Media clips
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Despite expected strong job growth and recovery as society opens back up and vaccine availability is more widespread, there needs to be an active effort to make jobs in the care industry equitable, said Dr. Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. She noted that good job growth does not necessarily mean an equitable economic recovery.
“We know that more than 90% of care jobs are held by women, over half of care jobs are held by women of color,” Shierholz said. “On an hourly basis, care workers are paid about three quarters of what other workers with similar demographic characteristics – who do other jobs – are paid. Care workers are much more likely to be poor or near-poor. It’s difficult to think of a better strategy for an equitable recovery than making sure these care jobs are good jobs.”
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education June 23, 2021 -
Left-of-center economists counter the problem isn’t about labor supply. Low-wage sectors are seeing stronger job growth than high-wage sectors, which shouldn’t be the case if unemployment benefits were holding back hiring, argues Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, in a recent editorial.
She said the states that have ended enhanced federal unemployment benefits early in response to complaints from employers stand to lose $22 billion in aid and slow their economic recovery. Colorado instead has tried a carrot approach, offering workers who find a new job a payment of up to $1,600.
Denver Post June 23, 2021 -
“There are very large amounts of job openings and there are a very large number of people who are unemployed, and the pace of filling those jobs somehow feels slower than it might be,” Federal Chairman Powell said in a press conference.
In June, Powell pointed out the mismatch of unemployed workers and openings has several factors behind it. Number one, the largest group of unemployed workers are back to work.
“There were people just getting temporarily laid off and their businesses said, ‘When we can come back online, we’ll bring you right back,’” Heidi Shierholz explained, “That is what many businesses did.”
WUSA 9 June 23, 2021 -
“The priorities for business have not changed,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “The main difference is that under Trump, the majority knew there was no way immigration reform could be passed … but now there is a president who is willing to sign and sign an immigration bill into law,” he explained.
Associated Press June 17, 2021 -
“There is, however, a great deal of volatility in the weekly data,” tweeted Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“It is important not to put too much weight on one week,” she continued. “Claims have been steadily coming down in recent months as the labor market strengthens, and I expect that to continue.”
The Hill June 17, 2021 -
“We are certainly in the right place to have a speedy and quick reopening and recovery,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
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“Fiscal spending has been key to being able to speed up this recovery,” said Gould. “So, by my calculations, if we continue to go on the track that we’ve been going month after month, we’ll see that we will actually be able to get down to 3.5% unemployment by the end of 2022.”
According to Gould, the continued stimulus packages from Congress have been game-changers as they have provided continuous relief to people and businesses, rather than temporary relief from a one-time payment.
The more people spend, she says, the more businesses make, the more they can rehire staff, and the more those so-called “have-nots” can feel some relief.
Scripps National News June 17, 2021 -
Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department chief economist who now works at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, argued that the seemingly slow rebound of the labor market might not be as dire as it seems.
“That’s not always a bad thing,” she said of the pace of job gains.
If the extra benefits allow people to find a more suitable job, or wait for a higher offer, she said, the economy may end up on more productive footing than a situation in which desperate people take anything that’s available to them, regardless of wage or difficulty.
“If the benefits make it possible for people not to have to take a terrible job, that’s efficiency enhancing,” Shierholz added.
Although the April and May jobs reports fell short of expectations, she noted, they also showed the economy steadily adding about a half-million jobs a month, rising wages and a concentration of growth in the low-wage leisure sector that should be most affected by high unemployment benefits.
“Strong job growth and higher wages? That’s the kind of recovery we want to see,” Shierholz said.
While the rate of job gains implies that the labor market will not completely recover for more than a year, that would still far outpace the anemic aftermath of the Great Recession and the austerity policies that followed.
The Hill June 17, 2021 -
The states that are opting out of the program claim the enhanced unemployment benefits, which were first included in the CARES Act signed by former President Donald Trump last year, are disincentivizing people from returning to work. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the main lobbying arm of American business, has also urged Congress to kill the benefits early.
This argument relies on company-driven narratives about how people “don’t want to work anymore,” but there’s no evidence to support that claim. As the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute pointed out last month, when states announced they’d slash unemployment benefits, the unemployment rates in nearly all those states were still lagging behind pre-pandemic lows.
Vice News June 17, 2021 -
Celine McNicholas, director of government affairs and labor counsel at the Economic Policy Institute, says the Trump-era NLRB ruling effectively denied Uber drivers and other gig workers the collective bargaining rights granted by the National Labor Relations Act.
