It’s also a familiar one for the middle class. After all, its lack of resilience was first highlighted when the conditions that drove its expansion in North America started to fall apart in the mid-1970s. Among the most significant setbacks occurred when Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries punished the US and any Western allies that supported Israel in the 1973 Arab–Israeli War by refusing to sell them oil. By the following year, the price of crude jumped about 400 percent, and the surge helped kick off a bout of stagflation—a lethal mix of economic stagnation, runaway inflation, and high unemployment—that undermined the generous incomes and benefits that had fed middle-class prosperity. The results of that are stark: after growing at a rate of 2.6 percent per year between 1947 and 1973, according to the Economic Policy Institute, hourly wages have struggled to keep up with inflation ever since.
The Walrus
December 3, 2020
Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think-tank close to unions, said that previous Democratic presidents saw labour groups as the “crazy uncle” that one would invite to a wedding and “pray to God he’s not going to give a toast”.
Financial Times
December 3, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute reports that between 1979 and 2019, the top 1% of people in the U.S.—whose mean income was nearly $738,000 in 2018— have enjoyed 160% income growth, while wages for the bottom 90% have stagnated, rising just 26% over the same 40-year period.
Common Dreams
December 3, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported the wage income data on Wednesday, and it used wage statistics data compiled by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Including deferred compensation of nearly $344 billion, and distributions from deferred compensation plans totaling $3.1 billion, net compensation for all wage earners totaled nearly $8.8 trillion in 2019, up from about $8.4 trillion in 2018.
24/7 Wall St.
December 3, 2020
Valerie Wilson, del Economic Policy Institute agregó “Todo el mundo habla de la vacuna y de cómo combatir a la pandemia, pero nadie se preocupa de los pagos en efectivo de emergencia”.
NNC.MX
December 3, 2020
Politicians in both US political parties now acknowledge wage stagnation and have adopted narratives claiming that “the system is rigged.” Some focus on the number of immigrants and on what they see as unfair trade with China. Others focus on monopolies charging higher prices and reaping huge profits. There is, however, no agreement on what, and who, rigged the system.
International Monetary Fund
December 3, 2020
And those who need Covid economic relief the most — gig and other low-income workers who’ve lost jobs or hours to the pandemic — don’t have retirement accounts to withdraw from. Overall, the Economic Policy Institute reported last year, “nearly half of working-age families have nothing saved in retirement accounts.”
Inequality.org
December 3, 2020
Bernstein has also worked as a social worker and a former economist at the think tank Economic Policy Institute.
News Nation Now
December 3, 2020
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute illustrated how the coronavirus has revealed the ways in which domestic work has been undervalued and it’s workforce under-protected. While employers are taking steps to practice social distancing, a large number of domestic workers have been left without work and the looming prospect they may lose their jobs.
Forbes
December 3, 2020