Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel

Julie Vogtman is Senior Counsel for the Family Economic Security Program at the National Women’s Law Center. She works on a range of issues involving economic support for low-income women and their families, including minimum wage policies, unemployment benefits, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). She also contributes to the Center’s work on federal budget and tax policies, including implementation of the tax credit components of the Affordable Care Act.  Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Vogtman was an associate with Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Furman University and Georgetown University Law Center.

Expert in: Family Support Programs, Federal Budget, Federal Tax Policy, Minimum Wage, Unemployment, Poverty & Income Support
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My Take

The Good, the Bad, and the Boring in the Unemployment Insurance Extension Bill

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: February 17, 2012 at 05:12 pm

This afternoon, Congress passed a bill to continue federal unemployment insurance (UI), along with the payroll tax cut and the “doc fix,” through the remainder of 2012. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law later today.

In keeping with other major legislation passed by the 112th Congress, there’s plenty not to like about this bill. But it does ensure that millions of jobless workers will not see their benefits cut off in the months ahead, keeps those benefits flowing through our economy, and preserves the basic structure of the UI program. So let’s start with the positives, shall we?

The good:

  • Federal UI programs were set to expire at the beginning of March. Passing this bill in mid-February – a surprise to those of us used to the last-minute deals that have become typical in this Congress – ensures that there won’t be a lapse in UI benefits for the jobless workers and families depending on them.
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Tags: Unemployment Insurance, Unemployment, Poverty & Income Support | Add new comment

A Little Good News on Jobs for Teens – But a Lot of Work to Be Done

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 09, 2012 at 12:41 pm

As we reported Friday, the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that December 2011 marked the first month with net jobs gained for women during the recovery, but their unemployment rate increased to 7.9 percent (up from 7.8 percent in November 2011 and 7.6 percent at the start of the recovery in June 2009). The data also show that the unemployment rate among teens has actually dropped 1.6 percentage points during the recovery – but it’s probably tough for teens to get very excited about their prospects when their December 2011 unemployment rate was still 23.1 percent, nearly three times higher than the overall unemployment rate (8.5 percent).

In other good-but-not-good-enough news for teens last week, President Obama announced a new initiative called Summer Jobs+, which aims to create 250,000 employment opportunities (including at least 100,000 paid positions) for low-income youth in the summer of 2012 through public-private partnerships. The urgent need for a response to the teen unemployment crisis is clear: teens lost nearly one million jobs during the recession and saw their unemployment rate rise from 16.3 percent in June 2007, the last summer before the recession, to 24.7 percent in June 2009. Overall unemployment among teens has declined only slightly in subsequent summers, and for young minority women, the recovery has been worse than the recession. Analysis by NWLC shows that black and Hispanic female teens are the only groups of teens who suffered larger increases in unemployment during the first two years of the recovery (June 2009-June 2011) than they did during the recession.

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Tags: Jobs, Pathways Back to Work Act, Summer Jobs+, Teen Employment & Unemployment, Unemployment, Employment | Add new comment

2012 Brings a Minimum Wage Increase for Workers in 8 States—Especially Women

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 03, 2012 at 05:51 pm

Here’s a little bit of good news for the new year: more than one million low-wage workers got a raise on January 1, when the minimum wage increased in the eight states that index their minimum wage for inflation. In each of these states (Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington), women make up a majority of the workers who will see their paychecks increase this month.  An adjustment for inflation also increased the minimum wage in San Francisco to $10.24 per hour, making it the first large city in the country to require hourly pay above $10.

However, these jurisdictions represent the exception rather than the rule. While another 10 states, the District of Columbia, and some other localities have minimum wages that are set higher than the federal minimum wage, most of their minimum wage rates are fixed and don’t keep pace with inflation. The minimum wage is still below $9.00 an hour in every state but Washington (where it just rose to $9.04/hour). Worst of all, in more than half the states, the minimum wage remains at the federal level, which is just $7.25 an hour.

As the New York Times editorial page highlighted, it’s past time for the federal government to set a higher standard for the states. A woman working full time, year round at the current federal minimum wage will earn just $14,500 annually – that’s more than $3,000 below the federal poverty line for a mother with two children. The value of the federal minimum wage has declined over time; if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968 (when the wage was at its highest mark), it would now be $10.39 per hour. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is lower still; since 1991, it has been set at just $2.13 an hour, providing an annual base wage of only $4,260 for tipped employees working full time, year round.

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Tags: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minimum Wage, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Minimum Wage, Employment | Add new comment

House Grinches Have a Change of Heart

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: December 23, 2011 at 12:15 pm

I’m very happy to report that millions of jobless workers and their families can rest a little easier over the holidays. Last night, House Republican leadership agreed to move forward with a two-month extension of federal emergency unemployment insurance (UI) and other measures, like the payroll tax cut, that were set to expire December 31. This morning, Congress approved a slightly modified version of the extension that the Senate passed 89-10 last Saturday, ending the standoff that began when House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Sunday that the House intended to reject the Senate bill. President Obama is expected to sign the bill shortly.   

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Tags: Congress, House of Representatives, Payroll Tax, Unemployment Insurance, Data on Poverty & Income, Unemployment, Poverty & Income Support | Add new comment

House Grinches Reject Bipartisan UI Extension

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: December 20, 2011 at 05:38 pm

As I followed the news over the weekend, I felt some measure of relief when the Senate passed a two-month extension of federal unemployment insurance (UI) and other measures like the payroll tax cut on Saturday. No, two months isn’t long enough – it means we’ll be fighting the same battles early in the new year – and yes, it’s disappointing that millionaires still haven’t been asked to contribute an extra dime. But given the overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in favor of the Senate compromise bill (89 to 10!), I expected that the House would quickly pass it – and the nearly 2 million unemployed workers who would face benefit cutoffs in January without a federal UI extension might get a little peace during the holiday season.

But no. Suddenly critical of the “short-term fix” that he appeared to support just last Friday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced on Sunday that the House would likely reject the Senate bill. And today, House Republican leaders refused even to allow an up-or-down vote on the two-month extension. Instead, the House voted along party lines to refer the bill to a House-Senate conference committee for negotiation, killing the chance to prevent the UI benefits and payroll tax cut from expiring on December 31.

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Tags: House of Representatives, Senate, Unemployment Insurance, Data on Poverty & Income, Unemployment, Poverty & Income Support | 1 comment