008 was the second lowest of all 50 states. Public policies in the state are not favorable to unions; it is a “right-to-work” state, meaning that unions and employers are forbidden to require employees covered by a union contract to pay union dues, thus weakening labor unions. Despite these obstacles, SEIU Healthcare Florida has grown almost ten-fold in the past 10 years, from a little over 1,000 members to well over 10,000.Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, this report systematically investigates its impacts on members’ perceptions of changes in (a) conditions at the workplace; (b) quality of patient care; (c) wages and benefits; and (d) member participation in public affairs. The general results show this union to be a force for public betterment: higher quality patient care, greater incorporation of marginalized populations in the country’s civic and political affairs, greater equality for populations facing discrimination, a fairer and more “empowering” workplace, and better wages and benefits for healthcare workers.

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Title: The Florida Minimum Wage:

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/minimum-wage/2012/the-florida-minimum-wage-good-for-workers-good-for-the-economy/fl-minimum-wage.pdf

Description: Floridians know what it means to make a living on an honest day’s work. Unfortunately, too many workers are just not earning enough to make ends meet. For the large and growing number of low-wage workers, trying to support a family is becoming harder every day as food, housing, clothing, health care, transportation and other basic necessities become more and more expensive. It has been especially hard in these times of high unemployment, times when it seems that holding on to a job is hitting the jackpot and getting a raise is simply out of the question. In fact, since 2008, wages for Floridian workers in the bottom 20% have fallen every year. Poverty levels have steadily been on the rise all across the state and the nation. The minimum wage is one of the most important labor policies we have, and is especially important in a state like Florida that depends heavily on low-wage industries associated with tourism. Florida has been one of the leaders in setting a minimum wage that keeps up with inflation so that its purchasing power does not diminish over time. In 2004, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment, which created a state minimum wage above the federal minimum, which had fallen to one of its lowest values in 50 years, and established yearly increases indexed to inflation. This accomplishment by the people of Florida has been vital to maintaining the purchasing power of the minimum wage. The real value of the minimum wage at the federal level has periodically been left to erode since the 1960’s when the real value of the minimum wage was at its peak; in 1968, the real value of the minimum wage was $8.90. Effective since 2005,Florida’s minimum wage has been indexed to inflation to protect its purchasing power. On January 1st, 2012, the state minimum wage adjusted to $7.67 an hour, up from $7.31 in 2011;still, it is only 86% of what it was in 1968.Research has shown that higher wages increase productivity, reduce turnover, and have no negative effect on employment.1In other words, workers do their jobs better and stay on the job longer, benefiting their employer by creating increased value that makes up for the higher wages. Also, low-income workers and families are integral to our economy as they spend their wages on local goods and services.

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Title: Florida Labor Market Prospective: 2017

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/minimum-wage/2017/risep-florida-labor-market-prospective-2017/risep-florida-labor-market-prospective-2017.pdf

Description: This report seeks to contextualize the state of the current labor market in Florida as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to succeed President Obama on January 20, 2017. Employing government statistics from 2000 to 2016, we explain how Florida workers have fared during the past two presidencies and set performance expectations for the incoming president. We find that strong job creation during the past six years has returned Florida's labor market to the long-run normal rate of unemployment and led a rise in wages and incomes. Furthermore, a decline in the uninsured rate and a rise in union membership shows signs that workers' general well-being is improving beyond wage compensation. However, Florida's poverty rate remains high and the share of employed prime- aged adults remains low. Increasing the state minimum wage is critical to continuing Florida's economic growth while increasing labor force participation and reducing poverty.

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Title: Florida jobs deficit still near 1 million

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/unemployment-compensation/2011/florida-jobs-deficit-still-near-million/swf-2011-release.pdf

Description: Two years after the official end of the recession, Florida still has a jobs deficit of nearly 981,000 jobs, and some groups of workers are faring far worse than others in the economy, according to the annual State of Working Florida report to be released on Sunday by the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University.

