Media clips
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Over the long term, people without a college degree, men in particular, have seen steeper falls in labor force participation, according to an Economic Policy Institute, or EPI, analysis, largely due to the decline in manufacturing and military jobs, mass incarceration, and a rise in opioid use. For Black men, the mass incarceration rates of the 1980s and 1990s, fueled by racist political rhetoric, hurt their labor force participation rates in particular.
But it’s also true that labor force participation for men in total has rebounded a bit during stronger economic times. Although the rate increased 0.3 percentage points per year for women and 0.1 percentage points per year for men, periods of high unemployment have been associated with declines in labor force participation for both men and women, the EPI report explained.
Elise Gould, senior economist at EPI, said policy makes a huge difference in how the fallout from economic crises affects different populations, and gave the Great Recession as an example.
“A lot of jobs were initially lost in areas like manufacturing and construction, so it was more men losing their jobs, but then you saw that when those jobs came back, it actually took much longer for the public-sector jobs to recover,” she said. “Austerity that was pursued in the aftermath of the Great Recession meant that then state and local governments didn’t have the funds they needed, and so a lot of those jobs, which were disproportionately women’s, didn’t come back in the same way.”
New Republic November 3, 2025 -
The alternative is dire. Without a policy change, the Economic Policy Institute found that 1.68 million New Yorkers would earn less than $30 an hour in 2030. This means 36.7% of the city’s workforce would not be earning a livable wage, without accounting for inflation or the rising costs of American goods. If anything, $30 by 2030 is not ambitious enough.
Next City October 31, 2025 -
What we’re reading:
HR Dive October 31, 2025 -
Paywall.
Portland Press Herald October 31, 2025 -
In September, Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told PLANSPONSOR that the limitation of investing Trump Account funds into U.S. equities goes against traditional investment advice that prioritizes diversification. While she praised the creation of the accounts for its potential to introduce more families to investing, she warned that limiting the investments would be detrimental.
“The accounts seem to be designed to make people fixate on the stock market,” she said. “They’re designed to make people see U.S. stocks as the most important thing in the economy, even as—ironically—the stock market represents a shrinking share of the overall economy.”
PlanSponsor October 31, 2025 -
Virginia’s search for a governor comes at a tumultuous time for the state. It’s been hit especially hard by the federal government shutdown and the slashing of federal jobs. Black Americans are about 26% of the federal workforce in Virginia, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and account for approximately 18% of the total state population, making Virginia one of the states with the highest Black populations.
Capital B October 31, 2025 -
The alternative is dire. Without a policy change, the Economic Policy Institute found that 1.68 million New Yorkers would earn less than $30 an hour in 2030. This means 36.7% of the city’s workforce would not be earning a livable wage, without accounting for inflation or the rising costs of American goods. If anything, $30 by 2030 is not ambitious enough.
Next City October 31, 2025 -
What we’re reading:
HR Dive October 31, 2025 -
Paywall.
Portland Press Herald October 31, 2025 -
In September, Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told PLANSPONSOR that the limitation of investing Trump Account funds into U.S. equities goes against traditional investment advice that prioritizes diversification. While she praised the creation of the accounts for its potential to introduce more families to investing, she warned that limiting the investments would be detrimental.
“The accounts seem to be designed to make people fixate on the stock market,” she said. “They’re designed to make people see U.S. stocks as the most important thing in the economy, even as—ironically—the stock market represents a shrinking share of the overall economy.”
PlanSponsor October 31, 2025