On the policy side, Robert E. Scott from the Economic Policy Institute explained NAFTA’s impact in December 2013: Former President Bill Clinton claimed that NAFTA would create an “export boom to Mexico” that would create 200,000 jobs in two years and a million jobs in five years, “many more jobs than will be lost” due to rising imports. The economic logic behind his argument was clear: Trade creates new jobs in exporting industries and destroys jobs when imports replace the output of domestic firms. Fast forward 20 years and it’s clear that things didn’t work out as Clinton promised. NAFTA led to a flood of outsourcing and foreign direct investment in Mexico. U.S. imports from Mexico grew much more rapidly than exports, leading to growing trade deficits, as shown in the Figure. Jobs making cars, electronics, and apparel and other goods moved to Mexico, and job losses piled up in the United States, especially in the Midwest where those products used to be made. By 2010, trade deficits with Mexico had eliminated 682,900 good U.S. jobs, most (60.8 percent) in manufacturing.
Salon
July 27, 2015
More than 8 million jobs were lost in the recession and while the economy has recouped those losses plus 3.5 million more, the population also has risen over those seven years, said Elise Gould, senior economist, Economic Policy Institute. Hiring has simply not caught up to where it should be. Participation has fallen because there aren’t enough jobs, she said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the weak labor market.”
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
July 27, 2015
EPI research associate Richard Rothstein’s blog post on the legacy of government-sponsored segregation was featured in a Huffington Post article on Baltimore’s racial tensions.
The Huffington Post
July 24, 2015
The Boston Globe highlighted data from EPI’s report on irregular scheduling, including the fact that about 17 percent of the workforce has an unstable work schedule.
The Boston Globe
July 24, 2015
The Wall Street Journal also cited findings from EPI’s recent report on CEO pay, including how average top CEOs now make over 300 times as much as typical workers.
Wall Street Journal
July 24, 2015
According to OppNet, less than 10 percent of low-income students who start college will graduate and find jobs. For all young graduates in 2014, the unemployment rate is 8.5 percent, with underemployment at 16.8 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
July 24, 2015
Robert Scott, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute called Rubio’s vision of the future “a pipe dream” at a time when the U.S. trade deficit is growing. “Foreign suppliers are eating the heart out of the manufacturing economy,” Scott said. “It’s not clear he understands what the trade deficit means for the economy.”
Reuters
July 24, 2015
According to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, the majority of Americans have faced wage stagnation for the past 35 years, and it is a major factor the rise of family income stagnation and income inequality. Furthermore, the failure of wages to grow highlights gender and racial wage gaps.
The Christian Science Monitor
July 24, 2015
Despite these tales of success, the current economy is one of the least promising for young workers. A May 2015 report by the Economic Policy Institute found that college graduates this year earn wages 2.5 percent less than what graduates earned in 2000. Furthermore, the unemployment rate for young college grads is 7.2 percent, and the underemployment rate, or rate of graduates working jobs they are overqualified for, is 14.9 percent. So is becoming a millionaire in today’s economy a one-in-a-million chance for young people? Some economic experts say it is. “The economy is a difficult place for them right now, and it is hard for them just to get by, let alone accumulate wealth,” says Alyssa Davis, an Economy Policy Institute research assistant and co-author of the report.
U.S. News & World Report
July 24, 2015
Since the start of 2014, 14 states have boosted their hourly rate, and the effective minimum wage has increased in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The minimum pay tops the federal mandate in 29 U.S. states. The numbers come from the Economic Policy Institute, which this week published an interactive map that shows where things stood as of July 10.
CBS Moneywatch
July 24, 2015