Jobs and Employment Information about jobs, labors, experiencies and news Related Articles
Ludwig Institute Monthly Report Shows Stagnant Wages for Low-Income Workers
WASHINGTON, September 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Despite higher employment rates in August, many of these new labor force entrants found themselves without full-time jobs that pay a living wage, according to August The real unemployment rate (TRU) report Ludwig Institute of General Economic Prosperity (LISEP).
The Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) released its August Real Unemployment Report, which measures the percentage of Americans who are “functionally unemployed” — defined as the percentage of workers who are looking for, but cannot find, full-time work. , living wage.
The TRU LISEP, a measure of the “functionally unemployed” — defined as the unemployed plus those looking for but unable to find full-time work with wages above the poverty line after adjusting for inflation — rose 0.1 percentage point from 22.9% to 23 %. While the increase may seem small, this increase—combined with a 0.2 percentage point increase in the labor force participation rate—suggests that even though more Americans are working, many cannot find work paying below the poverty line. Similarly, the official US unemployment rate published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics also increased from 3.5% to 3.8%.
“Federal deflationary policy has focused on raising interest rates to slow business expansion and, consequently, wage and job growth. Well, it seems they have succeeded,” said the chairman of LISEP Gene Ludwig. “But the price is paid by those who can least afford it – people on low wages. There has to be a better way.”
The functional unemployment rate increased for all demographics except for Hispanics, who rose 2.7 percentage points to 25.2% from 27.9%, a partial rebound from a 3% jump in July. Black workers increased by 0.5 percentage points, from 24.9% to 25.4%, and white workers increased by 0.8 percentage points, from 21.1% to 21.9%. For women, the PPI improved by 0.3 percentage points (from 27.7% to 27.4%), and for men – by 0.3 percentage points, from 18.9% to 19.2%.
The TRU for those without a four-year college degree improved in August after increasing in July, falling 1.5 percentage points for those without a high school education (47.4%), and 0.6 percentage points for those with who have a high school diploma (26.6%), and 0.8 percentage points for those with a college degree but no degree (24.4%). TRU continued to increase slightly for those with a bachelor’s degree (0.1 percentage point, to 15.1%) and increased by 1.2 percentage points for those with an associate degree (13.7%).
“While we can say that only a slight increase in functional unemployment is a sign that workers are holding on, even in the face of inflation, it is concerning when we see this increase in parallel with the expansion of the labor force,” Ludwig said. . “If we want to see a sustainable, growing economy, it has to include everyone, including people on low wages. This is a very important point for policymakers to consider.”
About TRU
LISEP has released a technical paper, Better Measurement: Developing ‘True Unemployment’ Data as a Basis for Social and Economic Policy, following the announcement of a new statistical indicator in October 2020. The document and methodology can be viewed here. LISEP releases the TRU one to two weeks after the release of the BLS unemployment report, which occurs on the first Friday of each month. The TRU rate and supporting data are available on the LISEP website at https://www.lisep.org/tru.
About LISEP
Ludwig Institute of General Economic Prosperity (LISEP) was established in 2019 by Ludwig and his wife Dr. Carol Ludwig. LISEP’s mission is to improve the economic well-being of middle- and low-income Americans through research and education. LISEP’s original economic research includes new measures of unemployment, wages and the cost of living. These indicators are intended to give policymakers and the public a more transparent picture of the economic situation of all Americans, especially low- and middle-income families, compared to misleading statistics.
About Gene Ludwig
In addition to his role as Chair of LISEP, Gene Ludwig is the managing partner of Canapi LLC, a financial technology venture capital fund. He is the founder and CEO of Ludwig Advisors, a company that advises financial companies on important issues. Ludwig is also the founder of the Promontory family of companies. He is the former vice chairman and senior controller of Bankers Trust New York Corp. and served as Comptroller of the Currency of the United States from 1993 to 1998. He is also the author of a book The vanishing American dream, which explores the economic challenges facing low- and middle-income Americans. On Twitter: @geneludwig.
SOURCE Ludwig Institute for General Economic Prosperity
