Current YLS results cover labor market activities from early April 2020 through the week of August 30-September 5. YLS data are not seasonally adjusted and refer to the population aged 20 and older. This week’s key findings are as follows:

COVID-related public health concerns and declining tax revenues raised or continue to raise important questions throughout the country about when and how to restart schools and how to fund them in the near term. For communities across northern New England, there are also fundamental, longer-term concerns over declines in the student population that will still confront districts well beyond the current academic year.

In every county in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, the number of young residents has declined over the last two decades. Northern New England is not alone in facing this demographic shift, but it nonetheless poses challenges to the sustainability of local economies and public services, particularly schools.1 Rising costs have combined with declining enrollment to drive up per-pupil expenditures on elementary and secondary education.

Each New England state saw a substantial decline in revenue in fiscal year 2020 and...

On July 17, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced an expansion of the Main Street Lending Program to provide greater access to credit for nonprofit organizations such as educational institutions, hospitals, and social service organizations. This webinar is an opportunity for lenders to learn about the Main Street Lending Program’s nonprofit loan purchase process. The session will discuss, among other things, how lenders will navigate through the Main Street Lender Portal and required documentation for nonprofit loan purchases. The webinar is also an opportunity for lenders to get answers to questions from senior officials from the Federal Reserve.

The Main Street Lending Program is designed to support small and medium-sized U.S. for-profit and nonprofit businesses during this period of financial strain by giving these businesses access to additional credit. The program is intended to help businesses that were in sound financial condition prior to...

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More New England banks than ever are offering mobile peer-to-peer payment services, the kind friends use to settle a bill at a restaurant.

But few financial institutions are promoting contactless cards – though that could be changing in a time of COVID-19.

And the biggest security worry for banks and credit unions isn’t vulnerabilities caused by customers anymore. It’s about fraud that happens when plastic debit or credit cards are nowhere to be seen.

Those were a few key findings of the 2019 Mobile Banking and Payment Survey of New England Financial Institutions. This year’s regional report is part of a broader Federal Reserve survey of banking and mobile payments attitudes and developments across the U.S.

The answers from 130 respondents across the six New England states mirror those from across the U.S., said Marianne Crowe, a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a payments expert, and co-author of...

Becoming a research assistant at the Boston Fed can be a major stepping stone for people early in their careers who are considering a future in economics. People like Melissa Gentry.

Melissa is one of 20 research assistants currently at the Bank. Melissa works with economist Jeff Thompson, director of the Bank’s New England Public Policy Center. Melissa started last year, and she was ready for the chance to work one-on-one with an experienced economist like Thompson.

“The main thing that I wanted was to grow in my own research abilities and develop my own intuition surrounding economics,” Melissa said.

The research assistant program is a highly sought-after opportunity, and it’s one to which the Boston Fed aims to draw a diverse pool of candidates. About 150 college graduates from across the nation apply each year, and typically about seven to 12 are hired, depending on the number of vacancies. For them, it’s a...

Current YLS results cover labor market activities from early April 2020 through the week of August 23-29. This period is two weeks longer than the period covered by the August BLS/Census Current Population Survey, published on September 4, which included the CPS reference week of August 9-15. YLS data are not seasonally adjusted and refer to the population aged 20 and older. The survey’s key findings are as follows:

Each year, the Boston Fed seeks exceptional college graduates who are prepared to take an active role in economic research, state and local public policy analysis, and regulatory and monetary policymaking. Research assistant positions are available in the Research Department, and the Supervisory Research and Analysis Unit of the Supervision, Regulation and Credit Department.

Our research assistants (RAs) have undergraduate degrees with a concentration or extensive coursework in economics or in related fields such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, or finance. Applicants must possess an excellent academic record, proficiency with at least one statistical software package such as MATLAB, Stata, or “R”, and strong written and oral communication skills. Applicants must demonstrate the ability to work independently and within strict time constraints. Previous experience in economic research is desirable. Typically, our RAs work at the Boston Fed for a...

Invested speaks with a legal expert, an economist, and union representatives about labor unions, the traditional form of worker voice, and goes on site with union lobstermen in Vinalhaven, ME, to check out a twist on the traditional union structure.

Early child care plays a critical role for parental employment. Yet formal care is largely unaffordable and inflexible to parents’ needs, with variable—and at times concerning— quality. In a mostly private market, it is extremely difficult for providers of early child care to offer care that is at the same time affordable, high quality, and available for parents’ diverse needs. As a result, parents may struggle just to access care that they need to work, perhaps paying more than they can afford and/or not obtaining care that is of high quality; trade-offs like these may carry negative implications for their children, employment, and income.

To better understand whether and how the “need for change” is perceived among child care stakeholders in New England, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston conducted an online exploratory survey between December 2018 and March 2019 with 664 individuals in New England, targeting those who identified as child care stakeholders:...

We connect with innovative and hardworking New Englanders to get a first-hand look at the power of worker voice in our region. Hear from those who are lifting up their voices to bolster high-quality careers; fuel competitive, employee-focused companies; and spark policy responses to make work more equitable, productive, and rewarding in New England.

When all families have access to high-quality child care they can afford, our country benefits from improved child health and development, better parental health, and increased work productivity. The public health and economic crises caused by COVID-19 underscore the challenges that a history of underinvestment has created within the child care and early learning system.

Join Children’s HealthWatch and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as they release findings from their two new, complementary reports and propose opportunities and solutions to address barriers to child care access on the state, regional, and national levels. A panel of parents and child care providers will then share their experience with child care prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the shifting child care landscape in light of the crisis.

Agenda and speakers to be announced.

This event will be offered on-line using Zoom. Zoom can be accessed on your...

This report was prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis based on information collected on or before August 24, 2020. This document summarizes comments received from contacts outside the Federal Reserve System and is not a commentary on the views of Federal Reserve officials.