Media clips
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While unemployment and poverty figures in the black community are much worse than the national average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics roughly 92 percent are active participants in the workforce and the Economic Policy Institute reports that 72 percent of African-Americans live above the poverty line. And Politifact has concluded that black teen unemployment is nowhere near the 58-59 percent Trump has been claiming.
NBC News August 24, 2016 -
In a paper released Monday, Dartmouth College’s Andrew Levin, a top adviser to former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke; Jordan Haedtler of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up campaign; and the Economic Policy Institute’s Valerie Wilson delved into the details of what they believe would make a modern American central bank that is fully responsive to the needs of the entire population.
Wall Street Journal August 23, 2016 -
Andrew Levin, who spent two decades at the central bank and was at one point a special adviser to former Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Vice Chair Janet Yellen, teamed up with officials at the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for Popular Democracy, detailing tweaks and adjustments that they feel would make the Fed more accountable, more efficient and more inclusive. The report, first profiled by The Wall Street Journal, details a host of grievances that boil down to two primary categories – accountability and diversity. The details of these complaints are broken down below:
US News and World Report August 23, 2016 -
What is beyond doubt, however, is that Hillary Clinton supports raising the federal minimum wage to at least $12 per hour. Trump does not. And the Economic Policy Institute has calculated that 35 percent of African American workers would see their wages rise, directly or indirectly, due to a hike to $12. “There’s no question that African Americans would disproportionately benefit from a raise in the minimum wage, as Hillary Clinton has proposed,” says David Cooper, the EPI economist who wrote the minimum wage study. “Trump has never articulated any coherent stance on the minimum wage.”
The Washington Post August 23, 2016 -
But we can leave Syrian refugees the hell out of this debate? There are so few of them, and their arrival to these shores is really late to the whole wage stagnation party, which, as the Economic Policy Institute points out at length, has been going strong for a long time now. As you can see, wage stagnation is not something that started 15 years ago, despite what Eric Trump thinks. Rather, as the Economic Policy Institute notes, it’s been a going concern for about four decades now. But we’ve not had masses of Syrian refugees coming to this country for 15 years, either. The Syrian refugee crisis has only heated up since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. During that time, the United States has endeavored to provide refuge for Syrians fleeing certain death. But of the some 5 million Syrians who have left their country, very few have made it to these shores… But hey, “Syrian refugees have contributed to decades of stagnant wages” is a new one. (To be honest, the Trump campaign criticizing the lack of wage growth is a new one, as well.) Suffice it to say, as the Economic Policy Institute points out, “wage stagnation is largely the result of policy choices that boosted the bargaining power of those with the most wealth and power,” and that “better policy choices, made with low- and moderate-wage earners in mind, can lead to more widespread wage growth and strengthen and expand the middle class.” (includes embedded chart)
Huffington Post August 23, 2016 -
There’s certainly room to debate whether free trade policies have benefited the United States’ white working class, and the economy in general. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimated 1993’s North American Free Trade Agreement displaced nearly 880,000 U.S. jobs through 2002, as well as contributed to rising inequality and hurt organized labor.
Mic August 23, 2016 -
While the growth of this industry of jobs is irrefutable, some experts such as Ronil Hira, research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, aren’t impressed by these numbers in context.” Given the large amount of IT spending by all companies and the outsized role that IT plays in consumers’ lives, employment in the sector should be much higher,” he said, citing recent layoffs and the trend of offshoring IT jobs to less expensive countries as examples showing that the industry might be more unstable than the report suggests. Cisco announced 5,500 layoffs last week on the heels of Intel’s 12,000 layoffs and Dell’s 10,000 worker cuts, adding to a total of 63,000 IT job cuts this year alone. Hira said many of these jobs are going abroad to places such as India. “The next generation of IT jobs will be created in those countries rather than the U.S.,” he said. Hira said he is also concerned about the IT field’s tendency to hire young, foreign-born workers. The census report shows that more than half of all IT workers are between the ages of 25 and 44 and that 24 percent are foreign-born. Hira said that a number of these employees are guest workers employed under H1-B or L-1 visas. These workers tend to be young, male and, despite being highly skilled, are employed in the United States under uncertain conditions and at considerably lower pay. While the census report does not dive into the number of IT workers who have guest visas, EPI’s own analysis has estimated that some two-thirds of all new hires each year are working under guest worker visas.” This drives down wages and harms working conditions for Americans and immigrants alike because H-1B workers are paid less,” Hira said. “It reduces incentives to make IT more inclusive demographically, and reduces incentives to invest in training and retraining for incumbent workers.”
The Washington Post August 22, 2016 -
NAFTA critics say numerous U.S. jobs have been lost over the past two decades because of the trade deficit with Mexico. The pro-labor Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., estimates that 850,000 U.S. jobs were displaced from 1993 to 2013 as a result of the deficit. “There’s no question that NAFTA led to a great wave of outsourcing of domestic production, and it encouraged firms to move hundreds of thousands of jobs from the U.S. to Mexico,” said the EPI’s Robert Scott, whose research often has been used in political campaigns… The Economic Policy Institute has reported that 2.4 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost from 2001 to 2013 due to a rising trade deficit with China. A study by Yale’s Caliendo and two other economists came up with a lower number, estimating 800,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs lost to the opening of trade with China… Though not supportive of NAFTA, Scott of the Economic Policy Institute said he does not advocate renegotiating the treaty. “It’s a done deal,” he said, adding that “we could do more to help Mexico grow and that would build demand for U.S.-made manufacturing products.”
San Diego Union Tribune August 22, 2016 -
Now compare the BLS figures in the chart above with estimates for jobs lost due to foreign competition. According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, in the 12 years from December 2001 to December 2013, 3.2 million jobs have been lost in the U.S. due to the merchandise trade deficit with China. That figure is a third higher than the estimate of 2.4 million over a similar period in a widely cited study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor David Autor and others.
Wall Street Journal Barron’s August 22, 2016 -
An estimated 2 million domestic workers are in the country, 93 percent are women and one-third are immigrant, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Household employees, including maids and cooks, weren’t included in 1930s labor law, though federal rules have since changed.
The Associated Press August 22, 2016