Media clips

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• Signing bonuses a sign of the times in Colorado’s tightening labor market

  Left-of-center economists counter the problem isn’t about labor supply. Low-wage sectors are seeing stronger job growth than high-wage sectors, which shouldn’t be the case if unemployment benefits were holding back hiring, argues Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, in a recent editorial.

  She said the states that have ended enhanced federal unemployment benefits early in response to complaints from employers stand to lose $22 billion in aid and slow their economic recovery. Colorado instead has tried a carrot approach, offering workers who find a new job a payment of up to $1,600.

  Denver Post June 25, 2021
• VERIFY: Here’s why Americans aren’t going back to work

  “There are very large amounts of job openings and there are a very large number of people who are unemployed, and the pace of filling those jobs somehow feels slower than it might be,” Federal Chairman Powell said in a press conference.

  In June, Powell pointed out the mismatch of unemployed workers and openings has several factors behind it. Number one, the largest group of unemployed workers are back to work.

  “There were people just getting temporarily laid off and their businesses said, ‘When we can come back online, we’ll bring you right back,’” Heidi Shierholz explained, “That is what many businesses did.”

  WUSA 9 June 25, 2021
• American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights, latest company to claim labor shortages

  The Economic Policy Institute did find signs of short-term labor shortages in the hospitality and leisure sectors. According to the institute’s own analysis though, these shortages are unlikely to spill into the larger economy. A recent report by the economic think tank suggests a continuation of unemployment insurance and other forms of direct assistance.

  Instead of cutting benefits, the Economic Policy Institute found increasing wages in the restaurant and leisure industries was a natural way to bring workers back. The government’s April jobs report showed employers are doing just that: wages are rising as employers try to attract more workers.

  “The rapid wage growth of the past three months is exactly what is supposed to happen when there is a sectoral imbalance between supply and demand,” according to a post on the institute’s Working Economics Blog.

  KNX News Radio June 25, 2021
• Wage Gains at Factories Fall Behind Growth in Fast Food

  “Workers in some of these low-wage industries are demanding and getting better pay,” said Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  Mr. Mishel said the premium that manufacturers pay has fallen since the 1980s and 1990s. Mr. Mishel attributed the decline to global competition, outsourcing, lower unionization rates and wider use of contractors. Mr. Mishel said jobs in manufacturing in many cases still offer better healthcare and retirement benefits than some other industries.

  The Wall Street Journal June 25, 2021
• Factory work used to pay far better that fast-food jobs — but thanks to the labor shortage, the gap is quickly closing, and manufacturers are losing staff

  Manufacturing executives told The Journal that as well as struggling to find workers, they’re also being hit by higher prices of raw materials including fuel, lumber, and packaging amid the current shipping crisis, making it harder for them to afford new staff perks.

  Some restaurants have been hiking up prices to offset the higher wages. But Paul Isely, a business professor at Michigan’s Grand Valley State University, told The Journal that it’s harder for manufacturers to raise prices because they have to compete with factories around the world, not just nearby restaurants.

  Lawrence Mishel, an economist at left-leaning think tank the Economic Policy Institute, told the publication that global competition, outsourcing and contractors, and lower unionization rates were also causing manufacturing jobs to lose their wage premium.

  As a result of all these changes, the proportion of US workers employed in the manufacturing industries was shrinking. Less than 9% of US workers are currently employed by manufacturers, The Journal reported. In the early 1980s this was more than 20%.

  Business Insider June 25, 2021
• MSNBC Politics Nation

  The missing Black father trope is largely due to deliberate and racist policy decisions. According to a 2016 Economic Policy Institute study, up to 1 in 10 Black children has an incarcerated parent. The ugly reality of mass incarceration in the US is that a huge proportion of those behind bars are convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. and while Black and white people use drugs roughly at the same rates, Black folks are almost six times as likely to be imprisoned for it. 

  MSNBC June 25, 2021
• New legislation aims to allow patients to sue health insurance companies

  Companies typically contend they use arbitration because it saves everyone involved time and money. But whether consumers actually fare better is disputed. The Economic Policy Institute found that consumers only won monetary relief in 9% of the arbitration cases it studied.

  …

  More than half, or about 60 million American workers, were required to use arbitration to settle disputes as of 2017, including when fighting against serious claims such as discrimination, civil rights violations and sexual harassment, EPI found. If nothing changes, the nonprofit predicts about 80% of workers will be covered by arbitration agreements by 2024.

  CNBC June 25, 2021
• As U.S. Considers Revisiting Steel Tariffs Against The EU, Local Manufacturers Remain Divided On The Issue

  In March, the pro-union Economic Policy Institute reported that, since Trump ordered the tariffs in 2018, American steelmakers had vowed to invest nearly $16 billion in upgraded facilities that promise to reduce carbon emissions. EPI estimates those projects will create 3,200 new jobs in steel production.

  90.5 WESA June 25, 2021
• $15 an hour minimum wage headed to the governor’s desk

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, 60% of minimum-wage earners in the United States are older than 25, nearly 60% are women, 51% are people of color, and 25% support children.

  Delaware Business Times June 25, 2021
• New survey: 1 in 4 U.S. teachers may quit

  In its 2019 series, “The Teacher Shortage Is Real, Large and Growing, and Worse Than We Thought,” the Economic Policy Institute noted the United States is seeing falling enrollments in teacher prep programs. From the 2008-2009 to 2015-2016 school years, there was a 15.4% drop in the number of education degrees awarded and a 27.4% drop in the number of people who completed a teacher preparation program.

  Atlanta Journal Constitution June 25, 2021