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+23 +1
The world's baby shortfall is so bad that the labor shortage will last for years, major employment firms predict
“Demographic shifts” can mean many things. The composition of a body of people—median age, ethnic makeup, and more—all fall into the category. But in the context of the labor shortage that has gripped the world economy since the pandemic began, it has coincided with one of Elon Musk’s big worries: The world isn’t having enough babies.
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+2 +1
The Murder of the U.S. Middle Class Began 40 Years Ago This Week
Reagan’s firing of striking air traffic controllers was the first huge offensive in corporate America’s war on everyone else.
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+22 +1
Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up
A few weeks ago, I met my first Millennial grandparent. I was interviewing a woman in her late 30s about President Joe Biden’s new child-tax-credit proposal, and she mentioned that it would benefit not just her two young kids but her older son’s kid too.
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+12 +1
Biden’s claim that with a $15 minimum wage, ‘the whole economy rises’
Biden is bullish on a big increase in the minimum wage, but economists are sharply divided on the impact on jobs.
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+19 +1
Is Middle Class Stagnation a Myth?
The decline of the American middle class began around the mid- to late-1980s, at the same time as the negative long-run changes in modern American life — increased income and wealth inequality, lower social mobility — began to intensify. The figure below shows the share of the middle four deciles in total market income. (Market income includes all labor and property incomes, plus income from own businesses.)
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+2 +1
Study: Inequality Robs $2.5 Trillion From U.S. Workers Each Year
Every few months, some group of socially conscious number crunchers will remind Americans that a tiny elite is binge-eating the nation’s economic pie while the rest of us plebeians fight over table scraps. Journalists will then aggregate eye-popping statistics and edifying charts, progressives will share these over social media, adorned with red-faced (and/or guillotine) emoji — and the moral arc of history will carry on bending toward neofeudalism.
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+17 +1
Japan's middle class is 'disappearing' as poverty rises, warns economist
As poverty rises in Japan, the country’s middle class is slowly eroding away, according to a recent report by Oxford Economics’ Shigeto Nagai. “After the bubble burst in the 1990s, income has declined across the income percentiles, and the share of low-income households has risen as those of middle- and high-income groups shrink,” Nagai, who is head of Japan economics at the firm, wrote in the report.
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+9 +1
1 in 4 American workers have filed for unemployment benefits during the pandemic
More than 40 million Americans have filed for first-time unemployment benefits since the coronavirus pandemic forced the US economy to shut down in March. One in four American workers has filed for unemployment insurance.
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+3 +1
Middle class marriage is declining, and likely deepening inequality
Over the last few decades, family formation patterns have altered significantly in the U.S., with long-run rises in non-marital births, cohabitation, and single parenthood – although in recent years many of these trends have leveled out.
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+7 +1
The typical US worker can no longer afford a family on a year's salary, showing the dire state of America's middle class
The American economy may be booming, but its middle class is struggling. The median male US worker now has to earn more than a year's salary to afford the annual expenses for a family of four, according to "The Cost of Thriving Index" published by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, and previously reported by The Washington Post.
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+15 +1
People no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life, survey shows
A growing sense of inequality is undermining trust in both society's institutions and capitalism, according to a long-running global survey. The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer - now in its 20th year - has found many people no longer believe working hard will give them a better life. Despite strong economic performance, a majority of respondents in every developed market do not believe they will be better off in five years' time.
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+21 +1
Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay
We should look at individuals—not national averages—as the unit of analysis, and ask: Are wages adequate for full-time workers?
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+6 +1
The Rich Can’t Get Richer Forever, Can They?
Inequality comes in waves. The question is when this one will break.
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+22 +1
America's Hot New Job Is Being a Rich Person's Servant
“Wealth work” is one of America’s fastest-growing industries. That’s not entirely a good thing.
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+20 +1
Quarter of Americans are 'worse' now than before Great Recession: survey
Roughly 25% of people that were adults during the Great Recession a decade ago are "worse now" than they were before, despite the economy making great strides.
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+4 +1
Middle Class Wealth Is Still at Lower Levels Than Before the Great Recession
Although President Trump touts the current economy as an unprecedented success, the benefits are not being felt for most Americans. Most of the wealth lost during the 2007 to 2009 economic crisis has not recovered. Many pundits and analysts have been praising the current economy, even if they are against President Trump. The economy has repeatedly been called 'strong,' with fears of a recession diminishing. However, could it just be that our expectations have completely plummeted? By any estimate, the economy today is anemic, producing little benefits for the vast majority of Americans.
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+15 +1
Americans are working harder these days. Their paychecks don’t show it.
Americans are working harder these days, but it’s not paying off like it used to. In the first three months of 2019, employees got so much more work done that they smashed productivity forecasts. Labor productivity in the non-farm business sector (the biggest part of the US economy) grew 2.4 percent compared to the same period last year, according to new estimates from the US Department of Labor.
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+19 +1
How robots became a scapegoat for the destruction of the working class
Should workers fear the robots? You don't have to look far to find lots of people shouting "yes." Magazines and newspapers blare headlines like "Welcoming our new robot overlords," "When your new co-worker is a robot," and "You will lose your job to a robot — and sooner than you think." Studies suggest anywhere from 9 percent to 47 percent of American jobs could be automated in the next few decades. In 2017, Bill Gates proposed a "robot tax" to address the problem.
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+7 +1
Debt-clogged world close to tipping point of recession
The risk of global recession has suddenly jumped several notches, as the accumulated damage from US President Donald Trump's trade wars and worldwide monetary tightening is taking a bigger toll than hoped. A mounting weight of evidence suggests the world is one shock away from a contractionary vortex that would be extremely hard to control.
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+3 +1
The US national debt just topped $22 trillion for the first time in history
The US national-debt load surpassed $22 trillion on Monday, according to the Treasury Department. It's the first time that the total outstanding public debt has topped that threshold. A little less than $16.2 trillion of that debt was held by the public in the form of Treasurys, while the other $5.8 trillion was intragovernmental holdings.
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