Jobs Day Takeaways

Today’s Jobs Numbers in Context

The US economy added 372,000 jobs in June, signaling continued strong growth.

“Not only is the job number fantastic for our ‘are we in a recession?’ moment, it’s great for basically any month period,” Roosevelt’s Mike Konczal tweeted. 

“To put how good 372,000 new jobs are in context, it’s higher (as a percent of employment) than 79 percent of monthly job numbers since 1980.”

However, childcare shortages are still limiting many women’s ability to work, hurting their careers and the economy as they cut back on work or forgo jobs to balance care responsibilities.

What can policymakers do to address the childcare crisis? A lot—starting with supply-side investments in the childcare industry. 

The Economic Costs of COVID-19

As cases rise again, the COVID-19 pandemic poses another ongoing threat to workers and the economy.

In a new analysis, Julia Raifman and Roosevelt fellow Aaron Sojourner find that over the past two years, low-income, Black, and Latino workers were more likely to report missing work due to COVID-19 symptoms.

“The current COVID-19 policy paradigm has not adequately addressed the precarity faced by low-income communities and communities of color,” they write. 

“In addition to reducing potential exposure levels, policy should also address the disproportionate economic and health costs of falling sick that these communities face.”

Read “Protecting High-Risk Individuals Means Considering the Economic Cost of COVID-19.”

How the USPS Could Provide Public Banking

“[O]ur current banking and financial system—privatized and expensive—is a barrier to economic entry for millions of people,” Roosevelt’s Emily DiVito writes.

“To fix this, we need a public banking option that treats money, and the systems through which it moves in the economy, as a public good. . . a modern public banking option could blend free, accessible accounts (such as FedAccounts managed by the Federal Reserve) with retail services provided at post offices.”

Learn more in “Banking for All: How the USPS Could Provide Public Banking.”

What We’re Reading

Americans Are Losing Their Right to Not Conform – New York Times

Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Is a Paradigm Shift – Foreign Policy

Radical Taxation – Dissent

The New Productivism Paradigm? – Project Syndicate

California Will Make Its Own Insulin to Fight Drug’s High Prices, Newsom Says – Washington Post