“We hope the NLRB will correct this error and ensure that these workers have the right to a union,” she said.
CNN Business June 17, 2021 -
Thompson also points out that most digital nomads are white. That tracks with new research from the Economic Policy Institute, which shows that in the US, one in four white workers are able to work from home – that’s compared to one in five black workers, and one in six Hispanic workers. The organisation found disparity across education levels, too: one in three workers with a bachelor’s degree were able to work from home during the pandemic, compared to about one in 20 workers with only a secondary-school education.
BBC June 17, 2021 -
In the current political environment, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to trade deficits, job losses and China. To help cut through all the noise, the Economic Policy Institute conducted an extensive study of U.S.-China trade data to determine the net amount of job losses across America. Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission DataWeb was conformed to Bureau of Labor Statistics industry classifications to determine the results, which were further parsed by state and by Congressional district.
GO Banking Rates June 17, 2021 -
But there’s been pushback from economists like Heidi Shierholz of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who wrote in the New York Times last week that states “cutting pandemic programs are weakening their own recoveries,” and that higher wages, not ending benefits, could solve perceived issues with worker shortages.
CNN Business June 17, 2021 -
According to the Economic Policy Institute, CEO take-home pay grew by around 1,200 percent from 1978 to 2019. Meanwhile, the compensation for typical workers grew by 13.7 percent.
New York Magazine June 17, 2021 -
But there’s another matter, which is pay. Some companies just aren’t ponying up enough to attract workers. Plenty of people, including Democrats, point to the $300 a week stimulus checks (on top of state insurance of course) as being a deterrent to workers coming back on payroll. “I do think unemployment insurance benefits could be having some effect,” says Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “We know low wage employers have a lot of capacity to suppress wages, and when workers have another option and aren’t totally desperate to take a job no matter how sh***y, unemployment insurance may be playing a role to some extent.”
Yahoo Finance June 17, 2021 -
And the economy is not in our favor. Though we’re the largest part of the workforce, young Millennials own less than 5 percent of the wealth in the United States. When Baby Boomers were in their 20s, they controlled about 21 percent. According to the Economic Policy Institute, from 1979 to 2019, productivity rose 72 percent in the U.S. while hourly pay increased only roughly 17 percent.
The Atlantic June 17, 2021 -
These permanent losses are likely to prolong the country’s economic recovery, our Megan Cassella has reported. While a furloughed worker is likely to get their job back with businesses returning to normal operations following widespread vaccination and relaxed health restrictions, “a permanently laid-off worker has to wait for an employer to create a new job, then apply and get matched with the right one,” Megan explained.
IN OTHER WORDS… “Those jobs, that labor demand, went away when those businesses closed,” Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist at the Labor Department, told MS in an email. “It will take a little time for new businesses to be formed to take the place of businesses that were lost. So at this point, there are still not nearly enough jobs to go around; right now we still primarily have a labor demand problem.”
Politico Morning Shift June 17, 2021 -
Getting workers in the right jobs, those that they’ll stay in, is better for them and for the economy. And, in most industries, “there are still more unemployed people than there are job openings,” said David Cooper with the Economic Policy Institute. One exception is leisure and hospitality, where businesses are struggling to hire. But he says that’s to be expected in a low-wage industry that’s seeing a surge in demand.
“Even in the best of circumstances, it’s going to take time for employers to staff up,” Cooper said.
NPR Marketplace June 17, 2021 -
Obviously, it’s going to be a hardship for some. They are losing money that might have been helping to pay the rent or to buy groceries. In some instances, they might be forced into taking a job they don’t feel comfortable at and possibly missing out on a job that would be a better fit down the road. To be sure, some people might find jobs right now that are going to be very satisfying.
But Elise Gould, who’s with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, says she doubts this experiment is actually going to result in a lot more people going back to work more quickly than they otherwise would.
ELISE GOULD: Those workers and their families are all of a sudden going to lose a vital lifeline without really having any safety net behind them. I think it’ll be interesting to see what happens in terms of filling jobs in those states versus the states that have continued to provide that support to workers and their families. And I would be very surprised if we see much a difference.
NPR June 17, 2021 -
“Os Estados Unidos têm uma peculiaridade”, afirma a economista Monique Morrissey, do centro de estudos progressista Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Dois tipos de conservadores convivem no Partido Republicano, diz ela. Há os conservadores liberais, pró-mercado, aqueles que defendem o Estado mínimo e outras posições que, muitas vezes, se confundem com a ideologia predominante do partido, e há os conservadores nacionalistas e religiosos.
