Archives by: Patrick McHugh

Patrick McHugh

About the author

Patrick McHugh is the research manager at the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center. Learn more at https://ncbudget.org/

Patrick McHugh's articles and posts

Top Story

Inaction on DACA is traumatizing North Carolina families and children

When President Trump decided last September to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he claimed to want a permanent legislative replacement, and set a March 5th deadline, in theory, to push Congress to act. Thus far, the Administration has failed to deliver and young adults and their families in North Carolina are paying the price.

...
Read more 0
Progressive Voices Top Story

Recovery, huh? New report explains how and why NC’s economy still leaves so many behind

The ten years since the start of the Great Recession have done little to address the fundamental economic problems facing North Carolina. The worst of the recession may have passed, but many barriers to economic opportunity and security remain. This report documents the persistence of long-standing economic inequalities (particularly along racial lines), a deepening divide between wealthy investors and everyone else, a lack of robust job growth overall, and the continued concentration of economic opportunity in a few metropolitan areas. None of these pathologies are natural, but rather the lack of adequate policy response, and their continued existence demands real solutions.

...
Read more 0
Progressive Voices Top Story

Republican tax plan could fuel offshoring and automation, killing manufacturing jobs

In the dog days of summer in 2003, people in Kannapolis and neighboring towns northeast of Charlotte got news that more than four thousand people working for Pillowtex were losing their jobs. Several hundred more in Concord got the same news, along with other communities outside of North Carolina.

...
Read more 0
Progressive Voices Top Story

Generations of progress at risk: New report explains NC’s disappearing middle class

Does it feel like your paycheck never goes as far as it used to?

Do you scratch your head when leaders in Raleigh talk about how great our economy is doing?

...
Read more 1
Progressive Voices Top Story

Some hard truths about the North Carolina economy

Several years of tax cuts have not fixed our economic problems, and more of the same won’t either

In a yearly ritual as reliable as weird weather and parents stressing about finding summer camp for the kids, late spring finds some legislative leaders in Raleigh flogging another round of tax cuts, all the while claiming that past rounds of tax reductions have magically “fixed” North Carolina’s economy.

...
Read more 1
Featured Articles Must Reads

The destructive impact of North Carolina’s inadequate minimum wage

The failure to enact a robust state minimum wage and a lack of income growth for most workers are leaving far too many North Carolinians struggling to get by. According to an analysis conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 120,000 North Carolinians earned at or below the minimum wage last year, an increase of more than two and half times from several years ago.

...
Read more 2
Featured Articles Must Reads

Loss of federal funds from HB2 could eliminate 53,000 jobs, $2.4 billion in wages

New report finds rising economic cost to state from discrimination law North Carolina’s economy could suffer significant damage if House Bill 2 is not repealed and the federal government cuts off funding for key investments in education, job training, and public safety, a new report finds.

...
Read more 0
Featured Articles Progressive Voices

Selling mediocre

Governor McCrory’s attempt to spin North Carolina’s economic performance comes up short Governor McCrory is trying to convince everyone that, thanks to his ...
Read more 3
Progressive Voices

The future of work in our rapidly changing economy

Don’t fear the robots, so long as we raise wages The first time I saw a GPS-equipped bulldozer a decade ago, it was ...
Read more 1
Progressive Voices

Growth without prosperity

North Carolina’s defining economic challenges remain unaddressed Fist-pumping and back-patting are all the rage in Raleigh these days. Some economists are talking about ...
Read more Comments Off on Growth without prosperity
Send this to a friend