The report does not provide detailed information about those entering or returning to the labor force. Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute says that by age distribution they appear to mirror the active workforce as a whole: 72 percent are prime-age working adults, age 25 to 54. “The uptick [in the labor force] may be disproportionately more Hispanic workers and white workers, and fewer black workers,” Gould says.
Marketplace
February 9, 2015
“This is a solid start to the New Year, and could be a sign that the economy has shifted into a slightly higher gear,” said Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute. Jobs gains were distributed across a wide range of industries—with significant increases in construction, manufacturing, financial activities and retail—suggesting that the employment growth is broad-based and headed in the right direction. January marks the 59th straight month of job growth, continuing the longest streak on record.
The strong jobs report may fuel concerns about the timing of Federal Reserve’s anticipated rate hike later this year. The Fed has indicated that it would wait for further signs of accelerated economic growth before raising interest rates. Gould, however, believes that such a move would be premature. “Nominal average hourly earnings grew 2.2% annually in January,” she said. “Wages need to grow faster, and for long time, before we can say the economy is truly working for working people—and before the Federal Reserve should think about tapping the brakes.”
MSNBC
February 9, 2015
Ed Schultz explains how trade deficits hurt American jobs and the economy, making the TPP one of the most dangerous deals for middle class families.
The Ed Show
February 6, 2015
In a paper released Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute, economist Robert E. Scott quantified these concerns, estimating that the U.S. economy has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs to countries like Mexico and South Korea because free trade agreements with those nations did not include provisions that prevented currency manipulation. Of the nations participating in the TPP negotiations, Japan is by far America’s biggest trading partner. And according to Scott’s analysis, the U.S. trade deficit with Japan has cost America $125.3 billion in GDP and “displaced 896,600 U.S. jobs” in 2013 alone.
Fortune
February 6, 2015
The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, has come up with an unemployment rate based on missing workers, those who are unemployed and not looking for a job because of poor job opportunities. If those jobless workers were looking and were part of the calculation, the unemployment rate would have been 9.1 percent in December, senior economist Elise Gould said. She said that while the official unemployment number is useful, “it is only one piece of the story.” “There is no one [unemployment] measure. We need to look at all of them in context together,” Ms. Gould said.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
February 6, 2015
Relatively few workers earn the minimum wage. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that about 2.5 million workers received raises at the start of the year, when including New York, which set a higher wage on Dec. 31, 2014. RBS economists say the number could be closer to three million, but that still accounts for just 3% of all private-sector employees.”
Wall Street Journal
February 5, 2015
Tokyo’s currency manipulation was the biggest cause in the U.S.-Japan goods trade deficit of $78.3 billion in 2013, according to the report by Robert Scott, the Economic Policy Institute’s director of trade and manufacturing policy research. Scott argues that because of the growing deficit, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should include measures to address currency manipulation by Japan and other nations.
The Hill
February 5, 2015
The controversy over President Obama’s proposal to end the federal tax subsidy for 529 college plans raised two reasonable questions: Who receives the tax benefits from 529 plans and should college costs be subsidized through a tax break or by a spending program? Tax subsidies for saving largely go to higher income taxpayers who can afford to save and who would generally save if there were no tax subsidies. Spending programs for higher education, such as Pell grants, can be much better targeted to qualified individuals who would not go to college without such assistance. Unfortunately, most tax expenditures — exemptions, credits and deductions for specific activities — have the same kind of upside-down benefit. But there are over 200 different tax expenditures, so dealing with each one individually is rather inefficient.
The New York Times
February 4, 2015
The superintendent churn gets less attention than turnover among teachers and principals, but it presents a real challenge, according to education observers and policy wonks. “Communities that are trying seriously to turn around their schools see this as a 10- to 20-year iterative process, where they have bumps on the way, they make changes on the way … that’s what big, long-term sustainable change looks like,” said Elaine Weiss, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute and Montgomery County parent who is supportive of Starr. “If you’re out in three and a half years, you have barely made a dent.”
The Washington Post
February 4, 2015
Critics of the TPP say the process is too secretive and favors big businesses. Supporters argue the deal would even the playing field for American manufacturers by eliminating most tariffs. Diane and guests discuss debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership and what it could mean for the U.S. economy and American workers.
Diane Rehm Show
February 4, 2015