Economy added 209,000 new jobs in July, Dept. of Labor says
Sinclair Broadcast Group
“Overall, this morning’s report shows the recovery continues, but with wage growth below target levels, it is abundantly clear that we have a ways to go before we reach genuine full employment—where workers including young and old, and workers of all races can fully benefit from the economy,” Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute said in a statement. (Tweet featured)
Sinclair Broadcast Group
August 4, 2017
Thanks largely to laws that raised the minimum wages in a number of states at the start of this year, the lowest-paid 10 percent of workers saw the fastest pay raise of any workers in the first half of this year. That group saw pay jump 5 percent between the first half of 2016 and the first half of this year, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Economic Policy Institute. Over the previous decade, their wages barely budged, while higher-paid workers saw gains. (EPI charts used, Elise quoted)
CBS Moneywatch
August 4, 2017
“We still don’t look like an economy that should still be raising interest rates, and we absolutely should not be raising interest rates in an autopilot kind of way,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
August 4, 2017
Strong jobs market boosts demographic groups that usually lag in employment
Marketplace/Mitchell Hartman
As unemployment continues to fall and employers scramble to find the workers they need, demographic groups that traditionally lag economically are benefiting. The unemployment rate for African-Americans fell to 7.1 percent in June, just shy of the all-time low of 7 percent hit in April 2000. Unemployment rates for young people and those with a high school education or less are also now at or near pre-recession lows. The Economic Policy Institute, meanwhile, reports that some of the strongest percentage gains in wages over the past year have been among those with less education and those at the bottom of the income ladder, indicating that minimum-wage hikes across the country are having an impact, and that employers are struggling to fill the lowest-skilled jobs in their organizations.
Marketplace
August 4, 2017
But the main causes are not immigration. The growing gap is driven by the increasing share of income that goes toward owners of capital, and by the explosion in executive pay even as worker pay stays flat. From 1978 to 2016, average, non-managerial worker pay at firms with 1,000 employees or more rose just 11.2 percent, compared with 937 percent growth in CEO pay, according to a July study by the progressive Economic Policy Institute. In 2016, CEOs of those firms made 271 times what their non-managerial workers made, on average, EPI found. … Meanwhile, in the 1950s, about 1 private sector worker in 3 belonged to a union, compared to about 1 in 5 today, according to EPI, which receives some of its funding from labor unions. A 2012 chart created by EPI shows that the rise in the share of income going to the top 10 percent tracks almost perfectly with the decline of union membership.
The Huffington Post
August 4, 2017
The Economic Policy Institute analyzed the real unemployment rate — people who have given up looking for a job, or are working part-time, but in need of full-time employment — for recent high school graduates between the ages of 17 and 20 and found extraordinarily high unemployment rates. Over 28% of young whites, nearly 30% of young Latinos and more than 42% of young African-Americans are unemployed. These outrageously high rates of youth unemployment are not only unacceptable: They are having a tragic impact on our society.
Mic
August 2, 2017
Black women have to work seven months into 2017 to be paid the same amount of money white men took home in 2016, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. Valerie Wilson, director of the institute, notes black women face both racial and gender pay gaps, and says because the U.S. economy depends on consumer spending the impacts are far reaching. “When we have a significant portion of our population and our workforce being under-compensated, that has a direct effect on the growth of our economy,” she explains. (whole story)
Public News Service
August 2, 2017
“Despite the large gender disadvantage faced by all women, black women were near parity with white women in 1979,” the Economic Policy Institute said. “However in 2016, white women’s wages grew to 76% of white men’s, compared to 67% for black women relative to white men – a racial difference of nine percentage points. The trend is going the wrong way – progress is slowing for black women.”
The Guardian
August 2, 2017
Josh Bivens, research director at the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute in Washington, said low-income workers who receive pay increases are likely to spend that extra income, stimulating economic growth, an effect called “middle-out economics.” “Wage increases at the middle and bottom are recycled back into the economy as spending on restaurants, clothes, cars — all things that support employment in other sectors of the economy,” Mr. Bivens said.
The New York Times
August 1, 2017
While the statistic that the “typical woman” only makes around 79 cents for every dollarearned by men is one that is frequently quoted (and, ignorantly, frequently denied…Yes, I’m talking to you, MRAs) this statistic does not encompass black women and therefore cannot adequately capture the struggle for equality of ALL women. Black women only make 67 cents to every dollar made by a white man. 67 f*cking cents. This unsettling fact is independent of education (black women are now the most educated group in America), occupation, and even accounts for the fact that black women actually work more hours than white women, according to the Economic Policy Institute. So while the “79 cents” statistic is so catchy that even Obama used it during his speeches, it leaves women of color behind in the fight for equality, once again. (EPI cited and charts used throughout)
The Huffington Post
August 1, 2017