Economic Perspectives

Here are a couple different stories you can tell about our economy. One goes like this. Eight years after the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, our economy has created jobs for 71 straight months. That's a new record. Unemployment has fallen below five percent. Last year, the typical household saw its income grow by about twenty-eight hundred dollars - the biggest one-year increase ever. And the uninsured rate is at an all-time low. All that is true. What's also true is that too much of our wealth is still taken by the top and that leaves too many families still working paycheck to paycheck, without a lot of breathing room. There are two things we can do about this. We can prey on people's worries for political gain. Or we can actually do something to help working families feel more secure in today's economy. Count me in the latter camp. And here's one thing that will help right away: making sure more of our families have access to paid leave. Today, having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families. But right now, millions of Americans don't have access to even a single day of paid sick leave.