Weekly Economic Snapshot 3/5 - 3/9

Economic Facts for This Week

• Medicaid expansion improved coverage for people with opioid-use disorders. In states that expanded Medicaid, instances of opioid-related hospitalizations where the patient was uninsured fell from 13.4 percent to 2.9 percent after the expansion.
• Berkshire Hathaway gained $29 billion through the GOP tax law. If that money had gone to workers instead, it could have provided every worker in Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia with a $1,000 bonus.[LP(1] 
• More than half of major franchises have policies that prohibit franchisees from hiring staff away from other locations, thus inhibiting opportunities for those workers and suppressing their wages.

Chart of the Week       

Most companies that have made announcements on how they are using their tax savings are planning to pass those savings directly to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks or dividends, according to new nonpartisan research. Two thirds of the companies surveyed will use at least 75 percent of their savings to boost stock buybacks and dividends. In total, the research shows that companies plan to use 58 percent of their tax savings on these stock boosting moves, compared with 6 percent being passed to workers in the form of higher wages, one-time bonuses, higher benefits, or worker training.

ICYMI

• Acting-CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney has dropped a lawsuit against a predatory payday lender; average payday lending rates for all 50 states can be found here.
• Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers wrote about why the Council of Economic Advisers’ contention that slower growth was caused by policy failure is faulty.
• The Hamilton Project released an e-book with proposals to raise wages for American workers.

Coming This Week

• Monday 10:00 am: ISM non-manufacturing index (for Feb 2018): https://www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org/ISMReport/NonMfgROB.cfm?SSO=1

• Wednesday 8:30 am: Productivity and costs (for Q4 2017): https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.toc.htm

• Wednesday 2:00 pm: JEC hearing on the economic outlook with CEA Chair Kevin Hassett: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-calendar?ID=53A19D7E-D79A-43BB-8C40-41D3ED952275

• Friday 8:30 am: Employment Situation (Jobs report for Feb 2018): https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm