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JOBS DAY STATEMENT: Job Growth Continues on Upward Swing, But Wage Growth Needs to Catch Up, Says CAP Economist Michael Madowitz

Press Room »May 2015JOBS DAY STATEMENT: Job Growth Continues on Upward Swing, But Wage Growth Needs to Catch Up, Says CAP Economist Michael MadowitzMay 8, 2015PRINT: SHARE: <img alt="Facebook icon" height="24" src="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/themes/c3/images/facebook24.png" width="24"><img alt="Twitter icon" height="24" src="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/themes/c3/images/twitter24.png" width="24"><img alt="Share on Google+" src="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/themes/c3/images/googleplus24.png"/><img alt="Email icon" src="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/themes/c3/images/email24.png">Contact: Allison Preiss Phone: 202.478.6331 Email: apreiss@americanprogress.orgWashington, D.C. — Center for American Progress Economist Michael Madowitz released the following statement today after the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its April 2015 employment figures. Follow Madowitz on Twitter today at @mikemadowitz to get more breaking jobs day analysis.The economy added 223,000 jobs last month, and with the overall unemployment rate now standing at a solid 5.4 percent—reflecting 62 consecutive months of private-sector expansion—there is substantial reason to see today’s job growth as another positive step in the economic recovery. With continued strong numbers and no signs of the economy overheating, there is no need for the Federal Reserve to slow the economy down.However, it is wage growth—or lack thereof—that should be the real focus in this month’s employment report, with hourly earnings growing only 2.2 percent over the past year. In order to tighten the labor market and generate sustainable middle-class wage growth, the economy will need to maintain the brisk pace of job growth that started this year for many months to come.As the economy continues to bounce back, middle-class families must be able to share in the recovery. Research from CAP found that in recent years, the cost of security for a median middle-class family has risen sharply, while incomes have stagnated. Encouragingly, the Obama administration announced this week that it is moving forward with its plan to ensure that Americans who work long hours are paid fairly. Overtime protections have fallen by more than half since 1975, robbing millions of Americans of wages that they have earned and rightly deserve and providing little incentive for companies to increase hiring even when workers are stretched thin. Updating these obsolete overtime rules will help restore fairness to the labor market, bolster the wage growth that is sorely missing from today’s report, and help build an economy that works for everyone.Related resource: The State of the U.S. Labor Market: Pre-May 2015 Jobs Release by Jackie Odum, Danielle Corley, and Michael MadowitzTo speak with an expert about today’s jobs report, contact Allison Preiss at apreiss@americanprogress.org or 202.478.6331.###

JOBS DAY STATEMENT: Job Growth Continues on Upward Swing, But Wage Growth Needs to Catch Up, Says CAP Economist Michael Madowitz

Press Room »May 2015 JOBS DAY STATEMENT: Job Growth Continues on Upward Swing, But Wage Growth Needs to Catch Up, Says CAP Economist Michae...

Greece slashes economic growth forecast again in latest reform plan

ATHENS Greece expects its economy to grow at little more than a third of the pace it originally targeted in its 2015 budget, a reform plan drafted by the finance ministry and released on Saturday suggested, raising fresh questions about its bailout.The government forecast economic growth at more than 0.8 percent this year, well below the 1.4 percent it estimated in a list sent to its international lenders in March and far off the 2.9 percent assumed in budget planning late last year. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras left-led government, elected in January on a promise to ease the belt-tightening terms of the bailout, has been locked for months in talks with Greece's official creditors over a list of reforms to unlock funds. The 89-page plan appeared to be a broader outline of initiatives the government plans to take over the long term, rather than a specific list of reforms to secure financial aid immediately from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The government said that lower-than-expected revenues in 2014 and uncertainty over funding had complicated the economic projection. "However, it's estimated that favorable conditions for the Greek economy will be maintained. Indicatively, the GDP rate in 2015 is expected to exceed the 0.8 percent noted in 2014," it said.Greece emerged last year from a deep, austerity-induced recession that shrank its gross domestic product by a quarter over a six-year period, slashing jobs and eroding living standards. The reform plan which was drafted in April outlines major changes such as reinstating collective bargaining, boosting employment, and cracking down on undeclared labor, bureaucracy and corruption. It does not include primary budget surplus estimates or growth projections for the coming years.The European Commission this week slashed its 2015 Greek GDP estimate from 2.5 percent to 0.5 percent because of the uncertainty that has dogged its policy direction since late 2014. Greece's IOBE think-tank revised down its growth forecast this year, predicting 1.0 percent economic expansion, down from 2.3 percent forecast in January. Euro zone finance ministers are expected to assess any progress made in talks between Athens and its lenders on Monday. (Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Greece slashes economic growth forecast again in latest reform plan

ATHENS Greece expects its economy to grow at little more than a third of the pace it originally targeted in its 2015 budget, a reform plan ...