Katherine S Newman

Katherine S. Newman is the Malcolm Forbes, Class of 1941, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Her many books include The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America (with Victor Tan Chen) and No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City. Elisabeth S. Jacobs is a senior policy adviser to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress Why major changes to America's social safety net have always...

"As millions of Baby Boomers reach their golden years, the state of retirement in America is little short of a disaster. Nearly half the households with people aged 55 and older have no retirement savings at all. The real estate crash wiped out much of the home equity that millions were counting on to support their retirement. And the typical Social Security check covers less than 40% of pre-retirement wages--a number projected to drop to under 28%...

"Most research on poverty focuses on the damage that persistent unemployment causes for individuals, families, and neighborhoods. But what happens when jobs are plentiful and workers are hard to come by? Persistent labor shortages became the norm in 2022, but there have been a number of periods in American history where tight labor markets prevailed. Moving the Needle examines what happens when conditions favorable to workers create market pressures...