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Title: Unemployment Compensation in Florida

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/unemployment-compensation/2011/issue-brief-unemployment-compensation/ui_issuebrief.pdf

Description: Unemployment compensation was created in 1935 by the Social Security Act and serves two main purposes: 1) providing benefits to workers out of work through no fault of their own, and2) maintaining purchasing power and stabilizing the economy. Florida has one of the strictest systems in the country based on its rankings among other states on eligibility criteria, benefit amounts, and recipiency rates, and robust scrutiny of claims. Therefore it is unlikely that many people are receiving unemployment compensation who are not entitled to it, while certain groups of workers who should be entitled to compensation are excluded under the law. Unemployment compensation has provided a net benefit to Florida’s economy of over $9.8billion since the beginning of the recession, combining both the state program and federal extension programs. UC has been shown in previous studies to be one of the most effective stabilizers of the economy and a more effective stimulus than other methods such as tax cuts.

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Title: State and Federal Unemployment Benefit Cuts Cost Millions for

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/unemployment-compensation/2011/state-and-federal-unemployment-benefit-cuts-cost-millions-for-workers-and-floridas-economy/uc-update.pdf

Description: As of October Florida’s unemployment rate was 10.3%, the lowest unemployment level since mid- 2009. This unemployment rate represents 955,000 jobless people out of a labor force of, 228,000. Unemployment has been consistently decreasing since the end of 2010, but labor force participation rates have been decreasing as well. At the end of 2010, the labor force participation rate was 62.7%, but by October 2011, the percentage of working-age population in Florida looking for jobs decreased to 61.8%. This means that the down trending unemployment rate underestimates the bad conditions of the labor market. Unemployment levels would basically be equally as high if discouraged workers would have kept looking for jobs.

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Title: CONSTRUCTION SAFETY PRACTICES

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2004/construction-safety-practices-and-immigrant-workers-pilot-study/immigrant_construction_workers_safety_2004.pdf

Description: This report is based on surveys conducted with fifty immigrant construction workers in South Florida in 2003. The survey elicited information on the training, personal protective safety practices, and employer safety policies and practices of these workers. It also collected demographic data and information on non-safety employer practices, such as workers compensation coverage, health care coverage, pension coverage, irregular payment practices (such as in cash or as a sham “independent contractor”), etc. The purpose of the study is threefold:(1) To document the safety conditions and experiences of these workers, as well as other conditions they face that may be related to their treatment in the safety area;(2) To look for any significant relationships between their safety conditions (measuredly degree of safety training, use of personal protective equipment, and employer safety policies and practices) and other factors that theory and previous evidence indicate are probably related (length of residence in the U.S., length of time working in the U.S. construction industry, unionized/non-unionized status, documented/undocumented status, and unskilled/skilled status); and(3) To undertake a preliminary analysis of the results to see if any public policy measures may be promising ways to improve the safety conditions of these workers. Although the sample size is small and is not a random sample, the pool of respondents does have considerable similarity in many respects to our best estimate of the local immigrant construction worker population. Haitians and union workers were intentionally over sampled so that there are enough of these categories of workers to make for meaningful comparisons. But in many other respects, local construction contractors and union officials and knowledgeable workers have indicated that this sample at least captures the characteristics of a good number of south Florida immigrant construction workers.

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Title: Promoting Diverse Work:

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2006/promoting-diverse-work-the-benefits-of-using-minority-contractors-on-two-county-gob-projects/promoting_diverse_work.pdf

Description: The Orange Bowl renovation and Jackson South Community Hospital renovation and expansion projects are large, visible, and economically important projects that will make needed improvements to important community assets. But it is imperative that all sections of our community receive the benefits of these projects and have an equal opportunity to participate. That the nature of the construction industry tends towards exclusionary networks and unequal hiring practices is all the more incentive for local governments to make sure that minority businesses are getting their fair share. By using minority contractors on the Orange Bowl renovation and Jackson South expansion projects, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami show a commitment to a diverse workforce and to helping needy communities to develop and prosper.

