Media clips
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And even progressive economists like Josh Bivens aren’t sure whether a job guarantee is a good idea, mainly because they wonder whether the government can figure out how to manage large numbers of workers hired under the program and are uncertain about the cost. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty much with Bivens here, although I think he may be overstating the difficulties a bit; the goal of the jobs guarantee is laudable, but there are better ways to get there.
The New York Times July 9, 2018 -
A federal jobs guarantee is more problematic, and a number of progressive economists with significant platforms have argued against it: Josh Bivens, Dean Baker, Larry Summers. (Yes, Larry Summers: whatever you think of his role in the Clinton and Obama administrations, he’s a daring, unconventional thinker when not in office, with a strongly progressive lean.) And I myself don’t think it’s the best way to deal with the problem of low pay and inadequate employment; like Bivens and his colleagues at EPI, I’d go for a more targeted set of policies.
The New York Times July 9, 2018 -
Despite Wisconsin’s low unemployment rate, the economic insecurity that Mr. Walker and Mr. Trump exploited still exists. New research by David Cooper, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, has shown that much of Wisconsin’s job growth is in low-wage industries, which offer few, if any, benefits. “When you strip away their benefits and people see their standard of living shrinking, well, there’s anger there,” Mr. Schultz, the former state senator, told me.
The New York Times July 9, 2018 -
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing employees to opt out of paying fees to the unions who represent them will impact public-sector unions across the country, potentially weakening their collective bargaining power. But the 5-4 ruling in the case, known as Janus v. AFSCME, could have an especially bad impact on African-American women, according to an analysis done by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “The groups that most benefit from collective bargaining are those who are most vulnerable in the labor market,” says Economic Policy Institute Vice President John Schmitt. “The challenge for black women in the labor market is that they face double discrimination based on race and based on gender.” (John/EPI cited throughout)
Governing July 9, 2018 -
Recent figures from the Economic Policy Institute reveal that, despite the state’s overall economic recovery, things are still tight for many residents in Southern California. A family of two adults and two children in L.A. County, for example, needs to earn $92,295 a year to meet all of its living expenses, according to the institute’s Family Budget Calculator. That far outstrips the county’s median family income of $66,203 per year.
The Orange County Register July 9, 2018 -
Hispanic people now make up nearly 20% of the U.S. population, but compared to their white counterparts, they are still largely disadvantaged when it comes to wages. Since 2000, the wage gap between Hispanic workers and their peers has remained practically unchanged: Hispanic men working full time made 14.9% less in hourly wages in 2016 compared to white men (compared to 17.8% in 2000) and Hispanic women made 33.1% less than white counterparts (compared to 35.1% in 2000). The gap varies largely within the Hispanic community depending on a number of factors, Marie Mora, co-author on the study and professor of economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley said. (Marie quoted throughout)
MarketWatch July 6, 2018 -
Richard Rothstein, a former New York Times national education writer and senior fellow emeritus at the Economic Policy Institute who wrote “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America,” has written extensively about why affirmative action based on race remains important, especially for African Americans. He takes issue with those who have supported “color-blind” affirmative action that relies on socioeconomics. In 2014, he wrote (and you can read the entire piece here):
The Washington Post July 5, 2018 -
The promised economic boom never materialized in the other GOP-controlled states, either. According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, Wisconsin’s economy under Governor Walker underperformed neighboring Minnesota’s “by virtually every available measure,” including jobs, wages, and economic growth. In a study of Wisconsin and Kansas, Oklahoma State University economics professors Dan Rickman and Hongbo Wang found that, “[r]ather than spur growth…the experiments in fiscal austerity harmed the state economies.” In a yet-to-be-published follow-up comparing states that cut taxes between 2011 and 2016 (Kansas, Wisconsin, Maine, and Ohio) with two that raised them (California and Minnesota), Rickman and Wang found that virtually all of the tax-cutting states saw things decline. Conversely, the economies of states that raised taxes either weren’t hurt or showed improvement.
The Nation July 5, 2018 -
Moving usually isn’t cheap, and moving to a big city where the cost of living will trend higher can be intimidating. So, we’ve ranked Monster’s mid-year jobs report highlighting the top 10 hiring cities by cost of living. Monster’s list showcases which cities on its platform have the most job listings available; to give you an understanding of what it would actually be like to live there, we pulled figures from the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. EPI’s calculator measures the income a family needs “in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living.” They calculate the cost of transportation, housing, food, “other necessities” (which include apparel, personal care, household supplies), and more. We pulled the numbers for a single person with no children — but you can fiddle with it to see what that might be for a two-family household, one parent and one child, and so on.
Refinery 29 July 5, 2018 -
As of Sunday, minimum-wage workers in two states, the District of Columbia and 15 cities and counties were earning more due to scheduled increases passed through legislation or ballot measures. “As inflation has eaten away at the federal minimum wage’s value, many states, cities, and counties have stepped up to protect the workers in their jurisdictions,” David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), said in a statement. (Dave quoted throughout)
CBS Moneywatch July 3, 2018