Publications
The Hamilton Project produces and commissions policy proposals and analyses to promote broad-based economic growth by embracing a significant role for well-designed government policies and public investment.
Economic Facts
Seven economic facts about prime-age labor force participation
This set of economic facts takes stock of the labor market through May 2025, paying particular attention to prime-age labor force participation.
Employment & Wages
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Posts
Proposed SNAP cuts would permanently undermine recession readiness and responsiveness
Economic Security & Inequality
Social Insurance
Tax Policy & Budget
Posts
Will the reconciliation bill’s Child Tax Credit changes leave out children in low-income working families?
Economic Security & Inequality
Tax Policy & Budget
Posts
Work requirements penalize workers in volatile occupations
Employment & Wages
Social Insurance
Tax Policy & Budget
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If real wages aren’t rising, how is household income going up?
How are real incomes rising even as real wages are flat? Ryan Nunn and Jay Shambaugh take a closer look at outcomes over the past few years, and factors that p…
Place-based policies for shared economic growth
For a century, the progress our nation made toward realizing broadly shared economic growth gave our economy much of its unparalleled strength. However, for th…
Rebuilding Communities Job Subsidies
Many place-based policies have been unsuccessful, failing to deliver cost-effective benefits to disadvantaged communities; meanwhile areas across the county ha…
The geography of prosperity
Ryan Nunn, Jana Parsons, and Jay Shambaugh investigate the factors that have created concentrated prosperity in the United States while leaving many places beh…
Workers with low levels of education still haven’t recovered from the recession
Despite economic gains and recent increases, the share of Americans ages 25-54 participating in the labor force is still below pre-Great Recession level. The H…
Who loses SNAP benefits if additional work requirements are imposed? Workers.
Millions of Americans could lose their SNAP benefits if Congress adopts additional work requirements that mandate SNAP beneficiaries work at least 20 hours per…
The recent rebound in prime-age labor force participation
Over the last three years, amid a strengthening labor market, the prime-age (25- to 54-year-old) labor force participation rate has increased. This blog post e…
Employment status changes put millions at risk of losing SNAP benefits for years
To investigate the extent of exposure to additional work requirements for SNAP participants, we describe monthly employment stability and find considerable chu…
