Job gains continued in 2016, but slow rebound in participation rate will limit future gains (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/job-gains-continued-in-2016-but-slow-rebound-in-participation-rate-will-limit-future-gains/

Wall Street follows Main Street in giving low-wage workers a raise (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, this week announced a raise for his bank’s lowest pay employees. The company’s worst paid workers currently earn $10.15 an hour. By next February their pay will increase to at least $12 an hour, a jump of 18 percent. Dimon’s announcement follows widely reported wage hikes at Starbucks, Target, Walmart and other employers with sizeable numbers of low-pay workers.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/07/13-wall-street-follows-main-street-giving-low-wage-workers-a-raise-burtless

Infrastructure investment lags even as borrowing costs remain near historic low (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/06/02-infrastructure-investment-lags-even-as-borrowing-costs-remain-near-historic-low

The rising longevity gap between rich and poor Americans (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

The past few months have seen a flurry of reports on discouraging trends in life expectancy among some of the nation’s struggling populations. Different researchers have emphasized different groups and have tracked longevity trends over different time spans, but all have documented conspicuous differences between trends among more advantaged Americans compared with those in worse circumstances.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/05/03-rising-longevity-gap-between-rich-and-poor-americans-burtless

What Trump and the rest get wrong about Social Security (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

Ahead of Tuesday’s primary elections in Ohio, Florida and other states, the 2016 presidential candidates have been talking about the future of Social Security and its funding shortfalls.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/03/15-what-trump-and-the-rest-get-wrong-about-social-security-burtless

Let's put a retirement savings plan in every workplace (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

Critics of the nation's retirement system regularly complain that the system is in crisis. Too many private companies fail to offer their employees a retirement plan. Many employees who are covered by a plan fail to make contributions to it. Those who do make contributions may contribute too little or invest their savings unwisely. The end result: Many of us will reach retirement age with miniscule pensions or too little savings to enjoy a comfortable old age.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/03/09-retirement-savings-plan-every-workplace-burtless

Robust job gains and a continued rebound in labor force participation (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

The latest BLS jobs report shows little sign employers are worried about the future strength of the recovery. Both the employer and household surveys suggest U.S. employers have an undiminished appetite for new hires. Nonfarm payrolls surged 242,000 in February, and upward revisions BLS employment estimates for January added almost 21,000 to estimated payroll gains in that month.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2016/03/04-robust-job-gains-continued-rebound-labor-force-participation-burtless

The growing life-expectancy gap between rich and poor (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

Researchers have long known that the rich live longer than the poor. Evidence now suggests that the life expectancy gap is increasing, at least here the United States, which raises troubling questions about the fairness of current efforts to protect Social Security.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/02/22-growing-life-expectancy-gap-burtless

Are the aged most deserving of more federal spending? (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

Social Security is the most popular legacy of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Last year almost 60 million Americans received benefits from the program. Payments amounted to over $875 billion, nearly a quarter of all federal spending. For more than two decades, most discussion of Social Security, at least in Washington, has centered on its funding shortfall. Contributions to the program are not high enough to pay for all benefits scheduled under current law. The Social Security Trust Fund is expected to be depleted around 2030. If Congress does not address the funding problem before reserves are exhausted, monthly payments will have to be cut about one-fifth.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/02/16-aged-deserving-federal-spending-burtless

(Istituto fondamentale - Global) July jobs report is like watching paint dry (Gary Burtless, Brookings)

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2015/08/07-july-jobs-gains-in-employment-no-wage-gains-burtless