Financial Security Scorecard: A State-by-State Analysis of Economic Pressures Facing Future Retirees

As Americans increasingly worry about their retirement prospects, states play an important and growing role in retirement security policy. States already manage long-term care programs for the elderly through Medicaid. Concerned about the impact of future elder poverty on state and local budgets and their local economies, a number of states are exploring the creation of low-cost and low-risk retirement savings plans for private sector workers who lack access to pensions or 401(k)s on the job. Some states have developed programs to help older workers find work. This report presents the Financial Security Scorecard, designed to inform state-level stakeholders and policymakers regarding the financial security outlook for future retirees and to help identify potential areas of focus for state-based policy interventions to improve retirement prospects. Specifically, the scorecard ranks each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia (hereafter referred to as “states”) in three sources of potential economic pressures for future retirees, as measured through eight specific variables. This analysis enables policymakers to understand how their state fares relative to other states in terms of potential economic pressures for future retirees, and which areas of retirement security need the most attention. At the same time, the raw data underlying the scorecard indicate that in some areas, all states have room for improvement regardless of how they rank

Yoga Training Improves Metabolic Parameters in Obese Boys

Yoga has been known to have stimulatory or inhibitory effects on the metabolic parameters and to be uncomplicated therapy for obesity. The purpose of the present study was to test the effect of an 8-week of yoga-asana training on body composition, lipid profile, and insulin resistance (IR) in obese adolescent boys. Twenty volunteers with body mass index (BMI) greater than the 95th percentile were randomly assigned to yoga (age 14.7±0.5 years, n=10) and control groups (age 14.6±1.0 years, n=10). The yoga group performed exercises three times per week at 40~60% of heart-rate reserve (HRR) for 8 weeks. IR was determined with the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). After yoga training, body weight, BMI, fat mass (FM), and body fat % (BF %) were significantly decreased, and fat-free mass and basal metabolic rate were significantly increased than baseline values. FM and BF % were significantly improved in the yoga group compared with the control group (p\u3c0.05). Total cholesterol (TC) was significantly decreased in the yoga group (p\u3c0.01). HDL-cholesterol was decreased in both groups (p\u3c0.05). No significant changes were observed between or within groups for triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, glucose, insulin, and HOMA-IR. Our findings show that an 8-week of yoga training improves body composition and TC levels in obese adolescent boys, suggesting that yoga training may be effective in controlling some metabolic syndrome factors in obese adolescent boys

Means to an End: An Assessment of the Status-blind Approach to Protecting Undocumented Worker Rights

This article applies the tenets of bureaucratic incorporation theory to an investigation of bureaucratic decision making in labor standards enforcement agencies (LSEAs), as they relate to undocumented workers. Drawing on 25 semistructured interviews with high-level officials in San Jose and Houston, I find that bureaucrats in both cities routinely evade the issue of immigration status during the claims-making process, and directly challenge employers’ attempts to use the undocumented status of their workers to deflect liability. Respondents offer three institutionalized narratives for this approach: (1) to deter employer demand for undocumented labor, (2) the conviction that the protection of undocumented workers is essential to the agency’s ability to regulate industry standards for all workers, and (3) to clearly demarcate the agency’s jurisdictional boundaries to preserve institutional autonomy and scarce resources. Within this context, enforcing the rights of undocumented workers becomes simply an institutional means to an end

Most California Teachers Working Today Are Here for the Long Haul — and Better Off with a DB Pension

Early career turnover is a serious policy concern for public education — but is it the sole basis on which to evaluate the suitability of teacher retirement benefits? Absolutely not. Our study confirms that most teachers working in California schools today are here for the long-haul, and are better off with a DB pension than with a 401(k)-type plan

California’s $15 Minimum Wage and Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program Can Boost Young Low-Income Workers’ Retirement Incomes by 50%

This study examines the separate and combined impacts of the $15 minimum wage policy and Secure Choice on the retirement income of California workers in the bottom half of the income distribution

Half of California Private Sector Workers Have No Retirement Assets

In this data brief, we highlight the lack of retirement assets among private sector employees and working-age families in California based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and 2014 Survey on Income and Program Participation. It turns out that California private sector workers are not merely behind on saving for retirement; half do not own retirement assets and most are currently not saving for retirement at all

Teacher Pensions vs. 401(k)s: Part 2 — A Bird in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush

This blog post is the second in a two-part series explaining why recent studies claiming that teachers are better off with 401(k)s than pensions because of distributional issues and lower benefits for early leavers are misleading in their representation of the teaching workforce, and in how they compare retirement benefits