The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute took issue with the CBO’s projection of significant job loss, saying its own analysis has found the impact on employment to be negligible. “We believe that the CBO’s assumptions on the scale of job-loss are just wrong and inappropriately inflated relative to what cutting-edge economics literature would indicate,” EPI stated.
CBS News
February 9, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute, the labor-backed think tank, has studied the impact of raising the wage to $15 in every congressional district as a way of demonstrating the boon that it would mean for many workers. And the institute’s data indicates that many workers would benefit.
Roll Call
February 9, 2021
In his attempt to overcome the Byrd rule, Sanders has cited new studies from two sources with a history of highly partisan research in support of minimum-wage hikes. Authored by the Economic Policy Institute and Berkeley economist Michael Reich these studies claim that a $15 federal minimum wage would positively impact the federal budget by tens of billions of dollars per year through increased tax revenue and reduced costs for public-assistance programs. Reich claims hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would positively impact the federal budget to the tune of $65.4 billion a year.
The National Review
February 9, 2021
In a brief, researchers at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute noted potential upsides for workers the CBO report highlights. They pointed out that the estimates show the policy would benefit 27 million workers and increase wages by $333 billion between 2021 and 2031, with much of the added income flowing to lower earners.
The $333 billion figure is based on estimates that the policy would result in $509 billion of higher hourly pay, which would be offset by $175 billion in wage losses due to fewer jobs.
EPI’s experts disagreed with CBO’s estimates on how the wage policy could hurt employment. “We believe that the CBO’s assumptions on the scale of job-loss are just wrong and inappropriately inflated relative to what cutting-edge economics literature would indicate,” they wrote.
Route Fifty
February 9, 2021
Increasing minimum pay levels “would disproportionately raise the incomes of families at the bottom of the income distribution and would meaningfully reduce the number of families in poverty,” the Economic Policy Institute said in a recent paper.
CNBC
February 9, 2021
Congress last passed a minimum-wage increase in 2007. The current federal minimum, $7.25 an hour, is about 29 percent below its 1968 peak when adjusted for inflation, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. David Cooper, an economic analyst at the institute, said 29 states and the District of Columbia have higher minimums, and seven states plus the District of Columbia were phasing in the $15-an-hour threshold.
Progressives see the wage increase as a central weapon for fighting poverty and inequality, while conservatives often warn it will reduce jobs.
The report in essence said both sides were right. It found a $15 minimum wage would offer raises to 27 million people and lift 900,000 people above the poverty line, but it would also cost 1.4 million jobs.
Mr. Cooper disputed the jobs forecast, arguing that it was out of line with recent studies that showed increases in the minimum wage had produced little or no effect on employment. “C.B.O. seems to be going in the opposite direction,” he said.
The New York Times
February 9, 2021
But I can hear you supply-siders out there asking whether that gain is offset by lower tax revenues from the wealthy. The short answer is “not really.” The CBO believes that, ultimately, the bill for a minimum wage hike would be paid by higher-income people. According to a blog post by several economists at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, income losses would be concentrated, under the CBO’s analysis, on families whose average income is $232,800 (actually a little bit more, because that’s in 2018 dollars).
The New Republic
February 9, 2021
Another study from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found the wage hike would reduce expenditures on public assistance programs by $13.4 billion to $31 billion and boost payroll tax revenue by $7 billion to $13.9 billion.
“The bottom line is that the CBO finds that the benefit to low-wage workers of raising the minimum wage far outweighs the cost,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at EPI, on a Monday call with reporters.
CNBC
February 9, 2021
But proponents argue that better-quality studies tend to show that increases in the minimum wage do not hurt employment.
“We believe that the CBO’s assumptions on the scale of job loss are just wrong and inappropriately inflated relative to what cutting-edge economics literature would indicate,” said a team of experts from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
The CBO did not properly weight the higher-quality studies in its analysis, said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the institute.
CNN
February 9, 2021
Heidi Shierholz, director of policy for the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, said the CBO’s estimates of job losses “are highly questionable” and gave too much weight to inferior studies used in its analysis. Those exaggerated claims of job losses, she said, in turn results in higher projected costs for the government.
