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A note from EPI’s Kirstyn Flood: The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted so long that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine life on the other side. To bounce back from this historic recession, we urgently need public investment and we need to radically rethink past policies. EPI economists share their visions for rebuilding manufacturing, addressing the teacher shortage, uplifting young workers, and raising wages for farmworkers.
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The increased media coverage of the plight of the more than 2 million farmworkers who pick and help produce our food has highlighted the difficult and often dangerous conditions farmworkers face on the job, as well as their central importance to U.S. food supply chains. Despite the key role they play and the challenges they face, farmworkers are some of the lowest-paid workers in the entire U.S. labor market. This raises the question: How much would it cost to give farmworkers a significant raise in pay, even if it was paid for entirely by consumers? The answer is, not that much. Raising wages for farmworkers by 40% could improve the quality of life for farmworkers without significantly increasing household spending on fruits and vegetables. Read the blog post »
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How much would it cost consumers to give farmworkers a significant raise?
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A new report examines the economic output and employment implications of a two-pronged strategy for rebuilding the economy around high-wage jobs and American manufacturing. The authors of the report find that rebalancing trade by expanding exports, and expanding public investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and energy efficiency, are the keys to generating at least 6.9 million good jobs, rebuilding American manufacturing and the U.S. economy. The essential elements of this two-pronged strategy for rebuilding the domestic economy begin by first, adopting trade and industrial policies that dramatically boost U.S. exports and eliminate the U.S. trade deficit, and second, adopting a four-year, $2 trillion program of investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and energy efficiency improvements. Read the report »
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The teacher shortage threatens the teaching profession and the education system as a whole. In a new report, EPI experts detail policy solutions to address the persistent teacher shortage in U.S. public schools, which has likely been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. The authors plot a course to return teaching to a profession in which teachers are compensated on par with their college-educated peers, operate in environments in which they can teach effectively, receive the training they need early in their careers and the professional development they need throughout their work lives, see their professional judgement respected, and have the opportunity to use the expertise they attain to help shape critical aspects of their job. This is the sixth and final report in the “Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market” series. EPI has simultaneously released a summary of key findings from all six reports. Read the report »
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Young workers have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 economic shock, according to a new paper. These workers—defined as ages 16–24—are the most likely to be unemployed or underemployed, least likely to be able to work from home, and more likely to work in industries and occupations with the largest job losses in the coronavirus-driven recession. Key findings include:
- Young workers ages 16–24 have had much higher job losses since February 2020 than workers ages 25 and older.
- Young workers’ already-high unemployment rates have jumped much higher—from 8.4% in spring 2019 to 24.4% in spring 2020.
- The economic effects of the COVID-19 economy on young workers may persist for years.
- A return to a strong economy at full employment would disproportionately benefit young workers. Read the report »
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The most recent unemployment insurance (UI) claims data released last week showed that another 1.3 million people filed for UI benefits last week. For the past 11 weeks, workers have gone without the extra $600 in weekly UI benefits—which Senate Republicans allowed to expire—and are instead typically receiving around 40% of their pre-virus earnings. This is far too meager, in any state, to sustain workers and their families through lengthy periods of joblessness. The UI benefits cuts were the first big gash of austerity that will slow the economy’s recovery. The second will be the cutbacks to state and local government spending and employment that will occur without already long-overdue federal fiscal aid. Read the blog post »
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Public school teachers earn about 20% less in weekly wages than nonteacher college graduates, according to a recent EPI report. Although teachers on average enjoy better benefits packages than similar workers, the authors find that benefits mitigate only part of the pay penalty. EPI President Thea Lee moderated a discussion featuring National Education Association President Becky Pringle; the report’s authors, Lawrence Mishel and Sylvia Allegretto; and Shawna Mott-Wright, teacher and president of the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association. The speakers shared findings from the report, delved into the history of teacher pay, and assessed the impact of the persistent pay inequity. Watch the event »
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The equal power assumption is false, but pervasive, in employment law, philosophy, political science, and economics, and it greatly disadvantages the vast majority of working people. The Economic Policy Institute’s Unequal Power initiative is a three-year, interdisciplinary initiative that challenges the equal power assumption and identifies why we need to operate within a framework that centers unequal workplace power. EPI hosted the launch of Unequal Power, featuring presentations and a discussion by leading thinkers, a brief overview of the project, and a dedication of the initiative to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose dissent in Epic Systems inspired the project. Watch the video »
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The cost to consumers if farmworkers got a raise
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