California Policy Lab April 2022 Newsletter

New CPL Hashed linkage toolkit 

Hashed linkages can be a powerful tool to help government leaders better understand how to connect people to services they might otherwise miss. This toolkit outlines how CPL worked with California agencies to link safety-net and tax data — helping the State deliver valuable anti-poverty tax credits to Californians who otherwise may not have received these credits. The toolkit helps government leaders hit the ground running to implement a hashed linkage in their own policy context: it includes a guide for agency leaders, a technical guide for data analysts, and sample code for hashed linkages. CPL will present this toolkit in an upcoming webinar — stay tuned for more info. Linked Data Toolkit

10 insights on improving equity and measurement in the UI system

As part of its partnership with the California Employment Development Dept, CPL has released more than 20 analyses tracking the labor-market crisis in near-real time. This new report summarizes the core research findings, including six insights on improving equity in the UI system and four insights on increasing accuracy of how unemployment claims are measured. Report

A slowing of pandemic-era migration patterns?

The number of people leaving California for other states appears to have slowed during the last quarter of 2021, while the number of people moving into the state appears to be rebounding, according to CPL’s new analysis which uses credit bureau data through the fourth quarter of 2021. We also released a corrected version of our December 2021 Pandemic Patterns report. The updated report corrects an error that led the authors to significantly undercount the number of people moving into California since 2020. Press release and analyses

Job openings on CPL’s UCLA team

The California Policy Lab is growing — please share with your networks and help us find great talent!

1) Research Manager, Employment and Labor issues, UCLA

2) Data Analyst, Labor Specialist, UCLA

3) Data Analyst, Labor Specialist, Sacramento

CPL’s Make-it-Right research to be presented at NBER’s Program on Children Meeting on May 12th

CPL’s analysis of the Make-it-Right restorative justice program in San Francisco found that the program resulted in a 30% reduction in recidivism over four years. Yotam Shem-Tov, a co-author, will present the research.

Till von Wachter speaks on KPPC’s AirTalk about the Great Resignation

Von Wachter was one of the guests this week on a segment focused on the “Great Resignation” vs a “Great Reshuffling.” He explained that in California, less-educated workers, who were most impacted by the pandemic, are more likely to stay in their pre-pandemic industries as compared to moving to new jobs in different industries. AirTalk segment

7 million student-loan borrowers who fell behind on payments just got a ‘fresh start’ and will return to good standing, Biden’s Education Department says

Article cites CPL and SLLI’s March policy brief focused on the impact of the student loan pause. The authors had projected that nearly 8 million borrowers were at high risk of defaulting if the pause had expired in May 2022. However, on April 6th, 2022, the US Dept of Education announced the pause would be extended until August 31, 2022.

Pandemic-era migration trends in California slow, UC Berkeley study finds

Article cites CPL’s new research on California migration patterns with data through the fourth quarter of 2021, as well as a corrected version of CPL’s December 2021 migration policy brief.

More Californians can now claim the Earned Income Tax Credit. Here’s who could benefit most

Article cites CPL’s July 2021 policy brief on the CalEITC Take-up Gap. CPL estimated that over $75 million in the CalEITC credits go unclaimed each year in California. The approximately 440,000 Californians who don’t claim the CalEITC miss out on an average credit of $172.

CalFresh financially supported almost 5,000 UC Davis students in 2019-2020

Article cites CPL’s Fact Sheet focused on enrollment in CalFresh by UC and California Community College students during the 2019-20 academic year.