And even if those costs are accepted, she said, the benefits would be “enormous” in terms of reducing poverty and inequality.
Roll Call
February 9, 2021
Some progressive economists were quick to say the report’s estimates on job losses were too high. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released an analysis of the report saying those assumptions “are just wrong and inappropriately inflated relative to what cutting-edge economics literature would indicate.”
Huffpost
February 9, 2021
Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the main proponents of the $15 minimum wage, unsurprisingly attempted to do just that, instead citing the left-wing Economic Policy Institute’s estimates. More absurdly, Sanders tried to claim this was good news because it showed that the bill had an impact on the deficit and thus could be passed with a simple majority in the Senate through the parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation.
Washington Examiner
February 9, 2021
The budget agency’s job-loss projection was viewed as extremely questionable by progressive economists and out of line with recent research on the effects of minimum wage increases. Josh Bivens, David Cooper, Heidi Shierholz, and Ben Zipperer of the Economic Policy Institute wrote Monday that “the CBO’s assumptions on the scale of job-loss are just wrong and inappropriately inflated relative to what cutting-edge economics literature would indicate.”
Common Dreams
February 9, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute reported that the minimum wage, if adjusted for inflation, should have exceeded $15 by 2020.
“Yet since the late 1960s, lawmakers have let the value of the minimum wage erode, allowing inflation to gradually reduce the buying power of a minimum wage income,” according to the group’s 2019 report.
The Independent
February 9, 2021
The report also found that the federal budget deficit would increase by $54 billion from 2021 to 2031 if the $15 minimum wage were enacted. That’s because the government would pay higher prices for goods and services that stem from the higher wages paid to workers, the CBO found.
“There is good reason not to accept CBO’s analysis” that a $15 minimum wage would increase the budget, said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
“It’s really not a stretch to say that a new consensus has emerged amongst economists that minimum-wage increases have raised wages without substantial job loss,” she said on a call with reporters. (Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shares in these views.)
The CBO’s 1.4-million job loss estimate is likely overstated, hence the federal government would not need to spend more money to fund social welfare programs such as unemployment insurance and medicare if fewer people were unemployed, Shierholz added.
MarketWatch
February 9, 2021
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, among other worker advocates, disputed some of the CBO’s findings, arguing there would be little to no effect on employment and the budget deficit would shrink rather than grow.
USA Today
February 9, 2021
“It’s bad for individuals, it’s bad for human suffering, harms the overall economy and drags this [downturn] out even more,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former chief economist at the Labor Department.
CNBC
February 9, 2021
Last month, an independent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that the legislation would increase wages for almost 32 million Americans, over 20% of the nation’s workforce. This includes roughly a third of all Black workers and a quarter of all Latino workers. Nearly 60% of those who would benefit would be women.
“The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 is not just moral policy, it is also good economics,” Economic Policy Institute economist Ben Zipperer posted on Jan. 26. “This injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth.”
Courthouse News Service
February 9, 2021
The minimum wage hike would double the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. It hasn’t risen in 12 years. The Economic Policy Institute calculates the increase would put $3,300 in the pockets of each of 32 million workers—22% of the U.S. workforce.
People's Weekly World
February 9, 2021
In a simple comparison of weekly wages (thus accounting for summers off), the Economic Policy Institute found that, between 2013 and 2017 in the U.S., a public school teacher with a bachelor’s degree earned a weekly average of $980, whereas a comparable non-teaching college graduate earned an average of $1,326 per week. There is clearly a disparity here, especially considering a teacher’s workday is often longer than the typical school day.
UConn Daily Campus
February 9, 2021
The CBO says Medicaid spending would increase, in part, because so many care workers would receive raises.
“We certainly hope they are right, and, since the costs are already accounted for in the cost estimate, we urge state policymakers to hold Medicaid services constant in the face of higher labor costs,” said the Economic Policy Institute in a statement. “The care workforce provides extraordinarily valuable services yet is among the most underpaid in the economy, due largely to historical legacies of racial and gender discrimination. The pay increase this workforce would get under a higher federal minimum wage would be among the most valuable outcomes of making this law.”
Yahoo Finance
February 9, 2021
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, among other worker advocates, disputed some of the CBO’s findings, arguing there would be little to no effect on employment and the budget deficit would shrink rather than grow.
