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Here’s the good news: The demographic explanation might not have as big of a hole as some may think. When analyzing the data, most people stick to the 25 to 54 age group because that’s the one that the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes readily available. But that’s a big and diverse cohort of the working population.
Break down the data a little further, and you get a different picture. Of the 6 million dropouts since the beginning of the Great Recession, just over 500,000, or 8%, are 35 t0 44 years old, according to Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute. And this age bracket represents a very large segment of the overall workforce. So the number of prime-aged workers giving up is not that large, especially as a percentage of the entire group of labor force dropouts.
And since baby boomers are now, on average, in their late 50s, a large portion of the dropouts in the 45 to 54 category are probably on the upper end of that scale, which is around the normal time people start thinking about retirement.
CNNMoney January 14, 2014 -
True, in some fields like petroleum engineering or cyber security there are many jobs that pay well, but a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute in DC concludes the US has more than enough people to fill most STEM positions.
Lindsay Lowell, a scholar at Georgetown, co-authored the study. “About half of STEM graduates coming out today don’t land a STEM job. You can expand that to look at people who end up in healthcare, which is not STEM, or end up in STEM management, or just simply say the job is closely related, and you still only come up with two-thirds of people with a STEM degree finding work in a STEM job.”
And in some fields there’s a real glut. McNamee concedes, for example, that it’s hard for people with PhD’s in the life sciences to find work in academia. “The competition for regular faculty positions can be pretty stiff. If people are flexible, they seem to find a good place. If they have their heart set on a regular faculty position at a certain type of institution, then in fact it can always be challenging. It’s a very competitive area.”
NPR January 14, 2014 -
Only about 1.6 million hourly workers currently earn the minimum wage, according the Congressional Research Service.
But the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank that organized release of the letter, estimates that another 17 million hourly workers who now earn between $7.25 and $10.10 an hour would see higher wages over the three years of a phased-in increase.
And millions more who make above $10.10 would indirectly benefit if employers adjust pay scales commensurate with a minimum wage increase, EPI estimates.
The Miller-Harkin proposal would also raise the hourly base for workers paid in tips, initially to $3 from $2.13. After that, the proposal calls for their base to be adjusted annually so that it matches 70% of the federal minimum wage.
CNN Money January 14, 2014 -
Miller’s announcement isn’t entirely a shock, and many thought his decision to step down from the Steering and Policy Committee after the 2012 elections was an early indication he was eying the door even then. But several leadership aides pushed back against that notion Monday, arguing Miller’s close relationship with Pelosi meant he simply didn’t need the chairmanship of that panel to exert his influence.
“He’s always involved in what he wants to be involved in anyways — he always has her ear — so I just think he felt like he didn’t need it,” the current leadership aide said.
Few on Capitol Hill have fought harder than Miller for liberal priorities like workers rights, the environment and universal healthcare.
As then-chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Miller was instrumental in passing much of the Democrats’ 2010 healthcare reform law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the 2009 federal stimulus bill and a number of pieces of labor and environmental protection legislation. When a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh last year, killing more than 1,100 workers who produced clothing for popular western labels, Miller was on the front lines of the push to install better worker safeguards, an effort that included an extended visit to the site of the accident.
He’s also been among the loudest proponents of increasing the minimum wage, a fight he’ll continue Tuesday with economists of the Economic Policy Institute.
The Hill January 14, 2014 -
“Raising the minimum wage may poll well, but having a job that pays $10 an hour is not the American dream,” Rubio said in his recent speech marking the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson‘s anti-poverty program. “Our current government programs offer at best only a partial solution. They help people deal with poverty, but they do not help them escape it.”
Those are strong words as the movement to raise the federal minimum from the current $7.25 an hour is launched by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) and the White House. (The lawmakers will be joined by chief White House economist Jason Furman at a forum on the topic on Tuesday in Washington.)
Los Angeles Times January 14, 2014 -
Seven recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences were among 75 economists endorsing an increase in the minimum wage for U.S. workers.
In a letter released today, the group called for the hourly minimum wage to reach $10.10 by 2016 from its current $7.25, and then be indexed for inflation thereafter. They said “the weight” of economic research shows higher pay doesn’t lead to fewer jobs.
Bloomberg Personal Finance January 14, 2014 -
In a sense, he’s right: if the American dream means getting rich, then $10 an hour isn’t living that dream. But most people aren’t and won’t get rich. Raising the minimum wage would mean higher incomes for around 27 million people; in many cases the gains would amount to thousands of dollars a year, which is really a lot in low-income families. So what are all these people, chopped liver? Well, yes, at least in the eyes of the GOP — or maybe make that chopped losers.
The New York Times January 14, 2014 -
Never in any recession since at least 1957 has Congress let such emergency benefits expire when long-term unemployment was so high, the Economic Policy Institute pointed out on Wednesday. (Story continues below chart showing Congress’s historic callousness.)
The Huffington Post January 10, 2014 -
Even though the portion of Americans in poverty has dropped, that doesn’t mean that those above the poverty line – $23,550 for a family of four – have enough money to live on. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) of 615 communities in the US found that in all of those localities it was impossible for two parents who earn the federal minimum wage — $30,000 a year total — to support a family of four. For instance, the EPI analysis found that the monthly costs associated with “an adequate standard of living” in St. Louis include $830 for housing, $754 for food, $959 for child care, $607 for transportation, $1,457 for healthcare, $405 for other necessities and $377 in taxes, for a grand total of $5,389 a month. That’s far above the federal poverty line for a family of four, which is $1,962 a month. Here are the costs of living for a family of four in 13 cities across the United States, according to EPI:
Mother Jones January 10, 2014 -
According to an analysis of Census data by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, these pay increases in 13 states will generate more than $619 million in new economic growth in 2014, helping support the creation of 4,600 new full-time jobs as businesses expand to meet increased consumer demand. A report last year profiling a Washington state McDonald’s franchise owner shows how this works on the ground: The franchisee chose to rebuild and expand his restaurant in Newport, Wash., instead of moving just across the street to Idaho, where the minimum wage is roughly $2 lower. The strong consumer demand his business was enjoying enabled him to continue to expand and employ more workers, even at higher wages.
Roll Call January 10, 2014