Yesterday, about 100 Nebraskans gathered at a rally at the State Capitol in support of working families. The rally was organized by a group of Senators in conjunction with events taking place across the country this week dedicated to the theme of shared prosperity.
The rally is timely in that economic trends have continued to show circumstances becoming more challenging for lower and middle income families in Nebraska and around the country. Since 2000, median household income in Nebraska has fallen by 28% when adjusted for inflation. Nebraska families continue to work hard, but their incomes have lost purchasing power as the cost of goods and services have continued to rise while incomes have not.
All families and all children deserve the best possible opportunity to succeed, and we need to work to ensure that we have policies in place that allow for that. Four Senators spoke at the rally and highlighted some recent steps forward for working families but also mentioned that there is still work left to do. Although some progress was made this year on things like access to affordable child care, there are many other proposals like paid sick leave, paid family and medical leave, and increasing the minimum wage that did not advance in the State Legislature this year.
Thank you to everyone who rallied in support of working families! We need to keep the issues impacting Nebraska’s working families on the forefront for policymakers. The work on these issues is not over, and we hope that you’ll stay connected with us and our partners in the coming months as we work to make working families a priority.
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