News
The lasting impact of federal policy and discrimination on Black workers in the Louisville region
As we celebrate Black History Month and this year’s theme of African Americans and Labor, it’s important to call attention to the policies that limited Black workers’ access to quality employment in the past, and how the impact of those policies can still be seen in the unequal labor market outcomes across our region today.
Economic performance over the last decade, an update from Metro Monitor
The Brookings Institution recently released the 2024 Metro Monitor, an easy-to-use tool to look at how regional economies have been performing over the last decade in five broad categories.
Overall, the Louisville region’s performance was modest, ranking primarily in the middle of the 54 largest metro areas on measures of growth, prosperity, racial inclusion, and geographic inclusion. The region did score relatively high, 5th among metro areas, on measures of overall inclusion.
Economic review of 2023: 5 key takeaways
Five key takeaways about the regional economy in 2023.
The Louisville region ends 2021 in one of the tightest labor markets ever recorded
Like the rest of the nation, the Louisville region is experiencing a very tight labor market. The unemployment rate is near record lows, and average wages are increasing. But with inflation on the rise, workers are not feeling the full benefits of wage increases. In this rare shift toward worker power, employees are able to voluntarily leave their current position and seek out new and better working conditions.
Expanded UI benefits have ended. What does this mean for Kentucky?
As supplemental pandemic unemployment insurance benefits end this Labor Day, thousands of Kentuckians will lose access to UI benefits. Research that compares economic outcomes for states that withdrew early from the program reveals the impacts we can expect in the Commonwealth and across the US.