State of Working America 2008/2009
Released in time for Labor Day, the advanced edition of EPI's authoritative volume The State of Working America 2008/2009 is now available. Described as the "most comprehensive independent analysis of the U.S. labor market" by the Financial Times, the 11th edition shows that the business cycle that started in 2001 will be one for the record books. In fact, for the first time on record, middle-class families are at the end of a recovery without ever having regained the ground they lost during the previous recession. Gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible. Prepared biennially since 1988, The State of Working America scrutinizes family incomes, jobs, wages, unemployment, wealth, poverty, and health care coverage, describing the economy's effect on our nation's standard of living. Visit the State of Working America Web site now and in coming months to read the executive summary, introduction, select chapters, press releases, and other related material, as well as to order your copy of the advanced and final edition (to be released by ILR/Cornell University Press in January 2009). (Press release [PDF])

Plenty of schools left behind
As the kids head back to school, a new analysis shows that school buildings are less ready to receive them than in the past. Get the fact at a glance in this week's Economic Snapshot.

Obama speech hits major EPI themes on the need for economic change
As he accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday night, Sen. Barack Obama forcefully outlined the failures of trickle-down economics and the need to return to an approach of shared responsibility and prosperity. His analysis echoed the work of EPI economists, who have long been tracking the negative outcomes of the on-your-own philosophy — including growing income inequality, stagnant wages, and heightened risks for workers — and proposing policy solutions.

New poverty, income, and health coverage analysis
The U.S. Census Bureau's annual release of poverty, income, and health coverage held some good news for Americans, but drilling down below the surface reveals a continuing erosion of the economy for working people. Although median household income increased slightly and the poverty rate was essentially unchanged from 2006 to 2007, incomes for working families (as opposed to retirees) actually dropped. The drop was especially significant when compared to median income in 2000, which is a better comparison because—like 2007—it was the final year of a cycle of economic growth. Given current conditions, income levels will surely decline further in 2008. The biggest surprise of the release came in the area of health care coverage. The number of uninsured dropped slightly in 2007, but the decline was due to an increase in government-sponsored coverage for children. Meanwhile, the rate of employer-based insurance coverage continued its seven-year decline.

Social Security: Safe and sound
A new government report re-confirms what most experts already know (and alarmists would rather you didn't): that the Social Security program will be healthy for decades to come. Find out why in the latest EPI Policy Memo.

A Plan to Revive the American Economy
Collaborating with some of the nation's top progressive thinkers, EPI researchers have been exploring solutions to our most difficult economic problems for the better part of two years. Now, the best of these proposals have been compiled into a small, easy-to-read Policy Handbook called A Plan to Revive the American Economy. For more on the ongoing effort to build a better way forward, please see www.SharedProsperity.org, and be sure to check out Toward Shared Prosperity, a video introduction to EPI's Agenda for Shared Prosperity. (Press release [PDF])

Social Security: Here today, still here tomorrow
Will Social Security be around when I retire? Yes, and it will be paying even more than now, as explained in EPI's latest Issue Brief.

U.S.-China trade gap: Massive job losses for U.S. workers
Unbalanced U.S. trade with China since 2001 has had a devastating effect on U.S. workers. This Economic Snapshot reveals that between 2001 and 2007, the trade deficit lost or displaced 2.3 million jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including 366,000 last year. As the nation's economic woes mount, a new EPI Briefing Paper, The China Trade Toll, details the devastating impact that the growing U.S. trade deficit with China is having on American jobs, wages, and key industries. (Press release [PDF])

Comparing health care proposals
This EPI Policy Memo distills the implications of Obama's and McCain's health care plans, based on research findings from the Tax Policy Center. Graphs and concise text draw out each plan's outcomes regarding cost, coverage, and efficiency.

How Much More Can Consumers Be Squeezed?
In testimony before Congress's Joint Economic Committee, Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, examines the array of economic forces and events that are squeezing most working Americans' income and living standards, and suggests some policy fixes to help ease at least some of the pain. Bernstein makes a strong case for a second stimulus package, stressing state fiscal relief and public investment in needed infrastructure to help keep more Americans working and contributing to the economy through the downturn. He also advocates strengthening oversight of the financial sector to improve stability and provide long-term protection from the kinds of bubbles that have so buffeted the US economy in recent years.

Expert task force calls for broader, bolder approach to education policy
A task force of national policy experts with diverse religious and political affiliations, in public policy fields including education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights have launched a campaign to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts that promised much and have achieved far too little. In ads in The New York Times and The Washington Post, the task force — convened by EPI's president and education policy director, Lawrence Mishel — calls for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" to raise achievement levels for disadvantaged children. Read the statement of the task force and to add your name to the list of signers.

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