Biden could try to tackle parts of his economic agenda on his own. He could modify Trump’s trade tariffs, for example, or change regulations around the Affordable Care Act. These ideas might be helpful in the long run, says Heidi Shierholz with the Economic Policy Institute, but they don’t tackle the financial problems people are facing right now. The economy needs a stimulus and…
HEIDI SHIERHOLZ: The president just doesn’t have those tools.
KHALID: The tools, for example, to offer more money to state and local governments so they can keep firefighters on the job. And so the biggest economic test for Biden isn’t how much he can do on his own, but how good he is at cutting deals.
SHIERHOLZ: The thing he’ll have to resort to is trying to lean on his nearly 50 years of experience in Washington. That is what it will come down to. Can President Biden convince Mitch McConnell to move on some of this stuff? Because that is what it will take to get the stimulus that is needed.
NPR
December 21, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute found that in 2019, public school teachers earned 19.2 percent less in weekly wages relative to other college-educated workers, after accounting for factors such as education, experience, and state residence. The gap has grown substantially since the mid-1990s, although it did improve slightly from 2018 to 2019. EPI says the data are not yet sufficient to say if this improvement reflects the pay raises resulting from the teacher activism.
Education Week
December 21, 2020
“We made the mistake of not enough fiscal stimulus in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and we should not be making it again,” Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, told Business Insider. “It appears we are on the cusp of making it again.”
Business Insider
December 21, 2020
New research from the Economic Policy Institute found that, over the last 40 years, wages have grown 160 percent for the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S., so those making about $500,000 a year or more. Meanwhile, those in the bottom 90 percent of earners only saw wages grow by 26 percent.
Women's Wear Daily
December 21, 2020
The move online has in many cases worsened existing socioeconomic achievement gaps as well, since online learning works only when students have consistent internet access and home support, according to research compiled by the Economic Policy Institute and others.
Politifact
December 21, 2020
24/7 Wall St. reviewed March 2018 cost of living estimates, adjusted for inflation, from financial think tank the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. The estimates are of the costs needed for a family of two (two adults and no children) to lead a “modest yet adequate standard of living.”
24/7 Wall St.
December 21, 2020
In the four decades since inequality started growing (1979-2019), the “bottom 90 percent” saw wages grow 26 percent while the top 1 percent saw their wages grow 160 percent, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report. And for the tippy-top 0.1 percent, annual wages increased 345.2 percent.
The Western News
December 21, 2020
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) provides in-depth analysis of ag labor investigations over the past twenty years. The Federal Labor Standards Enforcement in Agriculture report notes that a vast majority of investigations uncovered labor violations. A relatively low number of problematic employers were responsible for a large share of the overall number of violations that were cited. The authors of the report also highlight areas of concern and offer solutions to help protect farmworkers moving forward.
Agnet West
December 21, 2020
A glimmer of hope lies in the fact that the Council of Economic Advisor leans somewhat left and is also labor centered, with the nominated chair, Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton University labor economist.
The others, Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey, have past relationships with the Economic Policy Institute, a worker focused think tank in DC (I serve on their board). It is also hopeful that Janet Yellen has been nominated as Treasury Secretary. She is worker-focused and the first woman to hold the posy.
Daytona Times
December 21, 2020
“The current provisions being talked about in the package would probably only provide about a fifth as much boost to job growth as needed, for Georgia call it 30,000 jobs created or saved,” said economist Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute. “They’re leaving a lot on the table.”
Atlanta Journal Constitution
December 21, 2020