Media clips

---

• U.S. billionaires could give $3,400 stimulus checks to 331 million Americans using only their increase in wealth since March 2020

  At the same time, wage growth has been tepid for most Americans with the 2019 median wage of $19.33 an hour translating to roughly $40,000 for a full time workers, according to the left leaning, Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The EPI also reported that between 1979 and 2019, the top 1 percent of earners enjoyed 160 percent income growth, while the bottom 90 percent of earners saw stagnating wages that rose only 26 percent of the same 40 year period. “In every period since 1979, wages for the bottom 90% were continuously redistributed upward to the top 10% and frequently to the very highest 1.0% and 0.1%,” it concluded.

  Forbes February 8, 2021
• About 275,000 women left workforce in January in ‘critical’ pandemic trend, experts say

  While the national unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7 percent in April last year, Black women’s unemployment rate stood at 16.9 percent and for Latinas it was 20.2 percent, according to an analysis of government data by the Economic Policy Institute.

  …

  In an address on Friday, Biden said raising the minimum wage is the “real answer to the crisis we’re in.” More than half of the workers who would benefit from a wage increase are women, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  NBC News February 8, 2021
• These maps show how the minimum wage compares to what a typical worker earns in every state

  It would also give nearly 32 million Americans a raise, including about one-third of Black workers.

  …

  Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), said in an email to Insider that when the minimum wage is increased, employers need to raise wages to retain or recruit people already making that rate.

  But the “ripple” effect of the minimum wage raising — raises that those making above $15 would get as the minimum wage labor market becomes better paid — generally comes in “just a few dollars above the minimum wage, like around $17-$18 in the case of a $15 minimum wage.”

  But, Zipperer said, median wages are higher than that — and current trends show that median wage in 2025 is likely to be around $22. Zipperer believes a $15 minimum wage in 2025 won’t impact median wages.

  “In order to lift wages for the median or typical worker in the middle of the wage distribution, we need other strategies, like increasing the bargaining power of workers through unionization or making sure we run a very tight, full-employment labor market,” he said.

  Business Insider February 8, 2021
• The pandemic pushes millions from the labor force. That’s bad news

  The dynamic also makes the U.S. unemployment rate appear artificially low, they said, due to how federal officials quantify the jobless metric.

  “It’s bad for individuals, it’s bad for human suffering, harms the overall economy and drags this [downturn] out even more,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former chief economist at the Labor Department.

  CNBC February 8, 2021
• 27 million workers would benefit from raising federal minimum wage to $15 per hour

  Others expressed skepticism on the CBO’s analysis of the potential for employment declines, saying the agency did not give appropriate weight to the highest-quality studies available on the impact of minimum wage increases on employment versus lower-quality research. “We have to be really skeptical of their assessment of the employment impact,” says Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  “It’s really not a stretch to say that a new consensus has emerged among economists that minimum wage increases have raised wages without substantial job loss. And I think CBO assessment of the literature has just not caught up yet,” Shierholz added.

  CNBC February 8, 2021
• CBO report finds $15 minimum wage would cost jobs but lower poverty levels

  “It’s really not a stretch to say that new consensus has emerged that minimum wage increases do not result in substantial job loss,” Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said on a call on Monday.

  Shierholz said the CBO’s estimates showed that the benefits to low wage workers outweighed the costs, but she was critical of the calculation of those costs, saying the CBO had relied on an outdated methodology.

  The Washington Post February 8, 2021
• February 8, 2021
  February 8, 2021
• Why Amazon insisted on an in-person union election during a raging pandemic
  Huffpost February 8, 2021
• U.S. economy added a disappointing 49,000 jobs in January

  The number of missing jobs remains enormous, about 9.9 million below the pre-pandemic level. Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute notes that the number of missing jobs is actually more than 12 million, if lost job growth over the last 11 months is taken into account

  The Fiscal Times February 8, 2021
• Friday’s letters: Biden’s priorities, federal minimum wage, Publix, more

  According to the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, the reality is that the average age of minimum wage earners is 35, 59% are women, 28% have children, 54% work full time and the majority of those who would benefit are essential and front-line workers.

  Sarasota Herald Tribune February 8, 2021