Myth Based Claims
In preparation for President Trump’s State of the Union speech, the Economic Policy Institute has assembled research from the last year that examines the real state of the union for working people on wages, manufacturing and trade, taxes, labor standards, housing, and immigration.
Wages and employment
2019 had solid job growth, but wage growth slowed. Average monthly job creation has held remarkably steady for the past nine years, but it did soften in the last year, from 223,000 in 2018 to 176,000 in 2019. Wage growth slowed for much of the year, providing further evidence that we are not yet at genuine full employment. After hitting a recent high point of 3.4% year-over-year wage growth, the growth rate has measurably decelerated and wage growth closed out the year at only 2.9% in December.
Wage growth for low-wage workers has been strongest in states with minimum wage increases
More on longer wage trends in our Nominal Wage Tracker.
Manufacturing and trade
Jobs lost to China. Recent EPI research found that 700,000 jobs were lost to China in the first two years of Trump’s presidency—many of them manufacturing jobs.
China trade deal will not restore 3.7 million U.S. jobs lost since China entered the WTO in 2001
U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement—Weak tea, at best
What’s good for Wall Street is often bad for American workers and manufacturing
Taxes
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has been a policy failure. Notably, business investment contracted for the third straight quarter—the first time this has happened since the Great Recession in 2009. Given that boosting business investment was the primary stated goal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed in 2017, this seems like an unambiguous policy failure.:
On its second anniversary, the TCJA has cut taxes for corporations, but nothing has trickled down
Labor standards
The Trump administration has systematically weakened workers’ rights
More than eight million workers will be left behind by the Trump overtime rule
New Trump administration joint-employer rule has $1 billion price tag for workers
Workers will lose more than $700 million annually under proposed Trump DOL rule
Graduate student workers’ rights to unionize are threatened by Trump administration proposal
Housing
The Trump administration’s new housing rules will worsen segregation
Economic Policy Institute
Immigration
Trump and Kushner’s ‘merit-based’ immigration plan fails to propose the smart reforms needed to modernize and improve U.S. labor migration
Trump’s national emergency declaration over the border wall is dangerous and not justified by the facts
Congress and Trump discover bipartisanship on immigration—but only to increase H-2B visas for captive and underpaid migrant workers
As investment continues to decline, the Trump tax cuts remain nothing but a handout to the rich
President Trump is likely to tout the benefits of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) during his annual State of the Union address. Given that boosting business investment—eventually boosting wages—was the primary stated goal of the TCJA, the subsequent decline in business investment shows the TCJA was an unambiguous policy failure for working people, benefiting only the rich and corporations. Read the blog »
In preparation for President Trump’s State of the Union speech, the Economic Policy Institute has assembled research from the last year that examines the real state of the union for working people on wages, manufacturing and trade, taxes, labor standards, housing, and immigration.
Wages and employment
2019 had solid job growth, but wage growth slowed. Average monthly job creation has held remarkably steady for the past nine years, but it did soften in the last year, from 223,000 in 2018 to 176,000 in 2019. Wage growth slowed for much of the year, providing further evidence that we are not yet at genuine full employment. After hitting a recent high point of 3.4% year-over-year wage growth, the growth rate has measurably decelerated and wage growth closed out the year at only 2.9% in December.
Wage growth for low-wage workers has been strongest in states with minimum wage increases
More on longer wage trends in our Nominal Wage Tracker.
Manufacturing and trade
Jobs lost to China. Recent EPI research found that 700,000 jobs were lost to China in the first two years of Trump’s presidency—many of them manufacturing jobs.
China trade deal will not restore 3.7 million U.S. jobs lost since China entered the WTO in 2001
U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement—Weak tea, at best
What’s good for Wall Street is often bad for American workers and manufacturing
Taxes
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has been a policy failure. Notably, business investment contracted for the third straight quarter—the first time this has happened since the Great Recession in 2009. Given that boosting business investment was the primary stated goal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed in 2017, this seems like an unambiguous policy failure.:
On its second anniversary, the TCJA has cut taxes for corporations, but nothing has trickled down
Labor standards
The Trump administration has systematically weakened workers’ rights
More than eight million workers will be left behind by the Trump overtime rule
New Trump administration joint-employer rule has $1 billion price tag for workers
Workers will lose more than $700 million annually under proposed Trump DOL rule
Graduate student workers’ rights to unionize are threatened by Trump administration proposal
Housing
The Trump administration’s new housing rules will worsen segregation
Economic Policy Institute
Immigration
Trump and Kushner’s ‘merit-based’ immigration plan fails to propose the smart reforms needed to modernize and improve U.S. labor migration
Trump’s national emergency declaration over the border wall is dangerous and not justified by the facts
Congress and Trump discover bipartisanship on immigration—but only to increase H-2B visas for captive and underpaid migrant workers
As investment continues to decline, the Trump tax cuts remain nothing but a handout to the rich
President Trump is likely to tout the benefits of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) during his annual State of the Union address. Given that boosting business investment—eventually boosting wages—was the primary stated goal of the TCJA, the subsequent decline in business investment shows the TCJA was an unambiguous policy failure for working people, benefiting only the rich and corporations. Read the blog »
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