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Title: A Portrait of Women and Girls in Miami-Dade County

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2009/portrait-of-womens-economic-security-in-greater-miami-data-document/portrait_wes_data.pdf

Description: This document is intended to present data about women’s economic situation in Miami-Dade County drawing from two main public sources, the Census and the Current Population Survey. It builds on the preliminary work that was presented at the Miami Women’s Summit 2007. The document consists mainly of data tables and several charts, along with some analysis. The analysis is not exhaustive and is presented as a guide to interpreting the data and discerning patterns in women’s economic security. From this data the Women’s Portrait Committee will learn much about the nature of women’s employment, education, income, work related benefits, and some policies that affect workingwomen. The Portrait Committee should be able to use this data to write a comprehensive portrait of women’s economic security in Miami-Dade. The data presented here are only a selection of the work we completed for this project, but have been selected to touch on each area of interest in away that is comprehensible yet complete. The remaining data can be made available to the Portrait Committee should it be requested.

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Title: Portrait of Women’s Economic security in greater miami, Portrait of women’s Economic security

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2009/portrait-of-womens-economic-security-in-greater-miami/portrait_wes_2.pdf

Description: The infor mation presented in this report underscores how difficult it is for women in our community to achieve economic security. Our report looks at over-arching obstacles for economic security that affect all women and examines the best opportunities for increasing the economic security of women. The Portrait report highlights the real life experiences of the women of MDC, exploring critical issues and challenges and setting an agenda to address those challenges. When the Women’s Fund first began work on the Portrait of Women’s Economic Security in Greater Miami, we already knew that economic security was a critical and pressing issue for women. We also knew that women in Miami-Dade were facing significant barriers to economic security and that it was time to focus on these issues as a strategy to improving the economic outlook of our entire community. What we could not have known was that the work we were doing - to hone an agenda for women’s economic security - would take on even greater significance as the global economy struggles to right itself. The economic situation we find ourselves in, as a nation is a singular and profound call to action. We must prioritize women’s economic security. In addressing the current crisis we must work diligently to prevent future crises by addressing the catastrophic economic insecurity that women find themselves in every day. One thing we know for sure is that when women and girls thrive, our entire community thrives. In preparing this report we met with local experts who revealed aspects of women’s economic security that data alone did not reveal. For example, despite the fact that quality childcare is in high demand and a necessity for working mothers and families, workers in the childcare industry, which is dominated by women, face very low wages. This perpetuates the cycle of women concentrated in low-wage jobs, unable to afford childcare for their own children or meet their basic needs, ironically even as these women are providing a service that enables other women to reach self-sufficiency. We also listened to real women in our communities who shared with us their daily struggles to achieve economic security. Our data, and the stories we have collected, send a clear message. We cannot ignore the fact that poverty predominantly affects women and that women’s economic security must be in the forefront when we make policies, allocate resources and prioritize areas for change. We have developed a list of recommendations to address the most pressing economic security issues for women in Miami-Dade. The Women’s Fund will utilize these recommendations as the lens through which we undertake our grant making and advocacy in the coming years. In light of the current economic crisis we further prioritized a list of four critical strategies, outlined below. We believe that implementing these strategies will drastically improve the chances that women can reach economic security and overcome the barriers to achieving self-sufficiency.

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Title: The Impact of the

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2012/the-impact-of-the-early-care-and-education-industry-on-the-economy-of-miami-dade-county/the_impact_of_the_early_care_and_educ_ind_on_the_econ_of_mdc_final.pdf

Description: Over thirteen percent of all young children between birth and 5 years old in the State of Florida live in Miami-Dade County, creating a high local demand for early childcare and education. The need for subsidized early childcare and education in this third poorest urban area in the country is enormous. But, need is not being met. Evidence of this unmet need is found by looking at the waiting list for applicants to the School Readiness Program, the largest subsidy program supporting childcare for low-income families. The waiting list rose dramatically from an average of 8,000 children in 2008, to over 14,000 by the end of 2009. As part of the economic stimulus package of 2009-2010, child care is now widely recognized as a critical social infrastructure for economic development. Early childcare and education is an essential part of the economy of Miami-Dade County. It is more than a vital social service; the childcare industry generates revenue, and provides jobs and small business opportunities that sustain the local economy. The early childcare and education industry directly employs over 9,000 workers. Through the purchases of goods and services in other economic sectors, the industry indirectly creates almost 4,000 more jobs. $882.2 million in direct, indirect, and induced revenues are generated by the early childcare and education industry in Miami-Dade County. As any planner or economic policy maker knows this is not a trivial figure, especially when it is recognized that far more workers are able to work because this industry is caring for their young children while they are on the job. Using a straightforward input-output economic analysis this report then provides portrait of the value of the industry to our local economy. An important feature of this analysis is that it breaks out the impact of public subsidy monies flowing into the county for childcare from the overall input of both private and public funds expended on childcare.

