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5 Mar, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Today's jobs report shows that 379,000 jobs were added in February, but the U.S. economy is still down 9.5 million jobs from a year ago. Congress MUST pass the full $1.9 trillion relief package immediately.

Learn more from @eliselgould: epi.org/indicators/une…
While the overall unemployment rate declined slightly to 6.2%, the Black unemployment rate actually increased to 9.9%. Passing large-scale relief measures now is an economic and racial justice imperative. #JobsDay #JobsReport
The official unemployment rate understates the total economic pain. 25.1 million workers—or 14.7% of the workforce—have been directly harmed by the coronavirus downturn.
It is clear that policymakers need to step up right now to provide relief, and the $1.9 trillion relief and recovery bill is at the scale of the problem and is essential for a robust and equitable recovery.

Learn more about the latest jobs report numbers: epi.org/indicators/une…

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More from @EconomicPolicy

Economic Policy Institute Profile picture
5 Mar
If the minimum wage had increased at the same pace as productivity growth over the last 70 years, it would be over $22 an hour today. The U.S. can certainly afford a $15 minimum wage.

Learn more about why we need to #RaiseTheWage: go.epi.org/raisethewage
A $15 minimum wage would lift pay for tens of millions of workers and help reverse decades of growing pay inequality. #RaiseTheWage #FightFor15
Low wages hurt all workers and are particularly harmful to Black workers and other workers of color, especially women of color, who make up a disproportionate share of workers who are severely underpaid. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would help narrow racial pay gaps.
Read 5 tweets
Economic Policy Institute Profile picture
4 Mar
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is at the right scale of what relief and recovery demands. It is also likely to spread fiscal support over time in a way supportive of recovery. It is in no way “too much.” epi.org/publication/th…
The goal of federal aid to state and local governments shouldn’t just be to restore the pre-COVID status quo. Building back better will require more public investments. Scaling back this aid would make it a significantly worse package. epi.org/blog/projected…
The $1.9 trillion proposal is driven by careful consideration of the evidence and is not artificially constrained by outdated fears about federal debt. This marks a welcome break from mistakes made in past downturns, such as the Great Recession. epi.org/press/presiden…
Read 5 tweets
Economic Policy Institute Profile picture
25 Feb
"The wage-setting mechanism in the U.S. labor market is massively broken," said @TheaLeeEPI during @SenSanders'
Senate hearing today on worker wages and benefits. c-span.org/video/?c494850… #RaiseTheWage #FightFor15 1/
"Four decades of flawed policy decisions have systematically eroded the bargaining power of workers, while simultaneously concentrating the political power and wealth of large corporations and the wealthy." 2/
"The result is a labor market where—contrary to neoliberal economic equilibrium models—actual wage levels for most workers reflect generations of accumulated systemic racism, sexism, and occupational segregation; 3/
Read 10 tweets
Economic Policy Institute Profile picture
24 Feb
THREAD: Wages grew in 2020 because low-wage workers were pushed out of the labor market. Nearly 7.9 million of the 9.6 million net job losses were among low-wage workers, while the highest-wage workers gained nearly a million jobs.

Read our new report: epi.org/publication/st…
Overall, less than 75% of low-wage workers were still working in 2020 compared with over 90% of high-wage workers. Faster wage growth between 2019 and 2020 is largely a result of the changing composition of the workforce.
Wage growth in 2020 is neither a cause for celebration nor a reason to inject fears of economic overheating into policy debates. It is not an accurate indicator of the amount of economic devastation and pain experienced by millions of workers and their families in 2020.
Read 7 tweets
Economic Policy Institute Profile picture
18 Aug 20
A rigged economy: CEO pay surged 14% in 2019 to $21.3 million on average, and they now earn 320 times as much as their typical workers.

Read our new report from @LarryMishel and @joriskywalker. epi.org/publication/ce…
Wage growth for the majority of Americans has remained relatively stagnant for decades, but CEO compensation continues to balloon. CEO compensation grew by 1,167% from 1978 to 2019, while the compensation of a typical worker rose just 13.7%.
CEO compensation has even grown more than three times faster than the growth of earnings for the top 0.1% of earners, which was 337% from 1978 to 2018.
Read 7 tweets
Economic Policy Institute Profile picture
10 Dec 19
THREAD: More than a quarter of private-sector workers are required to enter noncompete agreements, which ban workers from working for––or starting––a competing business. Read our new report from @hshierholz and Alexander J.S. Colvin of @cornellilr: epi.org/publication/no…
@hshierholz @cornellilr These restrictive agreements are not only inflicted upon high-wage workers, but also low-wage workers living paycheck-to-paycheck. 29% of employers with an average hourly wage below $13.00 require noncompetes for all their workers.
@hshierholz @cornellilr Noncompetes limit competition among businesses and stifle workers’ wage growth—given that changing jobs is where workers often get a raise.
Read 8 tweets

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