Media clips

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• Labor shortage? Wage data sends mixed signals.

  But, “there really isn’t any evidence of widespread labor shortage,” said Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute.

  If there were, Wilson said, employers would be jacking up wages across the board to entice unemployed workers. Instead, there are some pockets of wage acceleration, “in leisure and hospitality. A big boost in those wages is the fact that they’re getting more tips now because more people are coming to those restaurants in person.”

  Marketplace July 2, 2021
• US economy adds 850,000 jobs in June as wages keep climbing

  “Returning workers are earning more (as they should) – nominal hourly earnings of production non-supervisory workers are up 3.67% over this time last year,” tweeted Valerie Wilson, an economist at the progressive-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  Al Jazeera July 2, 2021
• Economy adds robust 850K jobs in June, exceeding expectations

  “Many people who lost jobs at the start of the pandemic have been unemployed ever since. As jobs come back they will get work but there is still a big jobs deficit—labor demand is still the problem,” tweeted Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  The Hill July 2, 2021
• Wall Street at record high after jobs report – business live

  Payroll growth over the last three months in the US has been ‘huge’, says Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute (and former chief economist at the Department of Labor)

  …

  Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 850,000 in June, following increases of 583,000 in May and 269,000, today’s report shows – or around 1.7 million new jobs.

  Shierholz also points out that the recovery is much faster than after the financial crisis — but doesn’t see worrying signs in the wage data:

  The Guardian July 2, 2021
• There’s A Wage Shortage, Not A Worker Shortage

  And they’re refusing to work in shit conditions. The Economic Policy Institute points out that many of the people screeching about worker shortages are restaurant owners. Lots of the businesses struggling to attract workers in Ohio and South Carolina come from the restaurant and hospitality sectors. These business owners are trying to find workers at the same wages they paid pre-pandemic.

  …

  Workers exist for these jobs. UE reports that when Klavon’s Ice Cream, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, raised their wages to $15 an hour, they were “flooded with applicants.” As the Economic Policy Institute says, in a labor market as complex as America’s, there will always be pockets of worker shortages. But right now, “Employers post their too-low wages, can’t find workers to fill jobs at that pay level, and claim they’re facing a labor shortage… whenever anyone says, ‘I can’t find the workers I need,’ she should really add, ‘at the wages I want to pay.’”

  Scary Mommy July 2, 2021
• Over 200,000 workers are seeing a pay bump today as 2 states and DC up their minimum wages

  Over 200,000 workers will see their paychecks grow, according to an estimate by Ben Zipperer of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Of the workers who will benefit, most are women, according to Zipperer; Black and Hispanic workers will see the largest hikes.

  …

  Workers who earn above the minimum wage will likely also benefit from hikes, according to Zipperer. They’ll feel “ripple” effects as their employers adjust pay internally, and could see their own wages increase.

  Insider July 2, 2021
• A solution to the service worker shortage? Eliminate tipping, some experts say.

  As the U.S. economy (and our favorite eateries) reopen, many restaurants are facing a service worker shortage. Saying goodbye to the tipping model could be just the solution, said David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute.

  “I think [the pandemic] has rightly forced us into this sort of rethinking about job quality and what workers should expect. And that’s created the scenario we’re in now, where employers are struggling to fill these jobs because, generally, they’re just low-quality jobs,” he said.

  Cooper added that the stressors of pandemic-era serving, including having to police mask-wearing or social distancing, as well as the risks of working an in-person job, added more to the plates of low-paid service workers.

  …

  But if the service industry wants to recruit and retain employees, Spriggs and Cooper believe it has to re-evaluate the gratuity model that allows customers to determine the total pay of their employees.

  Marketplace July 2, 2021
• Why The Labor Shortage Might Not Be As Bad As You Think

  Low-wage workers in general were struck most severely by the current recession, as less than 75% of low-wage workers were still working in 2020 as opposed to 95 percent of high-wage earners (or those in the top 25 percent of wage distribution), according to data from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan policy think tank.

  Yahoo Finance July 2, 2021
• Labor shortage? Wage data sends mixed signals.

  But, “there really isn’t any evidence of widespread labor shortage,” said Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute.

  If there were, Wilson said, employers would be jacking up wages across the board to entice unemployed workers. Instead, there are some pockets of wage acceleration, “in leisure and hospitality. A big boost in those wages is the fact that they’re getting more tips now because more people are coming to those restaurants in person.”

  Marketplace July 2, 2021
• US economy adds 850,000 jobs in June as wages keep climbing

  “Returning workers are earning more (as they should) – nominal hourly earnings of production non-supervisory workers are up 3.67% over this time last year,” tweeted Valerie Wilson, an economist at the progressive-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  Al Jazeera July 2, 2021