A particularly big problem with this set of assertions, from my perspective, is the blanket claim that higher productivity means higher wages. It’s true and important to recognize that only through higher levels of productivity is there the potential for higher wages. But that clearly has not been the case for middle- and low-wage workers for a long time, as work by the Economic Policy Institute has stressed.
Newsweek/The Daily Beast
August 15, 2012
A new report released today by the Economic Policy Institute takes a closer look at the potential impacts of The Fair Minimum Wage Act, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) on July 26, 2012. The proposed increase would raise the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $9.80 by 2014, through three incremental increases of $0.85 and raise the tipped minimum wage, currently sitting at $2.13 per hour, to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage.
The Progressive Pulse
August 15, 2012
Yet perhaps the most disturbing feature of Ryan’s budget is that, in the midst of a prolonged recession, it would cost the US economy millions of jobs. Ryan’s 2011 budget plan proposes what the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities calls “the most severe and wrenching budget cuts in US history—two-thirds of which would come from programs for people of low or moderate incomes” (Medicaid, Pell grants, food stamps and low-income housing). According to the Economic Policy Institute, “the shock to aggregate demand from near-term spending cuts would result in roughly 1.3 million jobs lost in 2013 and 2.8 million jobs lost in 2014, or 4.1 million jobs through 2014.”
The Nation
August 14, 2012
The other part of Romney’s claim — that wages and employment track productivity — is actually false. Unpublished data from BLS, generously provided to me by the Economic Policy Institute’s Larry Mishel and Nicholas Finio, shows that wages tracked productivity growth until about 1970. After that, wages stagnated even as productivity continued to grow. Here’s EPI’s graph on the matter:
The Washington Post
August 13, 2012
Edelman suggests that the real reasons for persistent poverty include the proliferation of low-wage jobs; a “gaping hole” that’s been ripped in the safety net in terms of vanishing cash assistance for low-income mothers and children; and “persistent issues of race and gender” that lead to higher poverty rates for minorities and families headed by single mothers. He points to research by the Economic Policy Institute showing that half the jobs in the nation pay less than $34,000 a year; and one-quarter pay less than $23,000 annually. Also, wages for jobs in the bottom half have increased just 7 percent since 1972.
The Nation
August 13, 2012
Some 2.8 million American jobs—70 percent of them in manufacturing—have been lost since 2001 because of the U.S. trade deficit with China, according to a recent Economic Policy Institute study. Indeed, consumers visiting a Walmart or Macy’s are hard pressed to find much made in America.
Epoch Times
August 13, 2012
Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in 2 years. Ryan’s budget calls for massive reductions in government spending. He has proposed cutting discretionary programs by about $120 billion over the next two years and mandatory programs by $284 billion, which, the Economic Policy Institute estimates, would suck demand out of the economy and “reduce employment by 1.3 million jobs in fiscal 2013 and 2.8 million jobs in fiscal 2014, relative to current budget policies.”
Think Progress
August 13, 2012
“If the economy were healthier, we would expect a larger number of voluntary quits, which would signal that workers are more confident about outside job opportunities,” said Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Reuters
August 8, 2012
“Temp workers are, of course, the first ones to get let go when demand starts to flag,” said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the progressive Economic Policy Institute.
However, for now, their growing share indicates an economy that is slowly and painfully healing—one of the few positives amid the headlines about the fiscal cliff and Europe’s sovereign debt woes leaving the continent in a perpetual crisis.
The Fiscal Times
August 8, 2012
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that this minimum-wage increase would generate about $25 billion in economic activity and around 100,000 jobs nationally.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 8, 2012