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Title: False Promises: The Failure of Secure

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2013/false-promises-the-failure-of-secure-communities-in-miami-dade-county/2013-false-promises-failure-of-secure-communities.pdf

Description: This report addresses the impact on Miami-Dade County of the Secure Communities program, currently one of the primary federal immigration enforcement programs administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). DHS claims that the program prioritizes the removal of convicted criminal aliens who pose danger to national security or public safety, repeat violators who game the immigration system, those who fail to appear at immigration hearings, and fugitives who have already been ordered removed by an immigration judge. “Contrary to these policy goals, we found that 61% of individuals ordered for removal from Miami-Dade County are either low level offenders or not guilty of the crime for which they were arrested. By ICE’s standards only 18% of the individuals ordered for removal represent high priority public safety risks, and that number drops to a mere 6% when we apply local standards suggested by Miami-Dade County’s Public Defender. Interviews with detainees also reveal that often residents are stopped by police for no apparent reason and subjected to detention and deportation. Secure Communities in Miami-Dade County also has a disproportionately negative impact on Mexicans and Central Americans who constitute a relatively low percentage of the local population but a high percentage of those whom Secure Communities detained and removed. For this report, the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) of the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University analyzed twelve months of arrest records, 6and the detentions and subsequent dispositions of all 1,790 individuals held in Miami-Dade County Corrections’ jails for the Secure Communities program. RISEP complemented this analysis with interviews of individual Miami-Dade County residents who were directly affected by Secure Communities and interviews with local government officials in the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County. We also conducted thorough analysis of DHS and ICE doc. our analysis of these documents demonstrates that the program is based on internally ambiguous priorities and directives that result in contradictory guidelines. Accordingly, Secure Communities has become a program that in essence removes virtually all undocumented migrants who are identified through Secure Communities, in spite of DHS Secretary Napolitano calling for ICE to use prosecutorial discretion. The program’s guidelines bear the signs of a centrally devised policy created without consideration for the complex criminal justice landscapes of the thousands of jurisdictions where the program is implemented. The implications and effects of enforcing Secure Communities are far-reaching. It disrupts and tears apart honest and hardworking families and makes Miami-Dade less secure for everyone as it discourages immigrants from cooperating with law enforcement. ICE’s detention and deportation of immigrants for minor crimes, ordinary misdemeanors, and non-offense incidents reduces trust of law enforcement. This is especially dangerous in Miami-Dade County where the majority of the population is immigrants and approximately threefourthsare either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. Miami’s Mayor and Police Chief both expressed their belief that the reduced trust that Secure Communities produces will make protecting all communities more difficult—the opposite of what DHS and ICE claim is their goal. When community trust in law enforcement decreases, residents are less likely to report crimes and cooperate with police in the investigation of crimes. When serious crimes do occur, the reduced trust engendered by ICE’s Secure Communities program makes it more difficult for local law enforcement to do its job, undermining the security of all county residents. We strongly recommend that Miami-Dade leaders form a broad-based task force to review the impact of Secure Communities. We urge Miami-Dade County r

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Title: Left Out: Working Women in Florida

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/research-publications/workers-rights-econ-justice/women-minority-workers/2014/left-out-working-women-of-florida/2014-left-out-working-women-of-florida.pdf

Description: Florida’s female workforce earned an average annual salary of $11,260 below their male counterparts in 2013, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics1. Five decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 women continue to earn 23.1% below men’s an average annual salary. In 2013, the average annual salary for women in Florida was$37,543, compared to $48,804 for men. On average, women need to work an additional 16weeks to earn the same annual salary of men. That means that women matched the 2013average salaries of men the week of April 14, 2014.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2009

