New EPI book: Worker Skills and Job Requirements
There is a widespread belief that U.S. workers' education and skills are not adequate for the demands of jobs in the modern economy. Many believe that this presumed mismatch between the skills workers possess and the skills that jobs require will become even more serious as the workplace becomes increasingly high-tech and service-oriented. But many simple assumptions regarding skills mismatch in the U.S. labor market do not stand up well to closer examination. The latest EPI book, Worker Skills and Job Requirements, provides an overview of the skills mismatch debate, reviews research on skill levels, and scrutinizes trends in the skills workers possess, the skills employers demand, and the evidence for a mismatch between the two.

The economic boom that wasn't
Since 2001, President Bush and congressional leaders have promised that enacting each of a series of tax cuts would strengthen the economy by bringing faster growth, more jobs, and greater investment. With Congress again debating whether to extend past tax cuts and enact new ones, it's time to review how much the last four years of tax cuts have affected the U.S. economy and budget outlook. EPI's new Briefing Paper, The Boom That Wasn't—U.S. economy has little to show for $860 billion in tax cuts, examines a broad range of measures to show how poorly this economy's performance compares poorly to past averages.

A new direction for economic policy in the Americas
At the fourth Summit of the Americas on November 4, policy makers reviewed a document titled "Labor's Platform for the Americas," laying out an alternative set of principles and guideposts that should shape future economic policy making in the Americas. EPI's new Issue Brief, Reclaiming an Economic Future Through Democracy, provides an overview of the platform and its sharp break with the current economic orthodoxy in the Americas.

Prognosis worsens for U.S. workers' health care
Last year's decline in employer-provided insurance coverage represented the fourth consecutive year of disappearing health care for U.S. workers. With nearly 46 million Americans going without health insurance, government safety net programs like Medicaid have been strained beyond capacity, meaning more and more workers and their families are falling through the cracks. For an analysis of the trends on both the national and state levels, look to EPI's Briefing Paper, Prognosis Worsens for Workers' Health Care. 

EPI's weekly Economic Snapshots
EPI's weekly Snapshots appeared every Wednesday throughout October and covered a broad range of concerns, including the declines in employer-provided health insurance for children, the price the U.S. economy has paid for Bush's tax cuts, and the often-overlooked benefits of Social Security for children.

Lessons for post-Katrina reconstruction policies
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's destruction of the Gulf Coast, politicians need to learn from the resoundingly successful post-earthquake reconstruction of the Southern California freeways in 1994. The new EPI Briefing Paper, Lessons for Post-Katrina Reconstruction, explains how the prevailing wage law can help ensure that work is done expeditiously, safely, cost effectively, and with maximum benefit to the local population. As the reconstruction progresses in the coming months and years, substantial federal resources will be committed to cleaning up and rebuilding Gulf Coast infrastructure and communities. The guidelines outlined in a new EPI Policy Memo are intended to help structure the rebuilding process in a way that takes advantage of this opportunity to improve people's lives. The recommendations in this EPI memo cover policies for local hiring, prevailing wages, health care, training, and ensuring a voice in the process for residents of the affected areas. 

• USA Today published an op-ed by EPI President Lawrence Mishel and Martin Carnoy about the problems of charter schools. "Charter schools are unlikely to solve the most important problems facing public education," write Mishel and Carnoy.  "We have enough experience with charter students to know that, on average, they don't do better than similar students in the public schools."

• In his monthly column on TomPaine.com, EPI Economist Max Sawicky reports on the administration's failed attempt, at least for now, at privatizing Social Security.  "Doubtless, Bush will try to continue comforting the comfortable and afflicting the afflicted by shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to everyone else.  How he will try and do it this time around remains to be seen," writes Sawicky.

• When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. called on Congress to raise the country's minimum wage, EPI's Jared Bernstein was quoted in the Washington Post as asking: "One can't help but think that, if they want people to have more money, then how about paying your workers more?"

• The big economic news in October was the nomination of Ben Bernanke as Alan Greenspan's replacement as Federal Reserve Board chairman.  The San Francisco Chronicle published EPI's view of the appointment.  Research Director Lee Price said, "He is going to focus on making the Fed work well. He's a fairly straight shooter.  On the other hand, I fundamentally disagree with one of his major academic crusades of the past few years: inflation targeting."

• EPI continues to be in the news on issues surrounding the equitable rebuilding of the storm-damaged Gulf Coast.  A coalition of African American social scientists and economists, including EPI's Bill Spriggs, proposed to Congress that the federal government create a sweeping, five-year spending program to help residents and businesses devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  Cox News Service quoted Spriggs as saying, "This is really meant to give guidance on how to spend the billions of dollars that Congress is already ready to spend."

• CNN's Lou Dobbs talked to EPI economist Josh Bivens about the continued outsourcing and offshoring of U.S. jobs to overseas, especially in light of the announcements that General Motors would lay off 25,000 workers and Delphi would slash worker pay and benefits as it slips into bankruptcy.  "It's asking its workers to take something like a 66% pay cut," said Bivens, on CNN.  "Essentially, Delphi, the way lots of other companies have done, is using the global economy to beat down its own wage costs."

• CNBC, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and many other papers, reported on EPI's analysis that shows wages are failing to keep up with rising inflation and prices—especially gas prices.  EPI President Lawrence Mishel said on CNBC that energy prices have increased but raising interest rates will not depress energy inflation. Jared Bernstein was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying, "We are in the midst of a protracted wage slump; a troubling trend that is largely going unnoticed by policy makers."

The mission of the Economic Policy Institute is to provide high-quality research and education in order to promote a prosperous, fair, and sustainable economy. The Institute stresses real world analysis and a concern for the living standards of working people, and it makes its findings accessible to the general public, the media, and policy makers.