“What you’re seeing in Seattle is consistent with what we have seen in this country for virtually the entire period since the 1970s,” said Heidi Shierholz, policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank. In the post-World War II period, income inequality was declining. But at some point in the 1970s, wage stagnation set in for lower- and middle-income workers, while the top tier of earners began pulling away from everyone else. Economists point to a variety of reasons for this. Shierholz believes none is more significant than the decline of unions, and not just because union jobs have higher pay and better benefits. (Heidi quoted throughout)
The Seattle Times
November 17, 2017
“The tax plan passed today by the House of Representatives is a flat giveaway to America’s richest households and corporations,” argued Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute in a statement. “Most of the same people who cast this vote to deprive the government of tax revenue will now cynically pivot and start wringing their hands about the federal budget deficit, arguing that vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid must be slashed.”
Common Dreams
November 17, 2017
EPI: OVERTIME AT $31K ISN’T ENOUGH: The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute calculates that nine million fewer workers would be eligible for overtime if the Trump administration, rather than raise the salary threshold to $47,476, as the blocked Obama rule did, instead raised it to $31,000. Why $31,000? Apparently that number is being bruited about at DOL because it represents the 2004 threshold adjusted for inflation. (Note that it’s a bit lower than the $33,000 threshold that Acosta mentioned at his confirmation hearing.)
EPI estimates that the Obama rule would have “provided new or strengthened overtime protections to 12.5 million workers.” If the Trump administration went with a $31,000 threshold instead, that would extend overtime protection to only 3.4 million additional workers, EPI said. Read the analysis here.
Politico Pro
November 16, 2017
Economists tend to be much more skeptical. Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute dismisses fears of technological unemployment, pointing to data that suggests this particular scenario is nowhere in sight. (Heidi speaks throughout)
VOX
November 16, 2017
Hunter speaks at 1:00 mark.
“This money can be used to pay for Medicaid, to strengthen Medicare, pay for roads, bridges, infrastructure,” said Hunter Blair, a budget analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. He says the GOP tax plan is designed to help the wealthy. He says the current estate tax exemption level is already too high. “Raising the exemption level, more of a give away to the richest estates, it doesn’t seem like a good idea,” said Blair.
Gray TV
November 16, 2017
Employment arbitration agreements are increasingly popular, as employers try to keep cases out of court. The liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimates as many as 60 million American workers have signed one, even if they didn’t read the fine print.
NPR
November 16, 2017
Rising incomes for lower- and middle-earners may help reduce inequality, especially if wage growth for higher-earners remains subdued. A recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think-tank, found that real wages for the top 1% of earners fell by 3.1% in 2016, and were lower that year than they were in 2007. As workers’ wages grow, firms’ profit margins may also come under pressure, reducing, somewhat, the capital income of the rich. Texas Roadhouse, a chain of steak restaurants, recently warned investors that it expects its wage bill to grow by 7-8% in 2017.
The Economist
November 15, 2017
The Washington Post
November 15, 2017
That point is broadly true. Wage growth has been relatively flat for decades, but after the recession hovered around 2 percent, as data from the Economic Policy Institute shows. Had wages grown at 3.5 percent after the recession — the pace wage growth saw before the recession — hourly earnings would be about 12 percent higher. (chart included)
The Washington Post
November 13, 2017
“Boosting productivity growth…will not lead to broad-based wage gains unless we pursue policies that reconnect productivity growth and the pay of the vast majority,” Larry Mishel and Josh Bivens of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute wrote in 2015. Mr. Mishel is co-creator of a chart illustrating the post-1973 divergence between productivity and pay that has achieved iconic status on the left. (Larry quoted throughout)
The Wall Street Journal
November 13, 2017