Media clips
-
Josh Bivens, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said things are “expanding at a rate that is too slow to put reliable, significant downward pressure on joblessness.”
And Bivens predicted that growth will likely continue to decelerate as the government spending is trimmed.
“The surest way to boost near-term growth to pull down the unemployment rate remains further fiscal support,” Bivens said. “The fact that most of the policy debate is instead focused on just how fast this support will be ramped down in coming quarters is a sign of how detached this debate has become from economic reality.”
Politico April 30, 2012 -
In 1994, economists Lawrence Mishel and Jared Bernstein were first to point out the gap that was already opening up between pay (low) and productivity (high). Bernstein later served as Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economist and is now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Mishel is president of the Economic Policy Institute.
Now, Mishel has done the most careful study to date of what accounts for the productivity/pay gap. He wrote a blog post called “Understanding the wedge between productivity and median compensation growth” on April 26. He also has a longer article on the EPI website. And if that’s not enough, there’s a technical article by Mishel and Kar-Fai Gee of Canada’s Center for the Study of Living Standards published in that center’s International Productivity Monitor (PDF).
Bloomberg BusinessWeek April 27, 2012 -
Heidi Shierholz, labor market expert with the Economic Policy Institute, said the increase might also be influenced by “artificially low” jobless claims in January and February, as the unseasonably warm weather gave the job market a temporary boost.
As a result, Shierholz said it would be most accurate to characterize the job market as being in a “rocky recovery.”
“This sheds even more doubt on whether we’ve entered a robust, self-sustaining job recovery,” she said.
CNNMoney April 27, 2012 -
Fact No 1: Is “regulatory uncertainty” destroying jobs? On this point, Wszolek might read the Economic Policy Institute’s study, “Regulatory Uncertainty: A Phony Explanation for our jobs problem.” EPI director Larry Mishel concludes, “An examination of current economic trends, and especially what employers are doing in terms of hiring and investment, debunks this story about regulatory uncertainty as the cause of our dismal job growth.” With regard to the NLRB rules, GOP lawsuits and legislation are responsible for creating the current uncertainty.
The Hill April 24, 2012 -
So Romney’s plan would lavish tax breaks on the richest Americans and increase already sky-high defense spending, while gutting some of the core functions of government: public safety, education, and infrastructure. As the Economic Policy Institute noted, the current level of domestic discretionary spending — which is comprised of the programs listed above, among many others — “is 4 percent of GDP, about equal to the historical average since the early 1960s.” Last week, Romeney orchestrated an event with some “real Americans,” who told him it might be necessary to raise their taxes, rather than cut priorities like education.
Think Progress April 24, 2012 -
But are we really becoming another Greece or Spain, a wasteland of opportunity for anybody under the age of 25? Not quite. What the new statistics really tell us about is the changing nature, and value, of higher education.
First, here’s the nut of the AP’s findings, which it derived with the help of researchers from Northeastern University, Drexel University, and the Economic Policy Institute, based on data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and the U.S. Department of Labor
The Atlantic April 24, 2012 -
The disappearance of mid-level jobs during the Great Recession, along with overall high unemployment, have made it hard for recent college graduates to find good jobs upon leaving school. More than 50 percent of college graduates under age 25 are either jobless or underemployed, according to an analysis from Drexel University and the Economic Policy Institute
Think Progress April 24, 2012 -
Far from being job killers, these regulations will mean new work for the innovative American companies who supply the equipment needed for plants to comply with the law. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that enactment of these standards would create a net gain of 117,000 jobs.
Concord Monitor April 23, 2012 -
The figures are based on an analysis of 2011 Current Population Survey data by Northeastern University researchers and supplemented with material from Paul Harrington, an economist at Drexel University, and the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. They rely on Labor Department assessments of the level of education required to do the job in 900-plus U.S. occupations, which were used to calculate the shares of young adults with bachelor’s degrees who were “underemployed.”
About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.
Associated Press April 23, 2012 -
And though D.C.’s jobless rate remained stagnant, it is down from from 10 percent in March 2011. Unemployment in the District hovered in the double digits for over two years beginning in August 2009 before finally dipping to 9.9 percent in January. In the past 12 months, D.C. has added 13,100 jobs for a total of 738,600, according to the BLS.
Even though the needle moved very little in the past month, there are still some silver linings to be found, said Doug Hall, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.
“The fact that the employment rate is below 10 percent is a pretty good thing,” Hall said. “At the same time, an unemployment rate that’s more or less 10 percent is certainly not something to be celebrating. It’s obvious more needs to be done to turn the corner in what’s been a pretty weak recovery.”
Hall said much of the onus on keeping economic fires alive lies with the federal government funding infrastructure projects that can lead to long-term job creation. He cited a recent analysis by his organization of the budget proposal favored by House Republicans that would make significant cuts to domestic discretionary spending.
“The role of the federal government is clear here,” Hall said. “At the same time, state and local governments need to make sure they are not compromising their future based on the faulty premise of avoiding deficits down the road.”
DCist April 23, 2012