Connecting Over Coffee

You asked for more networking events, and we have heard you!

Starting in January, we are holding 'Connecting Over Coffee' from 8:30am to 10:00am on the third Wednesday every month.

This rotates around our various coffee shop members, so stay tuned for the event locations. This is a free networking event so mark your calendars to join us and connect over coffee!

Wednesday, July 19th 8:30 - 10:00 AM

Stay tuned to the PNRC Facebook pages and the PNRC events calendar for our next featured location!

What is the Benefits Cliff and is it a Disincentive to Work?

I’ve been looking at the workforce issue for more than 10 years, and while I thought I was examining workforce carefully by looking at legislation and other provisions that can relieve worker shortages, new puzzle pieces of solutions have emerged.

MBA Cranberry has held programs on recruiting and retention, hiring of those with records, hiring of those with different abilities, and on. I have built a small group of resources that educate and assist businesses with the adoption of robotics and collaborative robots and have spread the word identifying demographics as a key problem to be addressed. PA’s demographics are not favorable, with more deaths than births annually, and people leaving the state.

I was forced to look at why we have a persistent lack of workers from a new angle. At a recent roundtable with Rep. Rob Mercuri and a group of North Hills business owners, one attendee noted a casual survey of several staff manning the supermarket checkouts in a middle-class community revealed that more than 50% of customers were using government benefits for food purchases.

Since then, I have been haunted by that finding and looking for reasons why so many would be unemployed using government benefits when there are “Help Wanted” signs everywhere and the most common refrain heard from employers is “I can’t find workers.”

Then I discovered the Benefits Cliff.

“Benefits cliffs (the “cliff effect”) refer to the sudden and often unexpected decrease in public benefits that can occur with a small increase in earnings. This happens when families receive benefits through a public assistance program, earn a raise and then become ineligible to continue receiving benefits despite being unable to sustain their household. Sometimes the cliff effect looks more like a slope or plateau. When lost benefits outpace a wage increase, many families either ‘park’ or fall off the cliff’s edge, …” “Introduction to Benefits Cliffs and Public Assistance Programs,” National Conference of State Legislatures, Updated 11/19/2022

Benefits Pennsylvanians rely on include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Home Heating (LIHEAP), Medicaid and Child Care.

We’ve heard anecdotally one of the reasons keeping people out of the workforce is the cost of childcare. The question to address next is what happens when a single head of household is offered to work more hours and the resulting increase knocks them off of the State Child Care benefit. Will the increase in income adequately cover their cost for childcare without state support?

“Childcare costs are eating up a growing share of household incomes in Pennsylvania, Axios reports, leading some parents to exit the workforce.

A report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation released this week says the average cost of center-based daycare in Pennsylvania was $11,346 in 2020-2021, amounting to 10% of a married couple's median income and 35% of the median income for single parents...”

…“Childcare is costing Pa. families a fortune,” Spotlight PA, 6/16/23