Heidi Shierholz
@hshierholz.bsky.social
President, @EPI-org. Board member, EPI Action. Former Chief Economist, US Dept of Labor. Bike commuter, backyard beekeeper. Tweets my own. She/her.
I once received a transcript from a radio interview that identified me as "economist Tiny Shareholders." (I am economist Heidi Shierholz.)
post malone ergo propter malone@proptermalone.bsky.social · 2d agoone of the better voice transcription errors I’ve gotten
Climate policy isn't going away because Washington stopped talking about it. Americans are already paying the price through fires, floods, heat, and rising costs. Our new collection asks a different question: what should the next agenda for climate look like post-DOGE and the rollback of the IRA? 🧵
Building Up in 2029: How to Make Green Statecraft Durable
Explore 17 essays on durable US climate and industrial policy after Inflation Reduction Act rollbacks, covering governance, planning, finance, and production.
rooseveltinstitute.org
A quick follow up to this! We held a press conference about the report with @hshierholz.bsky.social, @naomiawalker.bsky.social, and @lizshuler.bsky.social. Which you can that watch on our site OR listen to the podcast version (on our site, apple, spotify, etc...) www.epi.org/podcast/
The State of Working America Podcast
The State of Working America Podcast is part of EPI’s effort to raise workers’ voices to ensure they are heard in the economic policy debate. Core topics include workers' rights, inequality, race, ge...
epi.org
Tripling union membership would… -Raise the median worker’s wages by $7k+ annually -Reverse 1/3 of the increase in inequality since 1979 -Increase the number of people with health insurance And more. Unions are the key to taking on runaway corporate power. Every worker deserves one.
Economic Policy Institute@epi.org · 3w ago🌟 NEW 🌟 First-of-its-kind analysis from @cmcnich.bsky.social, @jensherer.bsky.social, and @benzipperer.org measures how expanding union membership would boost wages, lower inequality, and benefit communities and democracy. A teaser of what that would mean for workers 🧵 1/
EPI is hosting a webinar about this amazing new vision at 1PM Eastern time today -- join us! www.epi.org/event/50-mil...
50 million U.S. workers want to join a union: What if they could?
Imagine if one-in-three private-sector workers belonged to a union. What would wages, benefits, and working conditions look like if more workers had access to a union contract and the labor movement g...
epi.org
Heidi Shierholz@hshierholz.bsky.social · 3w agoToday, EPI released a new report showing what would happen if we tripled union density to 30%. The results are striking: higher wages, lower inequality, lower racial wage gaps, stronger communities, and a healthier democracy. 1/ www.epi.org/publication/...
Today, EPI released a new report showing what would happen if we tripled union density to 30%. The results are striking: higher wages, lower inequality, lower racial wage gaps, stronger communities, and a healthier democracy. 1/ www.epi.org/publication/...
The case for tripling union membership: How rebuilding union power would strengthen workers, the economy, and our democracy
Foreword Imagine union membership tripling in the United States. It may sound radical—if you’ve forgotten history. In fact, more than 1 in 3 private-sector workers belonged to a union in the 1950s. Th...
epi.org
Don't let them lie to you; Social Security is a problem of income distribution, not demographics cepr.net/publications...
Social Security is a Problem of Income Distribution, Not Demographics
Social Security's financing problem stems more from wage inequality and income distribution than demographics, making policy, not aging, the real issue.
cepr.net
@hcrichardson.bsky.social turned decades of studying democracy into a nightly act of devotion, writing alone past midnight, no sponsors, no noise, just truth and care. She’s given millions a place to breathe, to understand, to feel less alone. Grateful for her light in the dark. TYSM HCR! #Pinks
After 17 years without an increase, the federal minimum wage has lost nearly a third of its purchasing power. It's long past time to restore a meaningful national wage floor. Our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social and @epi.org’s @hshierholz.bsky.social explain how in @thehill.com:
Minimum wage has stagnated for 17 years — it’s time for a pay bump
Housing costs too much. Healthcare costs too much. Childcare costs too much. But for most workers, the most immediate problem is simpler: their paychecks are too low.
thehill.com
“.. Members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C.” @reuters.com
I'm not saying it's cause and effect, but I'm also not not saying it. Either way, the manufacturing revival never came.
Today's jobs report came in weaker than expected. The economy added 57k jobs in June and prior months were revised down. April and May are a combined 74k lower than previously reported. Analysts believe the World Cup added 40k to June numbers—without that, job growth would have been 17k. #EconSky
"The Supreme Court Blesses Ethnic Cleansing" is a pretty good six-word summary of yesterday's decisions prospect.org/2026/06/26/r...
The Rogue Supreme Court Blesses Ethnic Cleansing - The American Prospect
The national council of law wizards held that Donald Trump can deport nonwhite refugees on baldly racist grounds even if he doesn’t follow the law in doing so.
prospect.org
Khanna did not ‘say’ that Musk unleashed mass death. Serious research has documented it. —> www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...
thelancet.com
The Independent@the-independent.com · last mo.Elon Musk promises to sue lawmaker who suggested DOGE cuts led to the deaths of 4.5 million kids
As predicted ⬆️, the administration's changes meant lower wages for workers & more $ for employers. This is just for MI in the first half of 2026. www.canr.msu.edu/news/michiga...
I posted this picture of my dog to the #animals Slack channel at work and a colleague (@dskamper.bsky.social) responded "Wow the Reflecting Pool’s really gotten out of hand in a hurry" 😂😂😂
Administration is stumbling towards a debacle. Millions of U.S. businesses & local govts use the threatened data to make better investment decisions. It's like gouging out our own eyes for no reason. www.npr.org/2026/06/12/n...
I am trying to learn more. It looks very concerning. It seems to bar, not just recently-adopted DP, but perhaps also long-used methods such as swapping. That would take out a huge number of data products social sciencists use including Census microdata.
Quintessential Trump: In 2025, Trump axed the program to combat New World Screwworm, stating that they had "saved" $1.5 million a year. In 2026, the Trump announces a $1 billion emergency program to combat the Screwworm outbreak. $1 billion would have funded the old program for 667 years.
"The UFC event captures something about this moment in our history. After all, it’s vulgar, it’s violent, it’s commercial, it’s grandiose, it’s tacky, and it dishonors a place once thought worthy of care and respect. In other words, it’s Donald Trump." open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
The Decline of the Republic Comes with a Claw
Tacky American Caesarism.
open.substack.com
We've been running an unprecedented natural experiment running for a decade and half. 30 states have raised their minimum wages. 20 have not. What happened to pay? What happened to jobs? The good news is that it's pretty easy to figure out now. substack.com/home/post/p-...
A Minimum Wage Natural Experiment Has Been Running for Over a Decade
When 30 States Raised Minimum Wages, What Happened to Pay and Jobs?
substack.com
Trump's war has wiped out an entire year and a half of wage growth
A 40% pay increase, the right to walk off the job if federal agents (i.e. CBP/ICE) pose a threat to them *and* the contract expires in April 2028 so they can demand more ahead of the Olympics. Shoutout Local 11, shoutout unions.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2mo agoINGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Stadium workers near Los Angeles say they have reached a tentative contract deal, averting strike ahead of World Cup.
Nominal wage growth ticking down - no labor market pressures on inflation. Unfortunately, recent price hikes mean this will likely produce real wage declines (once new CPI data is released. 4/.
