October 26, 2018

Dropping Knowledge

North Carolina was one of the 10 hardest-hit states for job losses due to the growing trade deficit with China, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute found. The report, published Tuesday, put the total number of job losses from 2001 to 2017 due to the trade deficit with China at 3.4 million jobs, with three-quarters of those jobs in manufacturing. The 10 hardest hit states in terms of job loss as a share of total employment were New Hampshire, Oregon, California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Texas.

EPI

The authors state: “These [job] losses were responsible for a substantial share of the 3.2 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost between December 2001 and December 2017. The growing trade deficit with China has reduced wages of those directly displaced by $37 billion through 2011 alone, and it is largely responsible for the loss of nearly $2,000 per worker per year, due to wage suppression, for all non-college-educated workers in the United States.”

While they do not provide recommendations, they end by stating that our top trade and economic policies should be, “Addressing unfair trade, weak labor and environmental standards in China, and ending currency manipulation and misalignment.”

For Your Consideration

New research out of North Carolina shows the harmful effects of midyear teacher turnover. While it may seem obvious that teachers leaving midyear would impact student achievement, little research had been done to document this until now. This Chalkbeat article reviews three new studies, all using North Carolina data, that show midyear teacher turnover is more common than previously thought and may account for the majority of the negative effect of teacher turnover.

The authors found that annually in North Carolina, 4.6 percent of teachers leave midyear, with 6 percent of teachers leaving midyear in their first three years of teaching. These numbers are higher for teachers in schools serving disadvantaged students. One of the reports found that unlike midyear turnover, end-of-year turnover did not negatively impact students, and actually had small benefits in some cases. Read the Chalkbeat article to learn more about the reports.

Contextual Healing

Youth homelessness is just as common in rural areas as in urban areas, yet rural youth often lack access to the education, jobs, supports, and services they need. A new report out of the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall, titled “Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in Rural America,” looks at the unique challenges faced by homeless youth in rural America. Findings include:

  • Alaska Native and American Indian youth have more than double the risk of homelessness than other youth
  • Most rural counties lack supports and services for homeless youth
  • In rural areas, homeless youth are more likely to couch surf or sleep in cars or outdoors, making homelessness a less visible problem than in urban areas
  • Homeless youth in rural areas are less connected to education and jobs than those in urban areas

The report gives several recommendations, captured in the image below.

youth homelessness

Need to Know

Interested in high school sports in North Carolina? Sign up for EdNC’s pop-up newsletter, GametimeNC. As described by Nation Hahn, “GameTimeNC will be a ten-week experiment testing the appetite and need for coverage of high school sports, which often serve as the thread knitting whole communities together, particularly after disaster strikes.” Sign-up to receive the newsletter, which will have articles covering games and playoffs as well as statewide rankings.


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