In fact, economists like Valerie Wilson, director of the program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute told Newsweek that the decline can be attributed to the financial recovery process moving forward since the recession under former President Barack Obama and low federal interest rates—and not Trump. “Recovery was well underway before he came into office,” she said. “All he had to do was not do anything to reverse the process.” (Valerie quoted throughout)
Newsweek
January 8, 2018
The unemployment rate fell over the course of last year, from a high of 4.8 percent in January — President Donald Trump’s first month in office — to 4.1 percent in December. There’s room for the unemployment rate to fall even more, according to Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. In 2017, “the unemployment rate averaged 4.4 percent. But in 2000, the unemployment rate averaged 4.0 percent, and indeed fell below that for five months—with much higher rates of labor force participation and no pronounced acceleration of inflation,” Gould said. “Given that inflation remains below the Fed’s preferred target today, it seems safe to say that the unemployment rate can continue to fall.” (Elise quoted throughout)
PBS News Hour
January 8, 2018
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, noted that December marked the 10th anniversary of the start of the last recession. “While by some measures the economy has recovered, the topline numbers mask important differences in the experiences of working people,” she said. “Employers should be lining up for workers – instead of workers competing for jobs.”
The Guardian
January 8, 2018
Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, warned that the economy still hasn’t fully recovered from the Great Recession. “[Job creation] is fast enough to keep up with population growth and even pull some workers in off the sidelines—but it is, notably, the slowest year for job growth since 2010,” she said in a statement. (Elise quoted throughout)
New York Observer
January 8, 2018
The year’s monthly average of 171,000 new jobs is below the previous year’s. “[I]t is, notably, the slowest year for job growth since 2010,” Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said in a note. However, lower-paid and less-educated workers are finally making gains after not seeing much improvement in the past few years, with unemployment ticking down slightly for those with only a high school degree, to 4.2 percent.
CBS Moneywatch
January 8, 2018
During previous times of a similar unemployment rate, the share of people in the workforce was much higher, said Elise Gould, economist for the Economic Policy Institute. In 1998, 81.2 percent of the people in their prime working years were in the workforce. In 2006-07, 80.1 percent of “prime-age” Americans were in the workforce.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
January 8, 2018
This marks the 87th consecutive month of employment growth. Nonfarm employment increased by 174% per month on average from January to November 2017, according to the Economic Policy Institute…. Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, argues that ten years after the Great Recession, the economy has still not returned to 2007 benchmarks or the healthier levels of economic indicators in 2000.
Fortune
January 8, 2018
“While by some measures the economy has recovered, the top-line numbers mask important differences in the experiences of working people,” said Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould. “Wages need to grow much faster,” continued Gould, “and for a sustained period of time, before it’s safe to say we’ve fully recovered.”
Press Associates Union News Service
January 8, 2018
This month, Thea Lee took over as president of the Economic Policy Institute, America’s premier left-wing economic think tank. We spoke to her about Trumponomics and the fight for equality. Lee spent two decades as an economist at the AFL-CIO, America’s largest federation of unions, before taking over as head of EPI—a group that produces some damn good charts. She will have her work cut out for her. (Interview with Thea)
Splinter News
January 5, 2018
All told the new laws will create an additional $5 billion in annual wages for 4.5 million workers nationwide, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington, D.C think tank.
Market Watch
January 5, 2018