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2009-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: This report presents annual data on the Florida labor force and comparisons with the U.S. Last year we could only see the beginning of the downturn, and now we see very clearly that the period from 2004 to 2007 represented a bubble in the economy that was unsustainable. Job losses and the increase in unemployment have entirely wiped away the gains made during the boom period. With regards to number of jobs and the unemployment rate, the gains that were made during those years have been lost, as if that growth had never occurred. Although the monthly data shows that job losses and unemployment appear to be leveling off, they are not likely to improve until at least well into next year, meaning that hundreds of thousands of Florida families will be struggling to get by for some time to come.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2010

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2010-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: The last several years have been extremely hard ones for Florida’s workers. The recession that started in2007 has been one of the deepest in history, and Florida was both a leader of the recession and one of the hardest hit states due to the vulnerability of our economy to the housing market crash. In the last two years, we have seen historically high levels of unemployment and underemployment, reductions to hours for those who still have jobs, and we are beginning to see an impact on wages as well. As a result, poverty and income inequality have increased in the state.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2011

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2011-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: Florida was one of the hardest hit states during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, which was brought on by the housing and financial market crashes. Although some industries have gained jobs in the last six months and we are beginning to see some life in the housing market, there are still serious concerns about the possibility of a double dip recession given the very slow economic growth in the nation. There are also questions about the degree of structural changes in the economy underlying the continuing unemployment crisis which could have a profound effect on our ability to recover fully from there cession. In short, more than two years after the official end of the recession, the path to recovery is not yet clear in Florida or the nation. This report focuses on how workers are faring in Florida’s economy, and the overriding theme in 2011 is the stark contrasts in the impact of the recession on different groups of workers. While higher educated workers in higher paying jobs appear to be doing fairly well and even gaining ground in wages, lower educated workers, African American workers, and young workers, are still facing extremely high unemployment rates and wage decreases. During the worst point of the recession 1.1 million people were out of work in Florida, and unemployment reached 12% in December 2010. In the last six months unemployment has come down to 10.7% and 64,300 jobs have been added. However improvement has been uneven, with growth concentrated in a few industries, particularly Health Care and Social Assistance, Accommodation and Food Services, and Administrative and Waste services. In July the state lost 22,000 jobs, mostly due to losses in local government including public schools. Florida’s “jobs deficit” is 981,000, the number needed to make up losses from the recession and keep up with population growth, and it will take prolonged period of steady growth to eliminate this deficit. While certain areas of Florida’s economy have improved, the recession and job losses have meant severe hardship for hundreds of thousands of workers in Florida with wide disparities in the impacts indifferent groups.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2012

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2012-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: This will be the fifth consecutive Labor Day in which the state of Florida continues to lag behind other states. Five years ago, the news was that the Great Recession was going to hit Florida harder, because it had relied so heavily on an inflated construction industry. Three years ago, the news was that Florida was breaking records in almost every economic indicator – but not in a good way. This year the news is that the recovery in Florida has been one of the most anemic in the country. Even though the Recovery officially began three years ago, Florida is still struggling with the aftermath of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some economic indicators have started to show improvement, like unemployment rates and the Jobseekers ratio; however, others have worsened and Florida is still breaking records. The Recovery has not been a single recovery for all workers in Florida. In reality, our data show that the Recovery has been experienced differently, especially by gender and race. Three years of economic recovery have allowed us to evaluate how Florida has been recovering and where it seems to be headed. At this writing, the prospects are bleak. Florida seems to be headed into another decade of jobless recovery, wage and income stagnation, more low-wage jobs, less public services, and more disparities between demographic groups.

