U.S. imports totaled $2.9 trillion last year and exports $2.35 trillion, leaving a trade deficit of $550 billion. But Robert E. Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., said the U.S. economy overall is $20 trillion and doesn’t expect the tariffs to “move the dial.” “Even if tariffs double or triple, it remains a small part of the economy,” Mr. Scott said.
The Mercury News
July 16, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit think tank that researches “the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States,” according to its website, released a study this week that analyzed this legislation’s impact on workers. The study stated that, while the “unions are required to represent every employee covered by a union contract,” in states with Right to Work legislation “this, in practice, means providing expensive benefits to many workers who have not paid their fair share.” It also found that the average employee earned 3.1 percent less in hourly wages in Right to Work states than the average worker with similar characteristics in non-“Right to Work” states. (whole story)
The Mexico Ledger
July 13, 2018
If you feel like academic researchers waste time studying information that seems obvious, you’re not alone. For instance, a recent paper published on the website of the Economic Policy Institute concludes that whites continue to out-earn and have lower rates of unemployment than Hispanics. This has been the case for about four decades so will probably come as no surprise to anyone. Still, we can’t simply acknowledge these sad facts and move on. The details of the data tell a few stories that can guide us in shaping policy for the fastest-growing demographic segment of our workforce. (whole column)
Arizona Daily Star
July 13, 2018
According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which opposes right-to-work, the policy is not associated with job gains, but it is associated with wage losses.
The Kansas City Star
July 11, 2018
Through the deduction of unions, wages in right-to-work states decrease, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute found. The report also found the RTW laws do not increase job opportunities nor boost the economy. Janelle Jones and Heidi Shierholz from the Economic Policy Institute authored the report which focused on how RTW could impact Missouri by evaluating data from RTW and comparing that to data from non-RTW states. Then-Gov. Eric Greitens signed RTW into law, a concept he campaigned on, in February 2017. Labor unions and their supporters subsequently gathered the needed to signatures to put the issue to a statewide vote in 2018. In fact, they gathered nearly three times the number of needed signatures. (whole story)
The Missouri Times
July 11, 2018
U.S. News & World Report
July 10, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute and Professor of Economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Marie Mora and Professor and Dean of the Harrison College of Business at Southeast Missouri State University Alberto Dávila released today a report that looked at Hispanic–white wage gap among full-time workers, including how it is affected by gender, Hispanic subgroup, education level, birthplace, immigrant status, and generational status. The EPI an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States, said in a published press statement, that in 2017, Hispanic men working full-time made 14.9 percent less in hourly wages than comparable white men (an improvement from 17.8 percent in 2000), while Hispanic women made 33.1 percent less than comparable white men (a small improvement from 35.1 percent in 2000). This gap has remained wide and relatively steady since 2000, for Hispanic men and women overall and for most of the largest subgroups by national origin. (whole story)
The Scope Weekly
July 10, 2018
But the freakout over a worker shortage is premature, said Elise Gould, an economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute. “What’s surprising is not that employers may have to start increasing wages now as the labor market keeps tightening, but rather that they haven’t felt that pressure yet, despite an unemployment rate hovering around 4.0 percent,” Gould said in a blog post on Friday. (Elise quoted throughout)
The Huffington Post
July 9, 2018
No evidence of a skills shortage. Some recent reports have suggested that businesses can’t find qualified workers at the wages they’re offering — but this report “did not have any evidence to back up those claims,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “Not only did payroll employment increase by 213,000 — evidence that employers are finding workers — but wage growth held steady at a disappointing 2.7 percent — evidence that employers are not having to raise wages to attract and retain workers.” “As the labor market tightens we should see more businesses raisings wages, offering training, and hiring workers from all corners of the labor market,” she added.
PBS Newshour
July 9, 2018
First, even though the expansion is long in the tooth (since 1990, the average expansion has lasted eight years), there are still groups of people who have been left behind. For example, mid-level wage growth isn’t quite what we would expect given all these labor shortages we keep hearing about. As economist Elise Gould points out, anecdotes of widespread labor shortages are contradicted by the lack of much wage acceleration. True, employers almost always complain about labor shortages, but if firms have been struggling to attract more workers, why aren’t they raising wages more quickly to draw more people into the labor force or away from their competitors?
The Washington Post
July 9, 2018