Digital Finance Trends for 2019

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Posted by Terrence M. Isert,  January 27, 2019

Forbes recently published it’s projected digital financial trends for 2019. With global concerns on data security and privacy, where will the industry and consumers see the biggest changes? What are you personally watching? The article identifes 9 digital finance trends it’s predicting that will change the landscape. Read about mobile-based payment predictions, big data and blockchain impacts here: Digital Finance Trends. Let us know which you think will most impactful for the coming year!

Teen Summer Employment Continues Downward Trend

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Posted by Terrence M. Isert,  July 3, 2018

With summer in full swing in the northern hemisphere, it’s time to take a look at some summer jobs data for teenagers. Summer jobs are typically a staple of the youth experience for a majority of the 16-19 year olds in the US. However, since 2000 the number of teens working summer jobs has dropped and the types of jobs worked has changed. According to a Pew Research study, prior to this period teen employment ranged between 46% (a low in 1963) and 58% (a high point in 1978) as tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Summer months, particularly July map what should have been a typical surge in teen employment. Jobs typically were in outdoor employment such as lifeguards, local businesses or retail which have shifted heavily towards accommodations, food service, and retail. Teen employment rates dropped precipitously from a more or less stable 50% in the 90s decade to about 30% in 2010 after the 2001 recession and the 2007-2009 financial crisis.  The report also cites a more ominous trend: the continued overall decline in teen employment seen worldwide in advanced economies which may be due to less supply of entry-level jobs, higher summer academic demands, longer school years or unpaid internships. Read more here.

Countering Payday Lending: U.S.Postal Service as Financial Service Provider

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A legislative proposal from Senator Gillibrand would revive savings and deposit services offered by the USPS from 1911 to 1967 with an added kick – lending. This initiative could generate nearly $9 billion in additional revenue (2014 USOIG) for the beleaguered government postal service while offering a more equitable, accessible option than current usury payday lenders to low-income individuals.  Read more here on the proposal. The 2014 OIG white paper provides more details on the economic analysis that highlights the 68 million Americans underserved by the current financial system with average US households spending $2,412 on internet and banking fees. The original findings by the USPS suggested substantial reduced costs for these consumers due in part to its existing, existence mortar-and-bricks presence in every community.

Arriving Refugees Boost US Government Revenues

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Posted by Terrence Isert, September 20, 2017

A draft US Health and Human Services report quantified a net positive boost to the US government coffers from newly arrived refugees. As reported in the NY Times, the study analyzing economic cost of refugee resettlement programs versus the cost of admitting them over a 10-year period from 2005 – 2014. The initial findings found a $63 billion net positive increase to US government revenues. The draft report can be found here.

Minority-Owned Business on the Rise

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Posted by Terrence Isert on July 26, 2017

The 2017 annual U.S. Census of Survey of Entrepreneurs shows an increase in minority-owned businesses. Both payrolls and employment of minority-owned employers grew by nearly 5% over the period of 2014 to 2015. Women-owned firms grew annually be 3.0% over the same period. Not surprisingly, the highly-populated Mid-Atlantic/New England metropolitan areas and California accounted for a large share of the growth. Read more here.

Responding to Refugees: Here and Abroad

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Posted on May 10, 2017 by Terrence Isert

Interesting news highlighted in an op-ed by Senators Corker and Coons with regards to a new Food for Peace Reform Act. The legislation, originally submitted in 2015 and resubmitted depicts one of many critical needs for refugee support services in international settings such as the developing famine crisis in Sudan.  Beyond basic needs of food and shelter, refugees resettled in the U.S. require a variety of psycho-social, education, health care and economic development services. These services help speed up the process of assimilation which in turn can provide economic benefits both to these new American households but also to their newly adopted communities.

Are Trade Deals Good for the American Worker?

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An Article from Politico on the intertwined NAFTA and TPP

Posted by Terrence Isert, March 7, 2017

Help or hindrance? At ProMicro Consulting, I’ve thinking a lot about the recent national discussions around trade deals and the popular conception that free trade hurts American manufacturing workers and jobs A recent arti. is recent article in Politico juxtaposes criticisms and advantages of the recently rejected TPP as a pathway to a better NAFTA.  Much has been made of the manufacturing job losses totaling 5 million since 2000. However, manufacturing have seen a recent uptick of 800,000 jobs in the period of 2010 to 2014. This number is significant in that some economists have quantified this amount as the number of manufacturing jobs shipped to our trading partners, particularly Mexico.

The story of free trade and jobs runs deeper than that however.

The economics of these trade deals are tricky and in this case interwoven more with trade deficits, the Great Recession, the pace of manufacturing outputs and politics in the US. According to the US Census, the trade deficit alone ballooned since 2000  (30.2B, March) to 2017 (48.3B, January figures) according to the at least indirectly affecting industries such as manufacturing. NAFTA was always manufacturing and agriculture-heavy in its focus, the former losing 5 million jobs since 2000(see EPI article) although a modest rebound of 800,000 jobs has occurred since 2010. By comparison the TPP was focused more heavily on service industries where the US has a large trade surplus even with Mexico. The new trade deal under TPP was designed to address some of the labor-protection issues, open up access to new markets (dairy industry in Canada) and insert environmental measures missing from NAFTA.

What is clear is that the US missed an opportunity to update a trade deal with its North American partners to improve its trading relationships benefiting more American workers and an opportunity for broader and deeper access to new and existing Asian markets. Those deals may be harder to strike unilaterally and now less favorable to US jobs and its economy.

Four Takeaways for Future Food Security in a Changing Climate

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Posted by Terrence Isert, February 9, 2017

How does the world adapt its agricultural practices given the uncertainty of what has become an increasingly unpredictable set of weather patters across the globe? What are the key impacts and adaptations? Who should be involved in decision-making? Devex reports on a presentation by Emmy Simmons, a Senior Advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies on changing climate and agricultural impacts on future food security. Read more here.

Rebuilding Urban Communities: Light it Up

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Posted by Terrence Isert, January 10, 2017

When it comes to rejuvenating an urban community, expert opinions will often cite a variety of political, social and economic ills that range from the need for education reforms, infrastructure investments, improved racial equality and political reforms among many critical leverage points. Adding citing lighting is not something that leapst to mind. however Detroit has accomplished a milestone on its way to its goal of urban revitalization by doing just that. Read more about the city of Detroit’s latest success here.

Cash Grants instead of Welfare?

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Posted by Terrence Isert, January 4, 2017

Is there a more efficient safety net delivery channel than the current welfare state in the US. A recent article by Richard Barlow of Cognescenti argues for just such a model. He cites the effectiveness of Brazilian model however there are tradeoffs. The US is not Brazil. One study calculates current welfare packages that include state and federal aid that provide a median of $29,000 in benefits compared to the $10,000 in cash per person that the author proposes. Is this a feasible fix or a voucher system in disguise?