Analysts who sling data for a living have poked holes in Trump’s economist populist claims by other means. Two recently published reports by the D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute reveal that middle and working class Americans – including those living in regions of the country that swung for Trump in 2016 – saw slower wage and income growth under his presidency than they did in the years leading up to it, even before the COVID pandemic arrived on U.S. shores.
Capital and Main
November 2, 2020
Under his watch, wage growth actually slowed in most of the places he has visited or will touch down in between October 30 and November 2. On average, residents in 11 of the 16 counties on Trump’s final campaign tour saw slower annual real wage growth during the first three years of the Trump administration when compared to the last three years of the Obama Administration, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute and shared with Capital & Main.
Capital and Main
November 2, 2020
Organizations like the Economic Policy Institute estimate that an outright repeal of the Affordable Care Act could cause upward of 20 million people to lose their health insurance. Apart from what that means for personal health outcomes, the group projects that fewer people with insurance will lead to less visits to primary care physicians and other health care facilities, hurting providers’ bottom lines while exacerbating the public health crisis.
Courthouse News
November 2, 2020
The numbers show this: The Economic Policy Institute calculated that 1,800 factories had closed between 2016 and 2018, and the net loss in manufacturing plants—and jobs—continues, hastened recently by the pandemic. Foreign subsidiaries of U.S. manufacturers increased employment by 257,400 jobs in 2017 and 2018, while stateside workers struggled.
The American Prospect
November 2, 2020
Lonnie Golden, “Still falling short on hours and pay” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2016)
Center for American Progress
November 2, 2020
San Francisco’s pending “Proposition L” takes aim on the locomotive driving contemporary American inequality: our major corporations and banks. The executives who run these enterprises make fabulously more than workers — and fabulously more than executives used to make. CEO compensation, the Economic Policy Institute reported this past August, has increased 1,167 percent since 1978, after taking inflation into account. Worker pay? Up just 13.7 percent.
In 1978, CEOs pocketed 31 times what typical workers earned. Last year, top execs averaged 309 times more.
Inequality.org
November 2, 2020
Measured against the state’s median family income of $68,034, that family spends roughly 41% of its annual income on child care alone — almost six times the Department of Health’s recommended benchmark.
Ascent drew its ranking from 2019 data from the Economic Policy Institute.
A more recent release of 2020 data from the same source examined the average cost of infant care in California, pricing it at $16,945 a year.
That’s slightly more than the statewide average annual cost of housing, $16,693, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
In short, child care for a baby costs more per year than the average Californian will pay for rent.
San Luis Obispo Tribune
November 2, 2020
The Trump administration renegotiated NAFTA, and has claimed the era of corporations “offshoring” U.S. manufacturing jobs was “over.” In fact, the opposite is true. A report issued in August by the Economic Policy Institute found nearly 1,800 factories shuttered between 2016 and 2018. And St. Paul’s Gerdau facility will soon be added to the list.
Workday Minnesota
November 2, 2020
However, the Economic Policy Institute points out that women earn less at every wage level. Thus, it’s not just that women gravitate toward less-lucrative industries. Those women in high-paying sectors are still compensated less than their male counterparts. Logically, this suggests that with the gender equity gap, sexism is at least partially responsible for the negative impact.
Investor Place
November 2, 2020
Although Trump intends on eliminating the act, he has said he will make efforts to keep the provision that protects against an increase in premiums or a denial of coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. However, this will still leave tens of millions of Americans with no insurance, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Courier
November 2, 2020