Income inequality has risen in every state since the 1970s. That’s according to a new report published by the Economic Policy Institute — a left-leaning non-profit think tank. The most unequal metro area is right here in our region. Places like Wall Street or Silicon Valley might come to mind when it comes to the highest incomes in the country. However, in 2015, the top 1 percent of earners living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming made 132 times the average income of the bottom 99 percent. (whole story)
KUNC
July 31, 2018
A coalition of labor, environmental and human-rights groups opposed China’s admission to the WTO. Robert Scott, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed research group, cranked out alarming numbers. In 2000, he forecast that nearly a million U.S. manufacturing jobs would be lost to Chinese competition.
The Wall Street Journal
July 30, 2018
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, said there is “little in these six months of data to indicate that American economic growth has moved off the same trend that has characterized most of the post-Great Recession recovery.”
Think Progress
July 30, 2018
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, agreed that growth at this level is not sustainable in the long run. “Economic growth is determined by the labor force and productivity and no one thinks productivity is going to rise more than 1.5 or 2 percent and no one thinks the labor force can grow faster than 1 percent,” he told Newsweek.
Newsweek
July 30, 2018
Josh Bivens, director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), wrote that the GDP data combined with the 2.2 percent figure from the first three months of the year point to a trajectory in line with growth that has been typical since the last recession. “There is little in these six months of data to indicate that American economic growth has moved off the same trend that has characterized most of the post-Great Recession recovery,” he wrote.
Lifezette
July 30, 2018
“I’m going to need to see a sustained period of higher than trend growth before I declare with any certainty declare anything different has happened here,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute. Moreover, since the economic recovery began in mid-2009, there have been four quarters where gross domestic product peaked above 4.1 percent, leaving economists like Bivens unconvinced. (Josh quoted throughout)
Circa
July 30, 2018
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute is of the similar opinion, and asserts that economic growth is determined by labor force, and productivity, neither of which are growing fast enough. The GDP growth, the two economists pointed out, is not unusual, and not nearly as revolutionary as Trump has repeatedly suggested.
The Inquisitr
July 30, 2018
Josh Bivens, an analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, said the second-quarter growth level has been reached or exceeded four other times since the recovery began in 2009.
Click Lancashire
July 30, 2018
“Heavy-handed and punitive work tests for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and Medicaid will do little to nothing to boost employment for low-wage workers,” said Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Research Director Josh Bivens. “If policymakers were acting in good faith and actually wanted to increase stable employment opportunities for these workers, they would instead consider policies that aim to make work pay better and that provide supports such as paid leave and child care.” As the federal government and many state legislators debate instituting work-hours tests of programs like SNAP and Medicaid, Bivens and Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Shawn Fremstad evaluated the likely outcomes of imposing such tests in a new paper, and found that such measures are “excessively rigid and seem designed to maximize failure rather than to help working-class people succeed.” (whole story)
Uprising RI
July 30, 2018
Colorado ranks 20th in the nation in income inequality, and it takes a $458,576 yearly income to be in the top 1 percent of earners in the state, according to a new report out earlier this month from the Economic Policy Institute. The report found that the top 1 percent of earners bring in 17.2 percent of the income in Colorado, and though it takes nearly a half-million dollars to crack to top 1 percent, the average income of those people is closer to $1.2 million, the report found. (whole story)
The Denver Channel
July 30, 2018