Media clips

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• Black voters stood with Biden in 2020. Four years later, he needs their help again

  Black unemployment reached a record low of 4.7% in April 2023 and real wages – earnings adjusted for inflation – have risen. Between 2019 and 2022, the last two years of the Trump administration and the first two years of the Biden administration, real wage growth grew the most for workers in the bottom 10th-percentile, according to a March 2023 report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  …

  Valerie Wilson, the director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, said part of voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy may come from sticker shock over high prices.

  But those feelings, particularly in the Black community, may also be a response to long-standing racial disparities.

  “Inequality isn’t a new thing, it hasn’t gone away,” Wilson said.

  CNN February 5, 2024
• Rental markets are softening, but half of U.S. tenants spend more than they can afford, Harvard report finds

  Renter households with annual incomes below $30,000 had a record-low median residual income of $310 a month in 2022, the Harvard study found. For perspective, a single-person household in even the most affordable counties need about $2,000 a month for non-housing needs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNBC February 5, 2024
• The Balance Of Power Has Shifted Toward Employers—What This Means For Workers

  As another sign of dominating employer power, a 2023 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the amount of company profits flowing to employees has been declining for decades.

  Forbes February 5, 2024
• The unemployment rate of Black men rose in January, underscoring continued inequality in labor market

  Though the uptick in the unemployment rate for Black men is something to monitor, it can be more indicative of an anomaly in December’s low data, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. January’s 5.3% rate comes basically in line with the average 2023 month, while December’s 4.6% was the lowest level seen in the year.

  …

  “A better economy absolutely can help historically disadvantaged groups more because they’re the ones that are often left out and are slow to recover in weaker times,” Gould said. “Full employment is definitely sort of a requirement for many historically marginalized groups to be able to see positive impact in the labor market, but it’s not the only thing.”

  CNBC February 5, 2024
• The Black unemployment rate is consistently twice that of white workers. Here’s why

  “There is no other relationship in the labor market that is nearly this consistent and stable,” Valerie Wilson, the director of a program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News.

  “Employment equity is essential to racial and economic justice because work is essential,” Wilson added. “It’s people’s ability to provide for themselves and their families.”

  ABC News February 5, 2024
• Retirement Savings by Race

  For example, the Economic Policy Institute reported that, based on 2016 data, only 41% of black families and 35% of Hispanic families had retirement account savings, compared with 68% of white, non-Hispanic families.

  Investopedia February 2, 2024
• 1.34 million Pennsylvanians would benefit from increase in minimum wage, according to new report

  “In this report, we dispel some really persistent myths,” Claire Kovach, a senior research analyst for the Keystone Research Center, told reporters through a call with the press on Thursday.

  “One of which is that only teenagers stand to benefit from a $15 minimum wage, which is far from reality shown in our data drawn from the US Census Bureau and the Economic Policy Institute.”

  Keystone Newsroom February 2, 2024
• Let’s be real: Tennessee vouchers expansion is about politics over student achievement

  According to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, school vouchers do not improve the academic performance of low-income students despite Republican talking points. Instead of the legislature directing surplus funds to build new public schools across Tennessee, the bill would give private school vouchers to low-income children in poor neighborhoods.

  The Tennessean February 2, 2024
• Why Wall Street Won’t Stop Trump

  Paywall.

  The Atlantic February 2, 2024
• Why you don’t need to freak out about the layoffs

  Zoom out: Tens of thousands of people is indeed a lot of people, “but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people who get laid off every month even in a very strong labor market,” says Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist at the Labor Department and the current president of the progressive Economic Policy Institute.

  • There just aren’t any big concerning signs right now in the data, she says. “It’s just not there.”
  Axios February 2, 2024