According to the Economic Policy Institute, infrastructure is one of the most rewarding ways for a government to spend its money economy-wise, as its “multiplier” is high: Each dollar spent produces more than a dollar’s worth of GDP growth, and the excess on this is larger for infrastructure spending than other fiscal policies.
Technician
July 2, 2020
Other analyses put the numbers and percentages of low-wage employees much higher. An Economic Policy Institute report based on 2014 data suggested 30 percent of all workers in Nevada earn less than $12 per hour.
Nevada Current
July 2, 2020
“Given the likelihood that states may have to re-shutter parts of their economies with the rise in cases, the job gains we saw last month may not last,” wrote Elise Gould, senior economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, in a preview of the jobs report. I explain why here.
The Hill
July 2, 2020
“Unfortunately, deepening pain is on the horizon. As bad as the labor market is, it’s likely that June is a temporary respite from the storm,” wrote Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Given the increase in coronavirus over the last couple of weeks along with re-shuttering of businesses as well as the pending expiration (on July 25th) of the $600 enhanced weekly unemployment insurance benefits, June’s labor market—as weak as it is—is the best we can expect for a while,” she added.
CNBC
July 2, 2020
Economists are split over the value of such a break. “Refundable payroll tax credits that are used for PPE or other protections for consumers and workers seems sensible to me,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group.
He suggested limiting any break based on how many workers a business employs, “to reduce how gameable it is,” and combining it with other stimulus, notably extending the $600 unemployment benefit that is set to expire at the end of July.
Bradenton Herald
July 2, 2020
Senate Democrats have released a plan to extend the extra $600 in weekly benefits for those who are unemployed. We talk to two economic experts about what impact that could have.
Scripps National News
July 2, 2020
“If you have millions of people who have a lot less money to spend, then they stop spending, they’re not buying the goods and services that they otherwise would have,” Economic Policy Institute Policy Director Heidi Shierholz told Cheddar. “And then the workers that would have provided those goods and services for them, they lose their jobs.”
Cheddar
July 2, 2020
On the other hand, critics of the deal argue that it was to blame for job losses and wage stagnation in the United States, driven by low-wage competition, companies moving production to Mexico to lower costs, and a widening trade deficit. The Center for Economic and Policy Research’s (CEPR) Dean Baker and the Economic Policy Institute’s Robert Scott argue that the surge of imports after NAFTA caused a loss of up to six hundred thousand U.S. jobs over two decades, though they admit that some of this import growth would likely have happened even without NAFTA.
Council on Foreign Relations
July 2, 2020