USA Today
February 9, 2021
“It’s bad for individuals, it’s bad for human suffering, harms the overall economy and drags this [downturn] out even more,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former chief economist at the Labor Department.
CNBC
February 9, 2021
Last month, an independent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that the legislation would increase wages for almost 32 million Americans, over 20% of the nation’s workforce. This includes roughly a third of all Black workers and a quarter of all Latino workers. Nearly 60% of those who would benefit would be women.
“The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 is not just moral policy, it is also good economics,” Economic Policy Institute economist Ben Zipperer posted on Jan. 26. “This injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth.”
February 9, 2021
The minimum wage hike would double the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. It hasn’t risen in 12 years. The Economic Policy Institute calculates the increase would put $3,300 in the pockets of each of 32 million workers—22% of the U.S. workforce.
People's Weekly World
February 9, 2021
In a simple comparison of weekly wages (thus accounting for summers off), the Economic Policy Institute found that, between 2013 and 2017 in the U.S., a public school teacher with a bachelor’s degree earned a weekly average of $980, whereas a comparable non-teaching college graduate earned an average of $1,326 per week. There is clearly a disparity here, especially considering a teacher’s workday is often longer than the typical school day.
UConn Daily Campus
February 9, 2021
The CBO says Medicaid spending would increase, in part, because so many care workers would receive raises.
“We certainly hope they are right, and, since the costs are already accounted for in the cost estimate, we urge state policymakers to hold Medicaid services constant in the face of higher labor costs,” said the Economic Policy Institute in a statement. “The care workforce provides extraordinarily valuable services yet is among the most underpaid in the economy, due largely to historical legacies of racial and gender discrimination. The pay increase this workforce would get under a higher federal minimum wage would be among the most valuable outcomes of making this law.”
Yahoo Finance
February 9, 2021
That CBO report dropped yesterday, and there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is it’s just a terrible report. It assumes that, while 27 million people would get a raise, there would be 1.4 million jobs lost (over 10 years, so that sounds a lot bigger than it is). That plays havoc with all the budgetary implications. There are higher unemployment insurance costs, higher interest on the national debt, and higher prices for goods and services baked in. Basically CBO tried to model the entire economy and national expenditures based on this one change.
It also based that model on arbitrarily choosing seven research studies about minimum wage increases and then over-emphasizing the negative ones, as Arin Dube explains. If CBO used the methodology it used in 2019 to look at a previous minimum wage bill, it would have shown a 1.1 million job loss. Instead it showed 1.4 million, and that drift is completely at odds with the latest research. A fiery call from the Economic Policy Institute yesterday savaged the CBO score. “Normally we don’t like to yell at the referees,” said AFL-CIO economist Bill Spriggs. “But in this regard, the CBO has stepped outside its bounds and is not speaking truth to power, but is giving information that is misleading.”
The American Prospect
February 9, 2021
Las autoras del estudio son Emma García, economista del Economic Policy Institute y Teachers College, de la Universidad de Columbia, y Elaine Weiss, directora de políticas de la National Academy of Social Insurance e investigadora del Economic Policy Institute.
La Opinion
February 9, 2021
“La pandemia expuso las desigualdades que ya estaban presentes”, dijo a Univision Noticias Daniel Pérez, economista del Economic Policy Institute.
Salarios bajos, discriminación, poco acceso a beneficios como un seguro de salud o licencias en caso de emergencias familiares y menos posibilidades de trabajar desde casa y evitar así enfermarse con covid-19, les han hecho más difícil enfrentar la crisis.
…
Si bien en enero la economía de Estados Unidos creó 49,000 empleos, en el rubro del ocio y en el minorista, por ejemplo, hubo un declive en la cantidad de puestos trabajo: de 61,000 en el primer caso y 37,800 en el segundo.
“No veo que se dé una recuperación pronto. Creo que será una recuperación lenta y dolorosa para los latinos que trabajan en las industrias en la primera línea, salvo que haya una red de seguridad más robusta y se concreten las promesas hechas por la nueva administración a esos trabajadores”, explicó Pérez.
Univision
February 9, 2021