The Economic Policy Institute

EPI in the news

• Coming This Summer: For $24.95, George W. Bush Will Share His ‘Strategies For Economic Growth’

  That Bush believes the country needs his thoughts on how to create economic growth is laughable. After all, under his watch, “growth in investment, GDP, and employment all posted their worst performance of any post-war expansion,” while “overall monthly job growth was the worst of any cycle since at least February 1945, and household income growth was negative for the first cycle since tracking began in 1967.” As the Economic Policy Institute found, “between the end of the 2001 recession (2001Q4) and the peak of that expansion (2007Q4), the U.S. economy experienced the worst economic expansion of the post-war era.”

  Think Progress | May 17, 2012
• No Joke: George W. Bush Writing a Book on Economic Growth

  The Center for American Progress’s Pat Garofalo caught this little tidbit and nicely summarized why the idea of Bush writing a book on economic growth is ludicrous.

  After all, under his watch, “growth in investment, GDP, and employment all posted their worst performance of any post-war expansion,” while “overall monthly job growth was the worst of any cycle since at least February 1945, and household income growth was negative for the first cycle since tracking began in 1967.” As the Economic Policy Institute found, “between the end of the 2001 recession (2001Q4) and the peak of that expansion (2007Q4), the U.S. economy experienced the worst economic expansion of the post-war era.”

  And there was the matter of the Great Recession.

  US News and World Report | May 17, 2012
• State Department strengthens protections for foreign student summer workers—but not enough

  Last summer’s walkout by foreign students working for a Hershey chocolate subcontractor under the government’s Summer Work Travel program prompted an investigation by the State Department, which is responsible for overseeing the program. Recently, the State Department issued new rules for the Summer Work Travel program, including capping it at 109,000, down from a 2008 high of 152,000. Assessing the new rules, the Economic Policy Institute’s Daniel Costa and Ross Eisenbrey conclude that the rules are not perfect but are “a significant improvement and go far toward protecting the rights of U.S. and J-1 workers.”

  Daily Kos | May 17, 2012
• Wages For Young Colleges Graduates Haven’t Grown In A Decade

  According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, “between 2000 and 2011, the wages of young college graduates [aged 21-24] dropped 5.4 percent (1.6 percent for men and 8.5 percent for women),” after they grew 19 percent between 1995 and 2000. As EPI noted, “young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of strength (e.g. 1995–2000) face much stronger wage prospects than young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of weakness (e.g. 2001 to the present).”

  Think Progress | May 17, 2012
• Wages of young college graduates tanking during recession. (Is there room in the basement?)
  Atlanta Journal Constitution | May 17, 2012
• Tepid job market still hurting recent college graduates

  Private industry employers have been slowly adding jobs for 19 months. A net gain of 130,000 jobs was reported last week for the month of April. Meanwhile, though, the public sector lost 15,000 jobs in the month, continuing a nearly four-year-old cutback trend.

  Those government job cuts have eliminated many jobs held predominantly by women and African-Americans.

  “The disproportionate share of women and African-Americans working in state and local government has translated into higher rates of job loss for both groups in these sectors,” a report by the Economic Policy Institute said.

  From 2007 to 2011, state and local governments shed about 765,000 jobs nationally. Women made up 70 percent and African-Americans 20 percent of those job losses, the institute said in a report last week.

  Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/15/148845/tepid-job-market-still-hurting.html#storylink=cpy
  McClatchy | May 17, 2012
• Boehner Threatens To Take The Debt Limit Hostage Again

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the cuts demanded by the GOP in exchange for raising the debt limit will cost the economy 1.8 million jobs this year. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner already pushed back on Boehner’s remarks, saying, “this commitment to meet the obligations of the nation, this commitment to protect the creditworthiness of the country, is a fundamental commitment that you can never call into question or violate.”

  Think Progress | May 16, 2012

More EPI in the news →