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Why This Week’s Inflation Numbers Are Good for Workers

This week’s CPI release brought welcome news: Core inflation has returned to 2017–2019 levels, and real wage growth is outpacing price growth.

"While real wages for the median person declined slightly through 2022, in 2023, we've seen inflation fall, while wages have not fallen by as much," Roosevelt’s Mike Konczal told NBC News.

"Wage growth at 4.5 percent over this summer—that is absolutely consistent with inflation continuing to fall."

And the data continues to be consistent with a soft landing, as Konczal and Roosevelt Fellow Justin Bloesch wrote prior to the CPI release.

“Inflation and wage growth continue to slow even as growth is moderately strong, workers continue to rejoin the labor force, and tight labor markets help decrease long-standing inequalities,” they write.

The Case for Sectoral Bargaining

The historic labor market we’ve seen in recent years has helped fuel worker power. But as Roosevelt’s Alí Bustamante writes in a new brief, more is needed to boost economic security and countervail employer power.

“Achieving a balance between workers and employers requires a powerful labor movement that can push back against unfair labor practices,” he writes. “A sector-wide approach provides the necessary scale to build collective rights for all workers.”

Read more in “Balancing Power between Workers and Employers Requires Sectoral Bargaining.”

How to Speed Up the Green Transition

“If we are going to meet the deadline to avert the worst impacts of climate change, we must generate and deliver enough clean electricity to electrify everything from cars and trucks to buildings and factories—and quickly,” Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen and Roosevelt Director of Climate Policy Rhiana Gunn-Wright write for the blog.

“Here’s the good news: Many of the reforms we need can be implemented under existing legal authorities.”

Learn more in “America’s Clean Energy Transition Needs Federal Action—Not Rollbacks.”

What We’re Reading

4 Essential Shifts Foundations Can Make to Advance Social Movements [co-authored by Roosevelt Senior Fellow Deepak Bhargava] - Chronicle of Philanthropy

Can Public Power Advance Economic Justice? - Nonprofit Quarterly

What You Need to Know about the SAG-AFTRA Actors Strike - NBC News

How Biden Might Try to Cancel Student Debt Next - New York Times

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