U.S. Newswire - Economic Policy Institute Feb. 9 Capitol Hill Briefing on Jobs and the Economy: Job Growth, Wages and Economic Policies

News Advisory:

With the labor market experiencing the worst job recovery on record, how to best create jobs is a critical issue for all working families. On Monday, Feb. 9, Congressman George Miller and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) will sponsor a briefing to shed much-needed light on this issue.

Two EPI economists will analyze recent trends in jobs and wages, including the Feb. 6 jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and assess the effectiveness of economic policies to address these trends. Among other things, the economists will discuss the extended duration of the job slump, the slowing of wage growth to less than the rate of inflation, the fall of income for the lowest-paid Americans compared to the rise in income for top earners, the "missing labor force" excluded from unemployment counts, and the skewing of President Bush's policies toward higher-income tax relief and high federal deficits.

Leading the presentation will be two EPI economists - nationally recognized experts on the economy and employment:

-- Lee Price, EPI research director and former chief economist and Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Commerce Department

-- Jared Bernstein, EPI senior economist and co-author of the biennial State of Working America

WHAT: Analysis of the recent trends in jobs and wages and the effectiveness of policies to address these trends

WHEN: Monday, Feb. 9, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Room 1539, Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

RSVP: Communications Department of EPI, 202-775-8810

The Economic Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank founded in 1986. The Institute can found on the web at http://www.epinet.org