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Title: State of Working Florida 2013

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2013-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: This 10th edition of State of Working Florida takes a comprehensive look at the economic lives of Floridians by asking ‘how has our standard of living changed since the year 2000?’. For the purpose of this analysis we focus on four main areas that shape standard of living: employment, income and inequality, living costs, and poverty. Unfortunately, data point to an observed decline in the standard of living of Floridians. Declines in standard of living negatively impact future economic growth and social mobility as well as the pace of the current economic recovery. In fact, since 2000, Florida’s employment rate, median hourly wage, and the average amount of hours worked declined by 4.99%, 4.34%, and 3.11% respectively. At the same time, the poverty rate, inequality, and consumer prices (particularly housing, food and transportation) increased dramatically by 46.84%, 13.66%, and 33.84% respectively. This year’s State of Working Florida reflects some gains, particularly in the 37.63% increase in the state’s budget allocation towards Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), but these gains are insufficient to offset marked declines in compensation, jobs and increased living costs. Florida’s main employers, private sector service-providing industries such as retail trade, accommodation and food services, and administrative and waste management services are contributing to the decline in the standard of living due to an overall decrease in the wages and work hours offered. Despite increases in labor productivity, workers have not seen improvements in employment options or compensation; a long-term trend documented in previous reports. Ultimately, the continuing decline in wages will mean lower consumer spending and therefore lower economic growth for Florida; the effects of which are already present in the slow economic recovery and high unemployment rates we observe today and which are likely to continue into the future. Likewise, increased inequality translates to lower social mobility and the continued erosion of the middle-class. In order to prevent Florida from heading into another decade of declining living standards there needs to be a strong policy response that will not only recover Florida’s living standard but also help the economy grow. Florida is in need of more jobs with higher wages and better benefits. This entails refocusing our economy away from low-wage industries like tourism and retail sales and towards more sustainable industries like wholesale trade and health care and social assistance. However, changing the structural composition of employment in Florida takes a considerable amount of time. In the meantime, policymakers can implement immediate interventions to address the prevalence of low wage through policies like a considerable increase in the minimum wage and in the coverage of paid sick leave as well as greater prevention and enforcement of wage theft.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2014

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2014-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: This 11th edition of State of Working Florida focuses on wage inequality in Florida through an analysis of labor market and demographic indicators for the period between 1980and 2013. At the core of this edition are the questions ‘how unequal is Florida today and how has inequality changed over time?. This report focuses on wages and wage inequality instead of overall wealth or household income inequality because wages are the greatest source of income for most people and dramatically affect the quality of life and social mobility afforded to Floridians. In fact, wages not only determine how well families are doing but also ultimately determine the general health of our overall economy. Strong and growing wages reflect a strong and growing economy but low wages mean Floridians have less money to spend on food, housing, healthcare, transportation and many other resources that define their quality of life. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Current Population Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Annual Social and Economic Supplement 2013, and the U.S. Census: American Community Survey this report provides evidence for a stagnant median wage and increasing wage inequality in Florida. Comparing the wage gap between the top and bottom 25% of wage earners data show that inequality has because many Floridians have experienced economic marginalization or are stuck in low-wage industries while few privileged workers absorbed most of the economic gains since 1980. The growing gap between high and low wage earners means that Florida’s workers are living in increasingly separate worlds. Ultimately, economic marginalization and large employing but low-paying industries play a large role in the stagnation of general wages and in increasing inequality. What’s more is 3State of Working Florida | 2014that inequality directly affects the likelihood of future social mobility and the economic prosperity of our state. However, inequality can be reduced and social mobility increased by increasing the minimum wage, wage theft protections, pay transparency, on-the-job training, state-business skill development, and union representation to everyone's benefit, especially those historically marginalized groups.

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Title: The State of the Working Florida 2015

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/state-of-the-working-florida-2015-1.pdf

