Media clips

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• Kansas City child care options dwindle amid program closures and staff shortages

  In Missouri and Kansas, infant care costs more than in-state tuition for four-year public college, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average annual cost of infant care in Missouri is just over $10,000. In Kansas, it’s $11,222. Infant care for one child takes up 17% and 18% of a median family’s income in Missouri and Kansas respectively.

  Kansas City Star August 13, 2021
• Job openings hit record high, with 10.1 million openings

  However, that most frequently used unemployment figure leaves out millions of people who are jobless but not actively job-searching. According to Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, the true count of the unemployed in July was over 13 million.

  CBS Moneywatch August 13, 2021
• The July jobs report ends the myth of a ‘damaging’ labor shortage, former Obama economist says

  Heidi Shierholz, who is currently the director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the employment and wages figures unveiled in Friday’s data show that reports of a labor shortage still aren’t right. Or, she said, it’s not a labor shortage we should be worried about.

  “A concerning labor shortage would be very tight, strong wage growth that is not accompanied by strong job growth. That’s a bona fide labor shortage,” Shierholz said. When wage growth isn’t accompanied by accelerating job growth, that’s when we should get worried — and that’s not what’s happening here.

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  “Are we seeing labor shortages that are really hurting us? I don’t see any evidence of that,” Shierholz said.

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  “There are always pockets, there are always places where people can’t find the workers they need,” Shierholz said. But it’s not widespread enough to be a core dynamic in the labor market.

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  Shierholz, for her part, said she doesn’t think those elevated wages will stick around.

  “In low-wage industries, it’s even actually easier for employers to quote unquote ‘cut wages,’ without giving anyone an actual pay cut, because there’s a lot of turnover in industry,” she said. “That does make it easier to bring new people in at a lower level and sort of make the adjustment over time.”

  Business Insider August 13, 2021
• July US jobs report shows growth – but these industries are slow to recover

  Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), noted that while the recent wage growth does suggest that the leisure and hospitality and retail industries are facing a tighter labor market, there is little reason to think that this applies to other industries, or even that the wage growth from recent months will be permanent.

  “I think it’s much more likely that when we do have the pandemic in the rearview mirror and this temporary leverage that workers have goes away, we will see employers freezing wages to eat back some of the gains that workers made at this point,” she said.

  The EPI’s own research has suggested the decades of low wage growth is at least in part due to the declining unionization rates in the US.

  The Guardian August 13, 2021
• The economy’s recovery from COVID is 3 times faster than the rebound from the Great Recession

  The trend of job creation is even more encouraging. Even if job growth slows slightly from the July pace, the US is still on track to recoup its lost payrolls by the end of 2022. That would be five times faster than it took to recover every job lost during the Great Recession, Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a tweet.

  Business Insider August 13, 2021
• Will Unemployment Benefits Be Extended? Not if This U.S. Senator Has His Way

  In Manchin’s home state, the average annual cost of childcare for one child is $8,736, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Consider a parent who works full-time and earns $13 per hour. Realistically, after taxes, that parent brings home around $21,500 a year. Childcare costs for one child would eat up more than 40% of their take-home pay. While childcare costs can impact all parents, working women are particularly affected.

  The Motley Fool August 13, 2021
• Economic Policy Institute’s Shierholz on Jobs Report

  Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at Economic Policy Institute, discusses jobs report and the U.S. labor market. She speaks with Taylor Riggs and Guy Johnson on “Bloomberg Markets.” (Source: Bloomberg)

  Bloomberg TV August 13, 2021
• August 13
  August 13, 2021
• Kentucky already has a teacher shortage, but consistently low pay could be making it worse

  According to the National Educational Association, Kentucky ranks 42nd in the nation for starting salaries, with new teachers averaging about $37,000 per year. The overall salary for educators is a little better, at nearly $54,000 per year, but teachers are still only making 78 cents for every dollar someone with similar education and experience in a different field can make, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Salaries aren’t the only point of contention for Kentucky teachers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, teachers in Kentucky on average spend more than $400 of their own money every year to provide supplies for their students and classrooms.

  WHAS 11 August 12, 2021
• Tinder Sex Assault Case Centers on Arbitration as #MeToo Barrier

  The use of arbitration clauses in employment agreements has increased dramatically in the last 20 years, from only 2% of workers subject to forced arbitration in 1992 compared with 56% in 2018, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. The left-leaning think tank projects that this number will increase to 80% by 2024.

  Bloomberg Law August 12, 2021