Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis

Publications

• Governor’s Proposed Budget Amendments Prioritize Corporate Interests Above Working People and Families

  • April 5, 2023
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Rodrigo Soto and Megan Davis

  Teachers and frontline workers helped Virginia navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and are bearing more than their share of harm from rising costs on their everyday expenses. Across Virginia, workers and […]

  EARN in the South

• A Pay Cut Based on Age? Why Lawmakers Should Reject House Bill 1669

  • April 5, 2023
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Mel Borja

  After years of advocacy and a recent win to strengthen Virginia’s minimum wage, a bill that further guts the minimum wage for minors is making its way through the General […]

• Coming Together for Loudoun County: Collective Bargaining Strengthens Communities and Families

  • July 15, 2021
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Laura Goren and Phil Hernandez

  Loudoun County is a growing, increasingly diverse community that is a place of aspirations and contrasts: one of the highest-income counties in the United States, and a place where many […]

  Unions and Worker Power Worker Power Project: Centering worker power and equity in the implementation of industrial policy 

• Raising the Wage in Virginia Will Benefit Working Families

  • December 12, 2019
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Laura Goren and Ashley C. Kenneth

  Everyone in Virginia working a full-time job should be paid enough to provide for their family. However, for many this is not the case. Nearly two-thirds of Virginia families with […]

  Minimum Wage Wages

• Virginia Immigrants in the Economy: Pillars of Prosperous Communities

  • June 24, 2019
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Laura Goren and Ashley C. Kenneth

  Whether we are born here or moved here, we all value that Virginia is a great place to raise a family. Immigrants move to Virginia for many of the same […]

  Healthcare Housing Immigration Income Inequality Jobs

• Unequal Opportunities: Fewer Resources, Worse Outcomes for Students in Schools with Concentrated Poverty

  • October 26, 2017
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Chris Duncombe

  Persistent gaps in test scores and college enrollment between students from low income families and other more financially secure students are well documented, as are the challenges schools face in […]

  Education

• Virginia Immigrants in the Economy

  • April 19, 2017
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Staff Report

  Virginia’s immigrants are diverse, growing in number, and are major contributors to our state’s economy. Immigrants in Virginia today are more educated, higher earning, naturalizing at faster rates and living […]

  Immigration Jobs

• We’re in This Together: African-American and Immigrant Communities Share Challenges, Policy Solutions

  • May 24, 2016
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Staff Report

  Immigrants and immigrant communities face many of the same challenges as African-Americans and African-American communities, and there are critical policy solutions that would make a big difference to both. While […]

  Jobs Worker, Racial, and Gender Justice

• Patchwork Recovery: As Job Gains Spread, Gaps Are Becoming More Stark

  • April 26, 2016
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Aaron Williams, Laura Goren, and Michael Cassidy

  There are finally more jobs in Virginia than before the recession started eight years ago. Today, workers in high-wage occupations, certain industries such as education and health services, and several […]

  Jobs

• Contributing to the New Economy: New data show immigrants continue to be an asset to Virginia’s economy

  • September 30, 2014
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Staff Report

  Immigrant households are significant contributors to Virginia’s economy and help the state outperform the country as a whole in education, labor force participation, and household income. Almost 40 percent of […]

  Immigration Jobs

• Caught in the Wake: Rising Inequality Lifting Some Virginians, Sinking Others

  • November 18, 2013
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Sara Okos and Michael J. Cassidy

  Looking at trends in the median wage over the past 30 years makes Virginia look like a great place to make a living. But a scan of the entire wage […]

  Jobs

• Critical Assets: The State of Immigrants in Virginia’s Economy

  • October 1, 2012
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Sara Okos, Sookyung Oh and Michael Cassidy

  Virginia’s workforce is one of the most productive, highly educated, and highest earning in the nation, forming the backbone of an economy that is routinely ranked as a powerhouse. Immigrants […]

  Immigration Jobs

• Feeling the Pinch: The State of Working Virginia

  • August 1, 2011
  • Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
  • Michael Cassidy, Sara Okos, John McInerney

  First, the good news: Virginia’s workers are among America’s most productive. The state ranks in the top 10 in terms of worker productivity. More Virginians are working and rates of […]

  Jobs State of Working X Unemployment Insurance