Media clips
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Economist Elise Gould of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute says the 2.8 percent wage growth suggests that “workers may be starting to gain some leverage now.” And while she’s optimistic for more growth, the 2.8 percent growth still isn’t satisfactory. “Wage growth should be stronger than 3.5 percent. 2.8 is getting there, but the economy can certainly stand stronger wage growth, certainly after a time of very slow wage growth,” she said.
PBS News Hour November 4, 2016 -
“We’re not at full employment,” said Elise Gould, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. She says full employment means “typically marginalized groups also have opportunities in the economy ― not just on average, but at the bottom. Young and old workers alike, and black and white workers.” The prime-age employment to population ratio, which accounts for Americans who have dropped out of the workforce entirely and excludes workers under 24 and over 55, just surpassed the low point of the two downturns before the recent Great Recession. “We are seeing consistent ‘singles,’ to use a baseball term,” Gould said. “We need to keep seeing it month after month, and we will see all those workers on the sidelines come back to the job market.”
The Huffington Post November 4, 2016 -
Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute. Author of “Failure by Design” and “Everybody Wins, Except For Most of Us.” (@joshbivens_dc)
On Point November 3, 2016 -
The $12-an-hour level is significant because it brings the minimum wage roughly in line with its peak relative to the median wage touched in the late 1960s, said David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that favors minimum-wage increases.
The Wall Street Journal November 3, 2016 -
Building on these comments during the presidential debates, Trump added that African-Americans “are living in hell,” and reiterated that “they have no education” and “they have no jobs.” Experts told CNBC Trump’s analysis contains a grain of truth, but totally lacks in necessary nuance and historical context. “It is absolutely false to say that things are the worst that they have ever been,” said Valerie Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity and the economy. “We know that there are definitely communities in this country with excessively high rates of unemployment and poverty for African-Americans,” she added. “But that by no means can be applied to the African-American experience in general.”
CNBC November 3, 2016 -
That not only places a financial strain on families until their children are old enough to enroll in kindergarten, but it may be creating an education gap between poor American kids and wealthier families who can afford quality care. Children from less well-off families are entering kindergarten with lagging “non-cognitive” skills, such as self-control, and academic ability, a study from the Economic Policy Institute found last year… It might be hard to stomach higher taxes to pay for child care benefits, but it’s one area that has a high return on investment. The EPI noted that investing in early childhood education helps create a better-educated workforce. It would also help more parents remain in the labor market, rather than scaling back or leaving their job to become full-time parents.
CBS Moneywatch November 3, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute says survey evidence reveals that many workers have no idea they are bound by non-compete agreements, with fewer than one in five employees consulting an attorney before signing, and only about one in ten attempting to negotiate the terms of their agreement. And as Economic Policy Institute vice president Ross Eisenbrey notes, even when workers know about the clauses, it’s a choice “between taking a job and not taking it in a tough labor market that favors employers.”
The American Prospect November 3, 2016 -
“I think workers are aware of NAFTA, they are aware of the phenomenon of outsourcing, they see their plants closing, and they blame it on NAFTA because that is what they know,” said Robert Scott, senior economist of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute… Scott estimates that the U.S. lost more than 670,000 jobs as a direct result of NAFTA between 1993 and 2010. However, he said the U.S. lost more than 3.2 million U.S. jobs due to outsourcing to China over roughly the same period. “It’s not just NAFTA, it’s China, it’s trade with Japan, it’s the other Asian countries that are proposing to join us with TPP,” Scott said… “It would be pretty negative (for the U.S. economy) because it would not address our fundamental trade problems,” Scott said. “All it does is raises cost of imports.”
Detroit Free Press November 2, 2016 -
“Trade creates winners and losers. The winners think it’s a great thing,” said Robert Scott, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “Unfortunately, we’ve created many more losers than winners.”… Scott, the senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, calculates that the United States lost 5.2 million manufacturing jobs since 2000 from trade deals. It’s a statistic that Trump likes to use. But beyond opposing TPP, Scott differs greatly with the billionaire developer. “Trump is totally mistaken in calling for new or tougher trade deals,” he said. “The last thing we need is more trade deals, and I have zero confidence in the ability of a Trump administration to negotiate better trade deals.” Neither Trump nor Clinton has focused on “the critical issue of currency manipulation,” the ability of China, Germany and other countries to lower the value of their currency to make their products cheaper than U.S. goods. “Currency manipulation is the largest single cause of our $600 (billion) – $700 billion manufacturing trade deficit that’s cost millions of jobs,” Scott said. He said the Peterson Institute “grossly overvalues” TPP’s economic benefits, and points to an International Trade Commission report that indicates small gains over 15 years. “It’s a set of rules designed to shift an enormous amount of money from wages to profits,” he said. “This will increase the concentration of income and leave less money in the pockets of workers to buy anything else.”
Des Moines Register November 2, 2016 -
According to a 2013 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, 29.9 percent of cooks in US restaurants are noncitizens, as are 33 percent of dishwashers and 25.8 percent of table-bussers.
Mother Jones November 2, 2016