Description: This 12th edition of State of Working Florida focuses on wage and income inequality in Florida through an analysis of labor market and demographic indicators for the period between 1980 and 2014. This edition reveals that existing wage and income inequalities in Florida were exacerbated by the economic recovery following the Great Recession. When comparing the wage gap between the top and bottom deciles, 10th percentiles, of wage earners, data shows that inequality has been increasing over the last 35 years. Data indicates that high wageworkers have absorbed most of the economic gains since 1980 while low-wage workers have been marginalized. Furthermore, the economic expansion experienced after the great recession of 2007 has been characterized by unprecedented gains in the financial market and a much softer rebound in the labor market. The disparity between the economic gains of the top and bottom 10 percent of wage and income earners during this time has had a corrosive effect on the quality of life and standard of living of Floridians. Additionally, the growing gap between the top and the bottom has weakened upper social mobility opportunities. Large employing but low-paying industries and occupations play a large role in the stagnation of general wages and in increasing inequality between Floridians. The analysis relies on earnings indicators because most Floridians derive their income from wages and salaries. For working Floridians, wages and salaries do not only determine their financial and economic status; but ultimately determines how much they contribute back to the general economic health of the state. A low wage translates into lower purchasing power, which means less money to spend on food, housing, healthcare, transportation and many other resources that are necessary to maintain a proper standard of living and quality of life. Likewise, low wages directly contribute to a weak and slow-growing economy. It is the intention of this report to further unveil the growing gap and to illustrate the viable alternatives for mitigating these corrosive trends in Florida. This report argues that growing inequality and social mobility can be addressed by promoting socio-economic policies that include: increasing the minimum wage, wage theft protections, pay transparency, on-the-job training, industry strategic job development investment, promotion of unionization and a better alignment between workforce development and educational initiatives.

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Title: State of Working Florida 2017

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/state-or-working-florida-2017.pdf

Description: The State of Working Florida 2017 analyzes the period from 2005 through 2016 and finds that, while Florida’s economic and employment levels have recovered from the Great Recession, levels of economic security have not improved. This report shows that increases in the share of low-wage employment and the persistence of wage disparities for women and people of color after the Great Recession enabled an uneven economic recovery and fueled greater income inequality. It concludes that by making strategic public investments and policy changes, Florida’s leaders have an opportunity to improve the economic reality of all workers and their families.

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Title: State of Working Florida 2006

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/swf-2006-econ.pdf

Description: This report finds that, despite Florida’s booming economy since 2002, its workers have not been sharing in the prosperity. Some indicators of this fact are: Florida’s median wage ($13.47/hour) remains well below the national norm ($14.28/hour). Median family income in the state in the booming 2002-2005 period actually dropped by .6%, from $50,778 to $50,465 in constant 2005 dollars. Almost 20% of Florida’s residents had no healthcare coverage in 2002-2005,worse than all but two of the nation’s states. In 2003-2005 only 35.7% of Florida private sector workers were covered by a pension from their employer, the worst of all 50 states. Florida’s historic problem of low-wage employment is being accentuated by long-term (15 year), medium-term (5 year), and short-term (1 year) trends, showing that the state is adding jobs in low-paying industries at a faster pace than in high-paying industries. Other indicators such as the position of women, African-Americans and Hispanics also show discouraging statistics. The unfavorable nature of the state’s unemployment compensation, disability compensation, and relative tax burden, as well as its falling unionization rate, also indicate a difficult situation for the state’s workers. There are a couple of “bright spots” in an otherwise cloudy picture, however. The state’s poverty rate has fallen in recent years to below the national average, a major accomplishment. However, if a more realistic measure of poverty at 150% the rate used byte federal government is used, the state’s rate is still above the national norm. Some metropolitan areas have outperformed the state as a whole in job- and wage-growth, which is a very good sign for workers in those areas. This report also briefly reviews measures that could be undertaken to improve the conditions of workers in Florida, although it notes political obstacles to their consideration or adoption. In general, this report finds that Florida’s workers are not prospering along with the state’s economy. It continues to be a low wage state, with a disproportionate number and percentage of low wage jobs. On a variety of non-wage issues such as pension coverage, unemployment compensation policy, disability policy, health insurance coverage, unionization, tax policy, and statutory protections of workers, Florida is also inferior to national norms. The problem of low wages and poor quality jobs persists, even in the best of times. The state could do more for its working people and especially for its least favored workers, but may lack the political will to do so.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2007

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/swf-2007-econ.pdf

Description: RISEP’s annual Labor Day report The State of Working Florida looks at the performance of Florida’s economy with a focus on how working men and women are faring in employment, wages, benefits, and other aspects of work life. This year’s report finds that employment and wages have improved, while benefits for Florida workers continue to lag behind most other states.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2016

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/swf-20163.pdf

Description: This 13th edition of State of Working Florida focuses on economic mobility in Florida through an analysis of the state’s occupational structure for the period between 2009 and 2014. This report concentrates on the occupational dynamics that have emerged in Florida after the Great Recession of 2007-2009 in order to explain the current path of economic and social development in the state. Furthermore, the report addresses the implications of current occupational dynamics on future development and provides policy recommendations to improve economic mobility in Florida.

