Preserving Gains for Workers

Three Gains We Need to Protect

Inflation remains a top concern for many Americans, as supply problems, demand, and market power continue to drive up prices.

However, “amid the rising prices, there are positive signs in the economy, ones that matter for everyday people,” Roosevelt’s Mike Konczal writes in The Nation.

For one, the labor market is stronger, with more jobs, higher labor force participation, and a lower unemployment rate than projected. It’s also more dynamic—workers are switching jobs at record rates, leading to wage gains. Finally, employment increases have been shared broadly, making this recovery more equitable than previous ones. 

“As we consider how to move the pandemic recovery into the next stage, these developments need to be not only acknowledged but protected,” Konczal writes. 

“There’s room to land a soft recovery and keep what’s working in our economy. But to do that, we need to recognize that, in addition to the problems, there are encouraging trends that we must fight to preserve.”

Read more in “We Shouldn’t Destroy What Is Working in Our Economy.” 

A Vision for Multiracial Democracy

“​​It is critical that those advancing the path towards racial justice articulate a vision of multiracial democracy that diagnoses the failures of the past and confronts the scourge of racism and persistent economic inequality,” Roosevelt’s Kyle Strickland writes in Nonprofit Quarterly. 

“Achieving freedom and liberation demands a break from past systems; it demands interventions that shift power and resources to those traditionally left behind.”

Learn more in Strickland and Felicia Wong’s A New Paradigm for Justice and Democracy: Moving beyond the Twin Failures of Neoliberalism and Racial Liberalism.

All Economic Policy Is Climate Policy

“To me, [economic policy and climate policy are] just so intertwined it doesn’t even actually make sense to think about them separately,” Roosevelt’s Rhiana Gunn-Wright told Hot Take’s Amy Westervelt and The New Republic reporter Kate Aronoff in a virtual conversation this week. 

“Our economy is inextricable from the energy that it relies on . . . The climate crisis that we’re seeing is the result of how we’ve structured our economies.”

Watch a recording of the webcast. 

What We’re Reading

The Supreme Court’s EPA Ruling Isn’t the Only Legal Attack on the Environment – Vox

Five Actions the Biden Administration Can Take to Expand and Protect Abortion Access – Ms. Magazine

Unions Fight to Secure Better Pay and Conditions for Workers, but They Can Also Benefit Employers – The Conversation

Financial Market Regulators Can Do More to Tackle Racial Economic Inequality – American Banker