We asked policy experts on the left and the right about how the United States can reduce economic inequality. Here are the ideas they offered:
Economic inequality in the United States is real and deeply damaging to the living standards of the vast majority of families. But it’s eminently fixable so long as we’re willing to make a pronounced break with policies of the past to make income growth a genuine political priority.
The roots of inequality’s rise after 1979 are in U.S. labor markets, particularly in the failure of paychecks for most workers to rise in line with broader measures of economic growth.
USA Today
September 24, 2020
Chicago Business Journal
September 24, 2020
Today, when looking at salary levels, White workers, on average, are paid more than Black and Latinx workers at almost every education level, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. This wage gap directly correlates with a family’s ability to create wealth, with the median White family having more than 10 times the wealth of the median Black family in 2016, according to the Federal Reserve’s most recent Survey of Consumer Finances.
CNBC
September 24, 2020
But three data points gauge the ongoing destruction wrought by the pandemic onto the American economy:
Markets Insider
September 24, 2020
Nationally, analysis of federal data by the Economic Policy Institute shows that Black women saw a slightly smaller increase in unemployment in April compared with February, but the rate was higher — 16.9 percent compared with 15.8 percent — because it started out higher for Black women. Latinas saw a much higher jump in unemployment than white women, and have been slower to regain work.
West Hartford News
September 24, 2020
Cuts to law enforcement are almost certainly coming, given the severity of economic damage that the pandemic is doing to state and local governments. The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities estimates that state budget shortfalls will add up to 10% for fiscal year 2020 and more than 20% for FY 2021, with Texas among the states hit hardest. Without any further federal aid, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that some 5.3 million people could lose their jobs by the end of 2021. And according to the EPI, job losses in the public sector will be felt chiefly among women and Black workers.
Bloomberg
September 24, 2020
Join Kojo and a panel of experts for our next Kojo In Your Virtual Community on Wednesday, September 30, at 7:30 p.m. for an in-depth discussion on parenting during the pandemic. Kojo will be joined by Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute; Anya Kamenetz, education correspondent at NPR; and Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, clinical assistant professor for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine. Also joining Kojo is special guest Mercedes Samudio, parent coach, speaker, bestselling author and founder of the Diversity in Parenting Conference.
WAMU 88.5
September 24, 2020
Research published in the Harvard Business Review found that as listings rise in a city, so do rents. Analyses by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, found the costs to local communities of having Airbnb listings, including rising housing prices and shrinking availability, likely outweigh the benefits.
The New York Times
September 24, 2020
We asked policy experts on the left and the right about how the United States can reduce economic inequality. Here are the ideas they offered:
Economic inequality in the United States is real and deeply damaging to the living standards of the vast majority of families. But it’s eminently fixable so long as we’re willing to make a pronounced break with policies of the past to make income growth a genuine political priority.
The roots of inequality’s rise after 1979 are in U.S. labor markets, particularly in the failure of paychecks for most workers to rise in line with broader measures of economic growth.
USA Today
September 24, 2020