To be sure, these numbers need context. Wages and incomes fell so far during the Great Recession that median household income, as measured by the Census Bureau, is today still barely above the level it reached in 1999. Furthermore, in 2013 the Census Bureau changed its formula, introducing new methodology that has tended to raise reported incomes. When the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, reworked the Bureau’s numbers to make the methodology consistent over time, it found that median household income was still slightly below its 2007 level. Even allowing for these qualifications, though, there is no doubt that incomes have jumped quite a bit since the end of 2014—coinciding with a drop in the jobless rate, from 5.6 per cent to 4.4 per cent. “It is quite impressive, the income growth of the last two years,” Larry Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, told me on Monday. “It points to the need to operate at very low levels of unemployment.” (Larry quoted throughout)
The New Yorker
September 19, 2017
In Alabama, parents can expect to pay an average of $470 per month for infant care, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. The same arrangement costs $975 in New York, $743 in Indiana and $1,886 in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Post
September 19, 2017
“If confirmed, Stanton will be tasked with holding employers accountable when they steal workers’ wages,” writes Celine McNicholas, labor counsel for the Economic Policy Institute. “Her history of siding against workers certainly raises the question of how vigorously she will approach this task.”
The American Prospect
September 19, 2017
California and New York have adopted minimum-wage increases. Last month, Oregon’s governor signed a scheduling bill similar to that sought by D.C. labor advocates. In May, New York City approved a law regulating the schedules of fast-food workers. “I think it’s purely an expression of frustration that lawmakers at higher levels of government haven’t taken up these issues,” said David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Cooper said some liberal cities in Republican-controlled states have run into trouble: When St. Louis boosted its minimum wage this year, Missouri state officials passed a bill to reverse the increase. It is less common, he said, for pro-labor legislators such as those in the District to unilaterally alter their agenda. “It would be unusual,” he said, “for D.C., among its peer group of fairly progressive cities, to come out and say they are going to ignore worker standards for the foreseeable future.”
The Washington Post
September 18, 2017
This, then, is both encouraging and disheartening news. But it turns out it might be even less encouraging and more disheartening than you think. That’s because, in all likelihood, middle-class incomes have not actually passed their previous tech bubble peak. In fact, they probably have not even passed their slightly lower housing bubble one. Why is that? Well, the Census changed its methodology a few years ago in a way that tends to make incomes look higher than they did before. So if you adjust for that, like the liberal Economic Policy Institute did, it turns out that real median incomes are still 1.6 percent below where they were in 2007, and 2.4 percent below where they were in 1999.
The Washington Post
September 18, 2017
According to Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, which maps inequality across the US, between 1979 and 2007, the average income of the bottom 99 per cent of US families grew by 18.9 per cent, while the average income of the top 1 per cent grew over 10 times as much – by 200.5 per cent. It’s at levels not seen since the late 1920s.
The Guardian
September 18, 2017
The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research organization based in Washington, estimated that without the change in methodology, median household income was still roughly 2.3 percent below the record high — and 1.6 percent below the level reached in 2007.
The New York Times
September 13, 2017
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said there were many positive aspects to the report but “we should not be popping the champagne corks”. According to the EPI’s analysis of Census states the median income of non-elderly households is still well behind the peak reached in 2000 at $69,890, and she said it was “problematic” that men’s wages had stalled in 2016. “I would say the report is sunny with a few clouds, if I had to use a metaphor,” said Gould. “But it is very likely that if trends continue, we will get back to the levels where we were.”
The Guardian
September 13, 2017
Josh Bivens, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, says Americans should be particularly concerned that a remade Fed might do less monitoring of Wall Street. “They’re going to be really hostile to financial-sector regulation,” Bivens says. “I think that’s absolutely going to be a key characteristic of people who are appointed.” Another worry Bivens has is that in the event of another recession, a firmly conservative Fed board may be less willing to employ the quantitative-easing strategies that the Fed did under Yellen.
The Atlantic
September 13, 2017
REPORT ALERT: The Economic Policy Institute is out with an analysis this week arguing for “a stronger federal role in infrastructure investment.” EPI’s Hunter Blair writes that the federal government is able to help states invest in infrastructure when the economy declines, has a better view of how infrastructure fits into a national network and can focus on issues like access.
Politico
September 13, 2017