Tax & Spending

In one month, 25,000 Kansans quit job hunting 0
- Tax & Spending
- October 21, 2020
The Kansas labor market is in dire straits. According to the September jobs report, the state lost private-sector jobs. To make matters worse, 25,000 Kansans left the labor force stopping their job hunt altogether. The state’s new unemployment rate appears lower but is not moving in the right direction. After losing 124,000 private-sector jobs in
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Gov. Kelly’s COVID testing strategy won’t end restrictions 0
- Tax & Spending
- October 12, 2020
Gov. Kelly and officials around the state won’t restore COVID-19 freedoms until the state’s positivity rate is below an arbitrary threshold. However, Kansans should have skepticism when public health officials focus entirely on mass COVID testing and lowering positivity rates. COVID testing in Kansas is replete with false positives, skewed testing samples, supply chain issues,
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It’s Official: Lockdown made Kansans poorer 0
- Tax & Spending
- October 7, 2020
The economic shock of COVID-19 and government actions to “stop the spread” is officially here. Not surprisingly, the verdict is that the U.S. economy fell like a sack of potatoes. In Kansas, economic prosperity shrank by roughly a third. Moreover, state comparisons make it evident that Governor Kelly’s restrictions and lockdown, intended to preserve our
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COVID policy backlash, Kansans relocate to No-Lockdown states 0
- Tax & Spending
- October 2, 2020
Interstate migration is an honest perspective of how Americans view the economic opportunities in their state. Patterns and trends of Americans moving serve as evidence that people prefer states that are economically dynamic, vibrant, with plenty of opportunities. Moreover, this relationship doesn’t fade but rather, becomes more prominent under COVID-19. Updated research on moving van
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Kansans’ earnings growth near the worst in the Plains 0
- Tax & Spending
- September 25, 2020
Official estimates show Kansans fared worse than their peers during the COVID pandemic and government lockdowns. Kansans’ personal income growth was the 9th slowest in the nation and 2nd slowest in the Plains region. Even without federal assistance, Kansans’ earnings growth was near the worst in the Plains. It’s an unfortunate sign Kansas families’ economic
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August jobs report says no Kansas full recovery until 2021 0
- Tax & Spending
- September 22, 2020
Creating private-sector jobs is arguably the only remedy for the backlog of Kansans awaiting the state to process unemployment payouts. After losing over 120,000 private-sector jobs from the COVID-19 lockdown, the state could have fully recovered this month. However, every month since lockdown the state gained fewer and fewer private jobs. The August jobs report
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