However, some economists have said that a slight increase in the unemployment rate – from 4.9 percent to 5 percent, along with more workers (now 63 percent) participating in the labor market – could be a more hopeful sign. The increase could be “an indication that workers are feeling optimistic and are beginning to come off the bench and take some practice swings,” Elise Gould, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told the Guardian last month.
Christian Science Monitor
April 7, 2016
Left-leaning groups in favor of the Labor Department’s forthcoming overtime rule met with the White House Office of Management and Budget Tuesday. Those groups included the Economic Policy Institute, the National Employment Law Project, the Center for American Progress, AFSCME, the AFL-CIO, and the National Women’s Law Center. Billionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, who’s campaigned to expand overtime coverage, phoned in. OMB officials also met with Jimmy John’s’ franchisee association last Thursday.
Politico
April 7, 2016
Treasury’s new rules also seek to limit a feature of corporate inversion known as“earnings stripping,” in which the newly formed, foreign-based company lends money to its U.S.-based subsidiaries. When the U.S. company repays the debt, the interest on it is tax deductible, reducing the profits taxed at the higher U.S. tax rate. Meanwhile, the lower-taxed foreign company’s profits rise as it takes in the interest payments. Treasury would count several types of debt typically associated with this practice as equity, presumably limiting benefits of this practice. The progressive Economic Policy Institute argued that the earnings-stripping provision could have been more comprehensive, and speculated that companies will craft a new way around it.
The Huffington Post
April 6, 2016
In a new report published Wednesday, a group of economists argued the market alone can’t fix this problem. Researchers at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in the District, say daycare should become a national priority, a human right on par with public education, because it contributes to academic achievement gaps, among other unequal outcomes later in children’s lives.
In order to make high-quality child care — with well-trained staff and a cognitively enriching environment — available to all in the current system, many children would have to be crammed into the best day care centers and safety would have to be severely compromised, said co-author Josh Bivens, EPI’s research and policy director. “The easiest way,” he said, “would be to shove 70 kids in one class.”
The Washington Post
April 6, 2016
But some economists are concerned about remaining downward pressure on wages. “Wage growth continues to be below target levels, a sign that there continues to be substantial slack in the labor market,” the Economic Policy Institute’s Elise Gould notes.
Politico
April 5, 2016
See excerpt: While much attention has been focused this year on the increasing polarization of American politics, there are less visible signs that—at the grassroots level where communities are built—consensus is still possible. Here’s some good news: Last month in Joplin, Missouri, nearly 800 ordinary people gathered to share the extraordinary work that they and thousands of others like them are engaged in. Judging from the 200 or so school districts represented, they are part of a rapidly growing movement that could transform school systems, and the very definition of education, across the South and Midwest, and potentially beyond. The vision for school-community engagement that began in 2009, just two years before one of the worst tornadoes in US history ripped through Joplin, has blossomed into a growing initiative called, aptly, Bright Futures.
Moyers & Company
April 5, 2016
There are a variety of reasons that a college student might choose to pursue a liberal arts education over a STEM degree. Furthermore, although we continue to hear how popular STEM skills are, only about half of students graduating with a STEM degree land jobs in the field, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
New York Daily News
April 5, 2016
A 2014 report by the Economic Policy Institute found that parts of Massachusetts were especially hard-hit by imports of Chinese computer and electronic parts, and that Massachusetts lost more jobs to trade with China than all but eight states. Our 3rd Congressional District, which encompasses the Merrimack Valley, was among the top 20 most affected districts in the country.
WBUR
April 5, 2016
Studies on NAFTA’s impact tend to conflict. Sanders cites a report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute that says the trade deal with Canada and Mexico cost 800,000 American jobs, but a report from the Congressional Research Service called NAFTA’s impact “relatively modest.”
Buffalo News
April 5, 2016
Entering the workforce as a child care trainee will increase the incomes of most participating women above the average Clinton-Peabody $7,200 household income. But is clearly not a pathway out of poverty. The Economic Policy Institute reported in November 2015 that the median hourly wage for child care workers is $10.31, less than two-thirds of the median income for other occupations.
St. Louis Post Dispatch
April 5, 2016