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Title: The State of Working Florida 2008

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/swf_2008.pdf

Description: RISEP’s annual Labor Day report The State of Working Florida looks at the performance of Florida’s economy with a focus on how working men and women are faring in employment, wages, benefits, and other aspects of work life. This year’s report finds that in 2007 the Florida boom began to go bust, with rising unemployment and stagnant wages signaling hard times ahead for workers.

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Title: State of Working Florida 2005

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/testing.pdf

Description: I. The Florida Economy Doing Well But Workers Not So Well• The Florida unemployment rate is well below the national rate, and the state has been creating jobs rapidly. • But in general this is not translating into increased well-being for Florida’s working men and women, as the remainder of this report demonstrates. I. Job Creation Performance: Comparatively Good in Quantity• The state has been creating jobs at a much faster pace than the nation. • But much of this is due to a growing population. Adjusted for population growth, Florida’s job growth rate is 13th best of all states in 2001 – 2005.III. Industrial Mix of Florida Jobs, and How They Are Shifting• Florida tends to have a low percentage of jobs in high paying industries and high percentage of jobs in low wage industries. • Long-term, medium-term, and near-term (14 year, 4 year, and 1 year) state trends all accentuate this pattern. IV. Wages in the State of Florida• Florida is a low-wage state. Its 2004 median hourly wage ($13.10 per hour) is below the national average and is in line with wages in the South, the nation’s lowest paying region. • Florida low-wage workers (those in the 20th percentile, meaning that 20% of wage earners make a lower wage) have lost ground since 1989 compared thigh-wage workers. Since 2000 they have caught up a little but not enough to share equally in the percentage wage growth in the past decade and a half. • Florida has an unusually high percentage of very low-wage workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage: over 3.6% in 2004. This is higher than national, regional, or divisional percentages. • A 2004 ballot election referendum created a new state minimum wage of$6.15 per hour, indexed in future years to rise at the rate of inflation. This measure should reduce the number of very low-wage workers in the state. Part-Time Work, Unemployment, and Long-term Unemployment• a smaller percentage of Florida's jobs are part-time than in the U.S.Involuntary part-time work in the state approximates the national average. • Florida's unemployment rate is below the national average and is also below that of its southern geographic counterparts. The percentage of long term (6months or longer) unemployed in the state is also lower than in the nation, again good news. However, the percentage grew by more than 70% between2001 and 2004, a sign of stress for the more-difficult-to-employ. VI. Women, Blacks, and Hispanics in the Florida Workforce• Women in Florida participate less than men in tXI. Unemployment Compensation Coverage in Florida• Florida's restrictive unemployment compensation law meant that in 2004only 27.9% of the unemployed collected benefits. This tied the state at 40th –41st of the 50 states on this measure. • Florida’s maximum unemployment benefit is below the U.S. average. In January 2004, the state ranked 38th of the 50 states on this measure. • Yet Florida’s unemployment insurance recipients depend on these benefits longer than in other states: almost half exhaust their benefits by using them for the full 26 weeks, the highest of any state in the nation. XII. Disability Policy in Florida• Florida’s maximum weekly benefit for temporary and permanent total disability is about average for the U.S.• But its restrictions on the length of the benefit are among the most severe in the nation. Likewise, the subtraction of social security or unemployment insurance benefits from disability benefits is a more severe restriction of benefits than in all but two other states. XIII. Other Statutory Protections of Workers• Florida has few statutory protections of workers' rights (anti-discrimination, right-to-know, equal pay, whistle blower protection, etc.) in comparison toother states. XIV. Unionization in Florida• The unionization rate in Florida in 2004 was less than half that of the nations a whole (6.0% vs. 12.5%). • the same is true to a more extreme degree for Florida private sector workers. Unionization in the public sector is much high

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URL: https://southfloridaprimarysources.omeka.net

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URL: https://southfloridaprimarysources.omeka.net/

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