Media clips
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The US’ 10% tariff on aluminum imports from most countries accomplished its stated purpose of protecting the at-risk domestic aluminum industry in the interest of national security, market analysts and participants said May 26 after the release of a report from the Economic Policy Institute.
EPI Senior Economist Robert Scott said the tariff, imposed by former President Donald Trump under Section 232 in 2018, came at a time when the US primary aluminum industry was “hanging on by a thread.”
“The industry was threatened with collapse, and the US had the only existing high-quality, high-purity aluminum smelter that was running in the NATO countries,” Scott said in a virtual panel discussing the EPI’s May 25 report on the tariff’s impact.
“This was critical for national defense that we not lose this capacity as well as maintain the capacity to produce our own aluminum for the supply chains, and I think the COVID-19 crisis has shown just how important it is to be self-sufficient in these primary commodities.”
The EPI report concluded that the aluminum tariffs succeeded in fulfilling their intended effect and have allowed aluminum manufacturers throughout the supply chain to thrive.
S&P Global May 28, 2021 -
“Absolutely, we’re still in a crisis,” Elise Gould said.
Elise Gould is a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan Think Tank in DC.
“9 to 11 million more people don’t have a job that would’ve had a job. We’re on a very different trajectory,” Gould said. “That means, they do not have wages to be paying their bill. They do not have income. Many people are struggling –it’s very difficult for many people out there today.”
WSMV News 4 May 28, 2021 -
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