The Top 10 Charts of 2014

http://www.epi.org/publication/the-top-10-charts-of-2014/

This last year saw the pace of job growth pick up, a welcome development. Yet the economy remains far from healthy. In 2014 the twin issues of income inequality and stagnant wage growth for the vast majority of Americans took center stage. Better late than never.

EPI’s top charts of 2014 show why addressing inequality and spurring wage growth is so necessary–and so doable. Policy choices led to these trends, and different policy choices can reverse them.

The first policy choice should be based on the “do no harm” principle: the Federal Reserve should not try to slow recovery in the name of fighting inflationary pressures until wage growth is much, much stronger.

After this, policymakers should support those labor standards that can restore some bargaining power to low- and moderate-wage workers in coming years. That means policy actions such as passing a higher minimum wage, expanding rights to overtime pay, protecting the labor rights of undocumented workers, and restoring the right to collective bargaining.