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HEIDI SHIERHOLZ
Senior economist and director of policy, Economic Policy Institute; former chief economist, U.S. Department of LaborFifteen dollars an hour is an appropriate level for the minimum wage right now. We’re not going to suddenly go to $15 during the pandemic. The increase will gradually be phased in. Given inflation expectations over the next four years, $15 in 2025 would be about $13.79 in today’s dollars.
When people picture paying a higher minimum wage, they see it as if they were the only business raising wages. That is the beauty of an across-the-board labor standard. Everyone will need to raise wages, so no business will be at a competitive disadvantage.
After adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage is 31.5 percent less than it was in 1968. During that time, productivity growth has more than doubled. So, as an economy, we can afford this.
Inc. May 28, 2021 -
Although the tariffs were a hallmark of Trump’s trade policy, Biden would have some political cover if he decides to leave them in place.
“Four years ago, the U.S. primary aluminum industry was hanging on by a thread,” a report Wednesday by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said, noting that aluminum production increased 37.6 percent after Trump’s tariffs went into effect.
The report argues that higher prices have had no meaningful effect on consumer prices or other industries.
The Hill May 28, 2021 -
You have no doubt seen the scary headlines warning of a “labor shortage” caused by the additional pandemic unemployment insurance payments. The coverage of this story is widespread, even though most economics reporters can find no credible evidence linking unemployment checks to a labor shortage. EPI economist Heidi Shierholz joins us to explain why UI and stimulus payments aren’t causing a “labor shortage”, and why the answer to this made-up problem is so clear: it’s the low wages, stupid.
Heidi Shierholz is the Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
Pitchfork Economics May 28, 2021 -
Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, noted that, typically, labor shortages translate into higher wages. The hospitality and leisure industry saw some of the most precipitous declines in wages during the pandemic; wages are only now approaching where they would have been if the pandemic hadn’t happened. “Many of these jobs in restaurants and hospitality are unambiguously worse than they used to be,” Shierholz said. “You have to deal with anti-maskers and there are health risks. If the market is functioning well, and a job gets harder and riskier, wages should go up.” According to Shierholz, supplemental unemployment insurance was “not driving things,” but had probably contributed to some of the wage growth that we’ve seen in the past few months. She believes this is a good thing. “They are helping the labor market to run better by making it possible for workers to not have to take a really shitty job at suppressed wages because they have no other option.”
The New Yorker May 28, 2021 -
In a new study for the Economic Policy Institute, researchers Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens point out that while income for those at the top continues to grow by leaps and bounds, the typical worker, when pay is adjusted to inflation, is making less today than he or she was in the ’80s.
Madison.com May 28, 2021 -
However, restaurants may indeed be suffering from an unusual lack of workers right now, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, which defines a labor shortage as businesses lacking staff even as they’re raising pay at an unsustainable rate. In the past three months, according to EPI’s analysis, wage growth surged 18% in the leisure and hospitality industry, which includes restaurants.
“It seems clear that in April, customers were coming back to leisure and hospitality establishments faster than employers were able to staff up to serve them at the going wages that recently prevailed in this sector,” EPI’s Josh Bivens and Heidi Shierholz wrote this month.
But they said it’s unlikely unemployment benefits are causing the shortage in restaurants, as the leisure sector and restaurants in particular saw brisk hiring last month. A more likely culprit is the combination of some schools remaining closed and workers fearing the coronavirus.
Huffpost May 28, 2021 -
Daniel Costa at the Economic Policy Institute said employers should try harder to hire Americans. The unemployment rate in the hospitality business is still at almost 14%.
“At the national level, at least, there are not signs of labor shortages in these occupations,” Costa said.
Costa wants to beef up existing requirements that employers search for American workers before applying for guest worker visas.
NPR Marketplace May 28, 2021 -
U.S. tariffs on aluminum imports imposed since the Trump presidency have led to increased output, employment and capital investment by domestic manufacturers, according to a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Reuters May 28, 2021 -
The reason why this is not worrisome is that prices are basically rebounding from a deeply depressed base in the pit of the COVID recession a year ago. In March 2020, before the recession hit, core inflation was running at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent, or well below the Fed’s target rate.
As EPI’s Josh Bivens puts it:
Even several years of inflation above 2% would still not make up for years of too-slow price growth over the past 12 years, and making up for these years of too-slow price growth would go a long way toward reestablishing the credibility of the Federal Reserve inflation target. This is an opportunity, not a threat.
The American Prospect May 28, 2021 -
“The idea that these governors are saying, ‘we don’t need that federal money right now, we’re going to turn it down,’ even though that money is providing a boost to their economy — it’s just very short-sighted policy,” Heidi Shierholz with the Economic Policy Institute said.
Experts at the Economic Policy Institute say childcare issues and health concerns are keeping many people from returning to work. They also dispute the argument that many unemployed Americans aren’t returning to their jobs because they’re making more money staying home.
“The vast majority of job growth has been in very low wage sectors. Low-wage workers are the ones going back to work, which is exactly the opposite of what you would expect if unemployment insurance were really keeping people out of work,” Shierholz said.
Hearst TV May 28, 2021