Media clips

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• What to watch for in the July jobs report

  In June, the unemployment rate for black men fell to its lowest level since the early 1970s. However, the lower unemployment rate was accompanied by a decrease in the black labor-force participation rate. That means the decline isn’t due to black men finding jobs, but rather a function of them leaving the labor force, said Valerie Wilson, an economist and director of the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity and the economy. More broadly, the labor-force participation rate for black men has stagnated in recent years. Also, weekly earnings for black men have declined since the start of 2019 despite slight growth in overall weekly earnings. Watch to see if these trends continue or if the tight labor market will pull in black-male workers.

  The Wall Street Journal August 5, 2019
• The robots are coming… what now? (with Heidi Shierholz and Daron Acemoglu

  With every technological advancement since the dawn of time, conventional wisdom has warned that technology and automation kills jobs. But robots aren’t the root cause of our problems. Although technology has always changed the nature of work, this week’s guests Heidi Shierholz and Daron Acemoglu argue that there is no evidence that it has led or will lead to overall increased joblessness, unemployment, or wage stagnation.

  Heidi Shierholz is a Senior Economist and the Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute. She was a Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor under President Obama from 2014 to 2017. Her research and insights on labor and employment policy, the effects of automation on the labor market, wage stagnation, inequality, and many other topics routinely shape policy proposals and inform economic news coverage.

  Pitchfork Economics August 5, 2019
• Fact check: CNN’s Democratic debate

  But even the high end of job loss estimates, from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, found that the change in trade status for China caused a loss of 3.4 million jobs between 2001 and 2017.

  August 5, 2019
• Higher taxes, more violence against black politicians during Reconstruction era

  (Along these lines, Jhacova Williams, an economist at the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, earlier this year presented a paper at an American Economic Association conference that finds black people have lower voter registration rates today in places with high numbers of lynchings from 1882 to 1930.)

  Journalist’s Resource August 5, 2019
• Average salary by age

  The cost of necessities is estimated at $43,458, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator.

  The annual cost of necessities for that family would be $55,432, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator.

  Credit Donkey August 5, 2019
• Are you poor? Here’s how poverty is defined

  The Economic Policy Institute has its own Family Budget Calculator that strives to measure the income necessary to maintain an adequate standard of living in specific locations, including paying for health care, transportation and housing. For two adults and two children in the Chicago area, for example, that amount would be nearly $89,000 annually, a vastly higher number than the federal poverty thresholds.

  Additionally, people may fall in and out of poverty during the course of their lifetimes. “It happens at different parts of the life cycle and at different times,” says Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank based in the District of Columbia. For example, one 2015 study found that, by age 60, 6 in 10 Americans will experience a year in poverty, defined by occupying the bottom 20th percentile of the income distribution. But, Gould adds, “If you come from a poor household, you’re more likely to be poor as an adult.”

  U.S. News August 5, 2019
• South Florida Dems working with Ted Cruz, Richard Blumenthal against human trafficking

  The bill has drawn additional support from both sides of the aisle including having U.S. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Ct., on board as cosponsors.   Groups backing the proposal include the AFL-CIO, the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), the American Federation of Teachers, the Economic Policy Institute, Freedom Network, Free the Slaves, Futures Without Violence, International Labor Recruitment Working Group (ILRWG), Justice in Motion, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Employment Law Project, National Guestworker Alliance, Polaris, Safe Horizon, Service Employee International Union (SEIU),  the Southern Poverty Law Center, UniteHERE, Verité and Vital Voices.

  Sunshine State News August 5, 2019
• Foreign students hired for summer jobs in US subjected to abuses, says study

  “The state department has no mandate or expertise on labor standards,” said Daniel Costa at the Economic Policy Institute. They outsource this to sponsor organizations for whom this is a business and who “have an incentive not to report”.

  The Guardian August 5, 2019
• Chase plans to screw its credit card holders next week. Here’s how to stop them from screwing you.

  As a paper by the Economic Policy Institute’s Ross Eisenbrey explains, individual workers forced into arbitration are less likely to prevail before an arbitrator than they are before a real judge. And when they do prevail, they typically receive far less money.

  Mandatory arbitration graphic.

  ThinkProgress August 5, 2019
• 8 startling facts that show just how hard the student-debt crisis is hurting black Americans

  Black college graduates ages 21 to 24 earn $3.34 less per hour than their white peers, reported Jillian Berman for MarketWatch, citing an analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. That contributes to a $7,000 annual difference.

  Business Insider August 5, 2019