In the late 1990s, the rates of multiple jobholders were “much higher,” said economist Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute.
Agence France Press (AFP)
October 7, 2024
The U.S. economy added 254,000 new positions in the month of September, topping economist expectations of 150,000 jobs. Economic Policy Institute Senior Economist Elise Gould joins Morning Brief to share her insights on this latest labor market data.
Gould emphasizes that this report reinforces the strength of the labor market, stating, “It was strong before, and this is another strong report.” She highlights the positive indicators: a decrease in the unemployment rate and upward revisions adding 72,000 jobs to previous months’ figures. These factors paint a picture of a “quite strong” labor market.
Yahoo Finance TV
October 7, 2024
Between 1979 and 2024, productivity in the U.S. soared by 80.9%, while hourly pay grew by just 29.4%, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute.
This trend has often been referred to as wage stagnation. But more recently, some economists have suggested that deliberate policy decisions have actively suppressed workers’ wage growth.
One reason might be the unreasonably high rate of unemployment in the U.S.
“Economists produce this thing they call the natural rate of unemployment,” explained Josh Bivens, the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “It’s like the lowest unemployment can go without generating inflation.”
CNBC
October 7, 2024
Unions can “promote economic equality and build worker power, helping workers to win increases in pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions,” said the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Pushes by unions for higher wages seem to be working, as the 17 states with the highest union densities “have state minimum wages that are on average 19% higher than the national average.”
The Week
October 7, 2024
Immigration has undoubtedly changed the U.S. economy, especially since the pandemic. About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.
The Washington Post
October 7, 2024
Agence France Press (AFP)
October 7, 2024
“We should really be leaning into taxes for the rich,” Heidi Shierholz, chief economist at the Department of Labor under the Obama administration and now president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), told Capital & Main. Harris’ cutoff of $400,000 for tax hikes suggests anyone making less than this figure is not rich. Shierholz argued that while there are different ways to define the term, this limit may be too high: “In my mind, essentially every possible way of defining the wealthy will include some people making less than $400,000 a year.”
Capital & Main
October 7, 2024
“Are some folks still having a hard time? Absolutely,” noted EPI senior economist Elise Gould in a blog post. “Even when the unemployment rate is low, there are still sidelined workers, and it remains difficult for many families to make ends meet on wages that are still too low.”
CBS Moneywatch
October 7, 2024
Employers would be no different, and shifts to current pay structures should be expected. Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at EPI Action — a left-leaning nonpartisan organization advocating for economic justice — told Business Insider that businesses could pay their workers slightly less to allow employees to have the financial benefit of not having their overtime pay or tips taxed.
“Their employer can pay less to keep them but the worker is not worse off because now they don’t have to pay taxes on that,” Shierholz said.
Business Insider
October 7, 2024
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local government employees earned, on average, about 10% less in total compensation—including pay and benefits—than their private-sector peers, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that receives some funding from labor unions. Post-COVID, that gap has only widened to about 14.5% less.
Route Fifty
October 7, 2024