Economy

New Study Suggests that Low Wages Imperil Future of U.S. Manufacturing and Innovation

Posted by Stephen Herzenberg on November 21, 2014 11:20 am
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Debates about manufacturing wages and jobs require the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. Let's see if we can do that.

For a half century or more the mantra has been that manufacturing jobs pay better and support a family. But a new report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), profiled in today's New York Times, shows that  manufacturing wages for production workers have dropped below wages for all private sector workers. NELP also finds that “more than 600,000 manufacturing workers make just $9.60 per hour or less. More than 1.5 million manufacturing workers – one out of every four – make $11.91 or less.”

Cutting taxes won't spur economic growth

Posted by Shelley Aragoncillo on October 29, 2014 9:19 am
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Flying in the face of the often heard rhetoric that tax cuts are the cure for all ills, a new study finds that cuts to business taxes are at best ineffective, and at worst harmful to state economic growth and development. A better strategy for growth is to increase investment in education and infrastructure.

Germany Makes University Education Free Again -- Pennsylvanians Take Note

Posted by Stephen Herzenberg on October 27, 2014 1:24 pm
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Our just-released report on Pennsylvania higher education points out that student tuition and fees at Pennsylvania's four-year state-owned universities now cover nearly 75% of university costs. Prompted by this, our friend Charlie Bacas sent us today a story on states in Germany making tuition free again.

A funny thing happened to our data on the way to Philadelphia

If you have been following this gubernatorial election, or just watching television, you might have noticed that the Wolf campaign has been arguing that 27,000 jobs were lost in education in Pennsylvania.  That’s a figure my colleagues and I released in late August in our annual State of Working Pennsylvania.  To generate that number we used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to calculate education employment in local governments in the 2010-11 school year, which ran from July 2010 to June 2011.

Why Triad Strategies is Wrong on Ride Sharing

Posted by Stephen Herzenberg on July 9, 2014 8:43 pm
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Our recent blog on 'the Non-Sharing Economy' prompted a response from Roy Wells at Triad Strategies. Triad is the Harrisburg lobbying and public relations firm secured by Lyft to make the case that its services should not be subject to the same rules that govern cabs. We appreciate Roy's weighing in and giving us the opportunity for a deeper back-and-forth.

This is what the business lobby looks like on drugs

I just read this Mother Jones story on a letter from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) that focuses on whether or not auto insurance is affordable for low income consumers.  In making the case for the affordability of the auto insurance products of its members, NAMIC quoted statistics from the Consumer Expenditures Survey:

New Jersey’s 76ers Deal a Slam Dunk? Maybe for the Sixers, Not so clear for New Jersey or Pennsylvania

Posted by Michael Passiment on June 17, 2014 1:42 pm
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The Philadelphia 76ers have been scouting locations for a new training facility, and New Jersey has lobbied considerably to have the team relocate across the river to the Garden State. To sweeten the deal, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) will cover the total cost of the new facility. The state will reimburse the team through an $8.2 million annual tax credit.

Pittsburgh Again on the Forefront of Labor Innovation to Build the Next Middle Class

WESA in Pittsburgh has a radio feature airing today on union organizing among contingent faculty in higher education. It includes some excerpts from an interview with me. You can listen to it and access a transcript here.

Policy Matters: Piketty and "Two Critical Realignments" in One Graph

Our friend Colin Gordon of the Iowa Policy Project runs a website called The Telltale Chart. As the name implies, he loves charts.

Colin's outdone himself today on the blog of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) with what he calls "Piketty in one graph."

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