Despite Republican assurances that corporate tax cuts would generate wage increases for workers, the evidence so far shows that it is shareholders, not workers, who are realizing the vast majority of gains from tax reform.
This fact sheet provides a snapshot of the current economic state of the black community in the United States, including employment, earnings and wealth data, among other key indicators. Together, these measures help paint a portrait of some of the challenges facing black America and its economic prospects for the future.
Feb 13 2018
Retirement Security in Peril
American workers are facing a crisis: the inability to retire with dignity after a life of hard work. After years of supporting families and contributing to society, American workers are confronting a nearly empty retirement nest egg. Half of all American families near retirement have $12,000 or less in formal retirement savings.1 Not only do far too many workers earn too little to adequately save for retirement, but many more also lack access to good retirement saving plans. Many other factors, including the 2007 financial crisis and slow wage growth, have exacerbated the problem.2
The Congressional Research Service released a study of wage trends since 1979, showing that not all Americans have been sharing in the economic growth of recent decades. Workers in the middle and bottom-end of the wage distribution have seen real wages stagnate or even fall, while most of the wage growth has concentrated at the top. The report also dives into demographic trends in wages and wage growth, and shows that wages for those without college degrees, in particular, have been falling for much of the period.
The black-white wealth gap is staggering, and has dire implications for families across the country. The median net worth of a white household is $171,000 while the median net worth of a black household is $17,600. Wealth helps families weather economic downturns and periods of unemployment, prepare for retirement, launch new businesses, and set up future generations for success. There are likely many factors influencing this disparity, including the racial wage gap, discriminatory housing and housing-finance practices that lead to lower rates of homeownership, and less access to financial institutions and tools. This Black History Month, the Trump administration should be coming up with a plan to tackle this problem rather than taking credit for years-long trends in the racial unemployment gap.
Since February 5, 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has kept millions of workers from losing their jobs, but we can do more. FMLA covers less than 60 percent of the workforce, and it only guarantees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, which millions of Americans cannot afford to take.
Feb 02 2018
President Trump Job Tracker January 2018
Joint Economic Committee Democratic staff are comparing job growth each month to the average in the late 1990s (a boom time in the economy), but also to the best individual month each series has ever seen.
In 2017, nearly 80 percent of Americans reported that they were concerned about their ability to save for retirement, a concern shared on both sides of the aisle. And yet, President Trump and Congressional Republicans are hastily unraveling programs and pro-consumer regulations that strengthen our retirement system and expand access to the 55 million Americans lacking retirement plans through their employers. In an upcoming report, we will further examine the ongoing retirement crisis and its consequences, but first, a look at the most recent story lines in retirement security.
The Trump administration wants better infrastructure, but doesn’t want to pay for it. Instead, the administration’s long-awaited plan is expected to shift responsibility for infrastructure onto the private sector and cash-strapped state and local governments.
Today is the 9th anniversary of the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which gave women enhanced workplace protections in fighting pay discrimination. There remains work to be done in closing the gender pay gap—women working full-time, year-round earn 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The gap is substantially larger for black and Hispanic women, who earn 63 and 54 cents for every dollar earned by a white male, respectively. There are many challenges facing women that contribute to this gap, including a lack of family-friendly labor policies, career penalties for women that have children, a bias towards lower pay in women-dominated industries and occupations, and gender- and race-based discrimination in pay, hiring, and promotions.