BBC Brazil June 17, 2021 -
Critics of sky-high CEO pay, like the Economic Policy Institute, say the enormous compensation packages are “a major contributor to rising inequality that we could safely do away with.”
“This escalation of CEO compensation, and of executive compensation more generally, has fueled the growth of top 1.0% and top 0.1% incomes, leaving less of the fruits of economic growth for ordinary workers, ” EPI said in a report released last year.
Business Insider June 17, 2021 -
A team of White House economics advisers had, ostensibly, convened a brain trust of left-leaning think tanks and policy experts on Monday evening to discuss how they might help President Joe Biden build a case for his economic agenda, a pair of proposals hitting the skids in negotiations with both Republican senators and their moderate Democratic colleagues.
But the wonks wouldn’t get down to business until Biden’s aides addressed one matter: Why had Biden and the White House appeared to have abandoned support for the supplemental unemployment benefits buoying workers through the fragile economic recovery? Representatives from multiple organizations—including the Economic Policy Institute, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Hamilton Project—raised the issue when it was their turn to speak, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Attendees didn’t belabor the subject, but the message was clear: The administration’s recent messaging on the subject is a real problem.
Mother Jones June 17, 2021 -
More than a half-million child care workers would see a pay raise if the minimum wage was increased to $15 per hour, according to a new report.
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that more 43.5 percent of child care workers, or 560,000 people, would benefit from the minimum wage being bumped to $15 per hour in the next four years.
Roughly 95 percent of the child care workers who would get a pay raise are women, and 36 percent are Black or Hispanic. Black and Hispanic child care workers would see their yearly income rise by $3,200 and $3,100, respectively.
“Low wages for child care workers reinforce existing racial and gender inequality, since both Black child care workers and women are particularly likely to see their wages increase with a $15 minimum wage,” Julia Wolfe, a co-author of the report and state economic analyst for EPI, said in a statement. “Child care workers deserve to be paid a wage that better reflects the value of their work and allows them to care for their own families.”
Newsweek June 17, 2021 -
June 17, 2021
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“The priorities for business have not changed,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “The main difference is that under Trump, the majority knew there was no way immigration reform could be passed … but now there is a president who is willing to sign and sign an immigration bill into law,” he explained.
Associated Press June 17, 2021 -
“There is, however, a great deal of volatility in the weekly data,” tweeted Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“It is important not to put too much weight on one week,” she continued. “Claims have been steadily coming down in recent months as the labor market strengthens, and I expect that to continue.”
The Hill June 17, 2021 -
“We are certainly in the right place to have a speedy and quick reopening and recovery,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
…
“Fiscal spending has been key to being able to speed up this recovery,” said Gould. “So, by my calculations, if we continue to go on the track that we’ve been going month after month, we’ll see that we will actually be able to get down to 3.5% unemployment by the end of 2022.”
According to Gould, the continued stimulus packages from Congress have been game-changers as they have provided continuous relief to people and businesses, rather than temporary relief from a one-time payment.
The more people spend, she says, the more businesses make, the more they can rehire staff, and the more those so-called “have-nots” can feel some relief.
Scripps National News June 17, 2021 -
Celine McNicholas, director of government affairs and labor counsel at the Economic Policy Institute, says the Trump-era NLRB ruling effectively denied Uber drivers and other gig workers the collective bargaining rights granted by the National Labor Relations Act.
“We hope the NLRB will correct this error and ensure that these workers have the right to a union,” she said.
CNN Business June 16, 2021 -
Thompson also points out that most digital nomads are white. That tracks with new research from the Economic Policy Institute, which shows that in the US, one in four white workers are able to work from home – that’s compared to one in five black workers, and one in six Hispanic workers. The organisation found disparity across education levels, too: one in three workers with a bachelor’s degree were able to work from home during the pandemic, compared to about one in 20 workers with only a secondary-school education.
BBC June 16, 2021 -
In the current political environment, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to trade deficits, job losses and China. To help cut through all the noise, the Economic Policy Institute conducted an extensive study of U.S.-China trade data to determine the net amount of job losses across America. Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission DataWeb was conformed to Bureau of Labor Statistics industry classifications to determine the results, which were further parsed by state and by Congressional district.
GO Banking Rates June 16, 2021 -
But there’s been pushback from economists like Heidi Shierholz of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who wrote in the New York Times last week that states “cutting pandemic programs are weakening their own recoveries,” and that higher wages, not ending benefits, could solve perceived issues with worker shortages.
CNN Business June 16, 2021