“Many people who lost jobs at the start of the pandemic have been unemployed ever since. As jobs come back they will get work but there is still a big jobs deficit—labor demand is still the problem,” tweeted Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
The Hill
July 2, 2021
Payroll growth over the last three months in the US has been ‘huge’, says Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute (and former chief economist at the Department of Labor)
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Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 850,000 in June, following increases of 583,000 in May and 269,000, today’s report shows – or around 1.7 million new jobs.
Shierholz also points out that the recovery is much faster than after the financial crisis — but doesn’t see worrying signs in the wage data:
The Guardian
July 2, 2021
Even before the pandemic, child care was known for it exorbitant costs, which vary by state. The average annual cost of child care for a 4-year-old in New York costs $12,358, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. In Kentucky, it costs $6,411 but is still categorized as “out of reach” for low-wage workers. Overhead costs, liability insurance, licensing fees and labor costs contribute to the overall price tag.
Forbes
July 1, 2021
Additionally, the state of Arkansas has the third-lowest average annual childcare costs – less than $6,200, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute.
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Average annual childcare costs range from roughly $5,100 to more than $21,600. Using data from the Economic Policy Institute, we calculated average annual childcare costs, averaging the expected annual cost of infant care and the cost for care for a four-year old in each state.
Yahoo Finance
July 1, 2021
Led by the Progressive Caucus Action Fund, the Economic Policy Institute, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Poor People’s Campaign, the joint statement characterizes the $6 trillion framework proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as the “minimum scale necessary to tackle our nation’s most urgent challenges.”
Common Dreams
July 1, 2021
Yet quickening wage growth isn’t the only hallmark of a shortage. The telltale sign is seeing this trend alongside stalling job growth, as Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute puts it. Just look at what’s been happening in the leisure and hospitality sector, among the most bruised by the Covid-19 shutdown. After jobs all but vanished in the throes of the pandemic, we’re starting to see a rebound: In May, the sector created 292,000 jobs, far outpacing other corners of the economy and contributing heavily to the overall increase in nonfarm payrolls of 559,000. June data, to be released Friday, are expected to show still stronger gains. Meanwhile, average weekly earnings have been rising faster than many other industries. In other words, the market is working to resolve a shortage: When employers lift wages, they’re able to attract the employees they need, as Shierholz said in a recent podcast. (She also notes that leisure and hospitality wages are only just meeting pre-Covid levels; they are not too high.)
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Compare that with what happens in the U.S., where the conversation is largely driven by businesses trying to influence policy makers behind closed doors, write Daniel Costa of the Economic Policy Institute and Philip Martin, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis. “While the data are sometimes clear, in many cases, shortage determinations are an inexact and subjective science,” Costa wrote in an email. Without a credible source of information and set of objective criteria, we’re ceding the debate to the loudest lobbyists with the fattest wallets.
Bloomberg Quint
July 1, 2021
“Those workers are not free agents that can go work wherever the economy needs them most. They don’t just switch jobs and move on to higher wages if they find a better job,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. Reform is needed for nonimmigrant visas that restrict worker rights, he added—not just H-2B visas, but H-2A visas and L-1 visas, which are for transfers of executives or managers within a company.
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“Historically, employers have pushed for relaxing visas and relaxing immigration policies in order to maintain a low-wage workforce,” he said.
Bloomberg Law
July 1, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute found that Black workers were less likely to work at home than their white and Asian counterparts. It’s estimated that only about 20% of Black workers can work from home. Black workers are also less likely to work from home regardless of education level.
NewsOne
June 30, 2021
But workers’ leverage may be shortlived, says Heidi Shierholz, an economist at Economic Policy Institute.
Quartz
June 30, 2021
The former general counsel of the AFL-CIO has joined the U.S. Department of Labor as a senior adviser in its labor-management standards office, where she will also help the agency implement…[paywall].
Law360
June 29, 2021