April’s growth is positive — but it’s “not yet mission accomplished,” noted Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz. There’s a “huge hole” in the labor market, but “that gap is closing rapidly,” she said.
“No matter how you look at it,” added Economic Policy Institute’s Elise Gould, “nominal wage growth is moderating (and decidedly not accelerating).” “We can keep labor markets tight without feeding inflation,” she continued.
The Week
May 10, 2022
Despite that earnings gap, college enrollment has fallen in the last two years. Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, points to what she called a sudden, pandemic-induced recession, as one of the reasons for the drop in enrollment.
While recessions can be good times for people to go back to school, get degrees and find better jobs, COVID-19 flipped that on its head.
Gould also said the pandemic added disproportionate roadblocks for Black, Hispanic and lower-income individuals who may not have been able to enroll or stay in college.
“You need to have money, you need to have time, you need to have other resources to be able to make those kinds of investments,” Gould said. “And that’s just not accessible to many people across the country.”
Wisconsin Public Radio
May 10, 2022
The world hasn’t sat still since February 2020. The working-age population grew during the pandemic—with immigrants and new graduates, says Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute.
“We’re about 3.5 million potential jobs short,” said Gould.
She says if the economy keeps up the current pace of job creation, “I think it’s absolutely realistic for us to get there by the end of this year.”
NPR Marketplace
May 10, 2022
Inflation is high and so are corporate profits. NPR’s A Martinez talks to Josh Bivens of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, about whether corporations are benefiting from rising prices.
NPR Morning Edition
May 10, 2022
Paying teachers more is a simple method to solving the shortfall, a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute stated.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, state and local public education employment — ranging from K-12 teachers to school bus drivers to school custodians — have fallen by nearly 5% overall, the EPI authors noted.
Yahoo Finance
May 6, 2022
Features interview with Josh Bivens.
Scripps National News
May 6, 2022
The Washington Post
May 6, 2022
The NEA used the Economic Policy Institute’s family budget calculator to determine whether support staff make a living wage and found that on average, these employees would not be able to live in a metropolitan area and support themselves and one child without government assistance or another adult’s income.
Education Week
May 6, 2022
A 2021 report by the Economic Policy Institute said unionization in the cannabis industry could lead to safer jobs that pay between $2,810 to $8,690 more per year than in what it describes as a “low-road scenario,” where cannabis workers would have few to no workplace protections. Workers at unionized cannabis businesses also enjoyed more workplace benefits, including health care, paid leave and fairer scheduling practices.
Oregon Business
May 6, 2022
The Economic Policy Institute also found that Latinas earn 57 cents and Black women earn 65 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men.
ABC News
May 6, 2022