By Sarianna Sabbarese (Field Organizer for the Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Task Force and the National Jobs for All Network)

Last month, a report published by Connecticut Voices for Children confirmed what so many workers and families across the state have been feeling for decades: that wages, job opportunities, and access to public benefits have dwindled, while the cost of living has ballooned.

Wealth and wage disparities in Connecticut are among the starkest in the nation, while the costs of necessary expenditures like housing and food have soared to unmanageable levels. Homelessness has risen for the fifth consecutive year, representing a cumulative 50% surge in unhoused Connecticut residents, even as the state has shuttered its year-round shelter facilities. Older adults (ages 55 and over)and others living on fixed incomes are especially vulnerable to these alarming economic trends.

Since the 1990s, Connecticut’s wages, labor force, and economy have grown far more slowly than the nation as a whole. Despite the fact that Connecticut workers have generated more profits for employers than in most other states, they have not been invited to share in the fruits of their productive labor: of those who can still afford to live in Connecticut, 1 in 4 renters spend more than half of their income on housing. Half of all renters pay more than a third. The state income tax is not indexed to inflation, so when wages increase only to keep pace with prices, workers pay more of their income in taxes, even though their purchasing power has not increased.

To make matters worse, rising prices fall hardest on the households that are least able to afford them. Low and middle-income households spend a much larger percentage of their incomes on survival — including food and housing, which are areas that have experienced above-average inflation.

Since 1990, Connecticut’s labor force has also aged substantially, driven by declines in both the population and the participation rate. Shifts in the makeup of Connecticut’s economy have compounded these issues: while the number of jobs in education and human services have increased, the manufacturing sector has been effectively dismantled.

After 180 years in operation, Stanley Black and Decker recently shuttered its last remaining manufacturing plant in the state, leaving more than 300 New Britain workers without jobs in a desolate manufacturing economy. Many of those who lost their jobs are the children and grandchildren of previous employees whose intergenerational loyalty to the company has been replaced by cheap overseas labor, automation, withered worker protections,and an ever more rapacious and consolidated vision of capitalist enterprise.

A legislative response to the unemployment crisis is urgently needed in Connecticut. The Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Task Force is calling on state lawmakers to meaningfully intervene: a universal job guarantee would virtually eliminate involuntary joblessness in one decisive stroke, affording millions the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families with dignity. This is why we think the Connecticut legislature should consider advancing a study to explore the potential far-reaching benefits of job guarantee policy in our home state.

At our recent September meeting, we discussed the findings of the Connecticut Voices for Children Report and decided to begin work organizing an Emergency Meeting with local organizers, movement and community leaders, activists, and lawmakers in the New Haven area. We all have a vested interest in addressing this un- and under-employment crisis. Unless we follow a bold new strategy that meaningfully addresses the structural and economic causes of the problem, there is little reason to expect tha material conditions will improve!

To receive updates about this meeting, please contact ssabbarese [at] gmail.com  We will be happy to add you to our update list!

For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/jobsandhumanrights/