Economic News Round-Up
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released a lot of important research about the economy in the last few weeks. Here's a look at some of the key pieces it uncovered about the U.S. economy.
Current policies mean we won't recover recession-related job loss until 2020 : The current gap from jobs lost and the new jobs that should have been created after the beginning of the recession to keep up with growth in the potential labor force is approximately 8.5 million. At the current rate of jobs produced in conjunction with economic policy, we won't get to the projected levels we should see until 2020 unless we see a radical shift from lawmakers.
Austerity policies have cost the U.S. at least 3 million jobs : The austerity policies favored in Washington, D.C., and many states are a significant drag on the economy and seriously hurt job creation.
EPI Family Budget Calculator : EPI recently updated its calculator that helps determine the basic family budget for the average person and compares it to legal definitions of poverty, finding that those definitions are inadequate.
Restaurant CEO pay continues to grow compared to worker pay : The restaurant industry employs a disproportionate number of minimum wage workers and the pay of the top restaurant industry CEOs averages 788 times the minimum wage.
Economic recovery in the states is progressing slowly : Solutions such as increasing the minimum wage substantially would go a long way towards speeding up the recovery in the states.
Increasing top marginal tax rates reduces income inequality without slowing the economy : U.S. tax policy since the 1980s has contributed to income inequality more than any other factor than market forces and reversing those policies is one of the key ways to reduce income inequality.
Cutting federal funding hinders state economies : The sequester has cut $5.1 billion in federal funding for state grants that fund vital services like infrastructure improvements, education and public safety.
