Media clips

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• Fed Warned to Stop ‘Needless Rate Hikes’ as Inflation Cools for 10th Straight Month

  Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, called the new CPI data “good news for working people,” noting that “inflation is nearly back to pre-recession rates, while the unemployment rate is at 50-year lows.”

  Common Dreams May 12, 2023
• $7.25 federal minimum wage is a ‘national disgrace,’ says Sen. Bernie Sanders, backing push for $17 per hour

  Economic research backs up the idea, according to Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, who spoked at Sanders’ event.

  Rising inequality means income has shifted away from low- and middle-income workers who are more likely to spend it, she said.

  The decline of the real value of the minimum wage is now more than 40% below where it was at its peak 55 years ago, Shierholz said.

  “Having a weak minimum wage is bad for the overall economy,” Shierholz added.

  In addition to reducing inequality, raising the minimum wage would also reduce pover

  CNBC May 12, 2023
• Early child care workers ask Texas Legislature for $2.3 billion in funding

  The average annual cost for child care in Texas is $9,324 for an infant and $7,062 for a 4-year-old, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Austin American-Statesman May 12, 2023
• Highlighting ongoing educator shortages during Teacher Appreciation Week

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, nationally, the U.S. will be short more than 300,000 teachers by 2024.

  CBS 58 May 12, 2023
• ‘People are making a big deal about the increase in wage growth’: Economists cast a skeptical eye over ‘strong’ jobs report

  “While there is zero sign of a recession right now, if we do have a recession, it will be because the Fed raised rates too aggressively,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

  “It would undo a great deal of the enormous gains, including the equity gains, that have occurred in the current recovery,” she added.

  MarketWatch May 12, 2023
• Jobless claims are up, but unemployment is still low. What does that mean?

  Now, none of them is saying the Federal Reserve has achieved that elusive soft landing in its effort to balance interest rate increases with economic growth. But Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute said so far, that does seem to be where we’re headed.

  “We see inflation coming down and unemployment not yet going up,” she said.

  Marketplace May 12, 2023
• Virginia teacher pay falls further behind the national average

  Another study from the Economic Policy Institute shows Virginia has the third least competitive teacher pay in the country when compared to other fields that require a similar level of education.

  WTVR May 12, 2023
• Is Your Monthly Retirement Income Enough? Here’s What Our Latest Poll Says

  “According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, nearly half of all working-age families in the United States have zero retirement account savings,” said Jim E. Carlson, CDAA, a financial planner and certified digital asset advisor at Carlson Planning Company. “The median for families with retirement savings was around $60,000. However, considering that experts often recommend having at least 10 times your final salary saved by retirement, it’s clear that many Americans may be underprepared.”

  GO Banking Rates May 12, 2023
• Fast federal response to pandemic key to US economic recovery, economists say

  “I think that this recovery was tremendous compared to any recovery in recent history because of the scale of the investments that were made by policymakers,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, pointing to the child tax credit as one example that helped fuel the strong recovery. “So I think the incredible bounceback that we saw in employment and wage growth was driven directly from, in large part, to the kinds of investments that policymakers made in things like shoring up the unemployment insurance system, making that stronger, making it a better safety net for many workers.” 

  States Newsroom May 12, 2023
• Study: Kroger-Albertsons merger will cost workers over $300M

  In a new policy memo, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) examined these labor market implications of the proposed merger. It found that the merger of two of the largest supermarket chains in the country will increase employer concentration and reduce the wages of all grocery store workers in affected cities across the country.

  The Stand May 12, 2023