Independent Fiscal Office

New research shows there are 120,000 fewer people in Pennsylvania's labor force today than in the spring of 2019. It appears that many of them now care for children or elderly parents instead.

On today’s episode of The Confluence: The state’s Independent Fiscal Office wrote in a report about public education funding stating that there is “little or no correlation” between between funding and student test scores over the course of a single year, but some lawmakers are pushing back against that conclusion; a Pitt researcher asked local kin and foster parents about how the pandemic is affecting their children’s education; and as part of our Good Question Kid! series, we ask, why and how do hyenas eat bones?

It’s almost time for lawmakers to start work on the state budget.But after several cycles of tortuous negotiations made more difficult by persistent…

The commonwealth’s Independent Fiscal Office has released its yearly assessment of Governor Tom Wolf’s budget proposal.It reports that most of the revenue…

After a year marked by lower-than expected income and intractable budget problems, Pennsylvania’s finances appear to be on an upswing. An updated revenue…

A rating agency has deemed Pennsylvania’s credit stable.That’s an improvement from several months ago, when the commonwealth received a downgrade from a…

What’s in a name?A lot, apparently, when it comes to Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry.A state House committee voted along party lines Monday, to…

State budgets have two basic parts: one outlines how much government will spend on its programs and expenses, and the other details where lawmakers are…

One of the more contentious parts of Governor Tom Wolf’s budget proposal is a bid to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $12 an hour.It’s currently…

The Independent Fiscal Office was created five years ago to provide number-crunching with no spin, but it isn't getting the last word in the state budget…