Episode 2

State of Working Vermont report 2025: Vermont's economy is the same but different

January 16, 2026 (recorded on 1/15): Every year, the Public Assets Institute releases its State of Working Vermont report. The document outlines the economic landscape for working Vermonters. Unfortunately, the ratio of costs to wages is out of whack for many households. Julie Lowell, PAI's Economic Security Policy and Outreach Director, breaks down the full report. 

Read the full SWVT report here: https://publicassets.org/research-publications/state-of-working-vermont-2025

Check out the Joint Fiscal Office's Basic Needs Budget reports: https://ljfo.vermont.gov/publications/report/basic-needs-budget-reports

Julie mentioned Voices for Vermont's Children - here's their website: https://www.voicesforvtkids.org/

Theme music by Red Heart the Ticker: http://www.rhtt.net/

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The Montpelier Happy Hour
A show about how things in the State House shake out for the rest of us

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About your hosts

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Olga Peters

Producer and host Olga is a journalist by day and a screenwriter by night. On the Montpelier Happy Hour she combines a newshound's doggedness with a fiction writer's sense of "what if...".
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Emilie Kornheiser

Regular contributor Emilie Kornheiser represents Windham District 2-1 in the Vermont House of Representatives (that’s Brattleboro.) She always appreciates an opportunity to unpack the stories that drive us and hopes her gravestone will read “she asked good questions.” You can find more about her and her work in the legislature at emiliekornheiser.org.