Hello. Today we look at an segment of the American workforce which is lagging the recovery, the literal tiger economy, and the potential fallout from trillions of dollars in government spending.
Struggling to Keep Up
One category of worker is struggling to keep up with the recovering American labor market: domestic helpers.
U.S. hiring has been picking up quickly in recent months thanks to vaccinations and reopening of the economy — at least, before the current rise in worries about the delta variant.
But the group with a large immigrant representation and predominantly women of color still has a long way to go.
Based on recent surveys, more than a quarter of the 2.2 million cleaners, nannies and other caregivers who work in private homes may still be out of work, Augusta Saraiva reports.
More than one in three domestic workers are immigrants, hundreds of thousands of whom are undocumented.
Foreign-born domestic employees are estimated to make almost $2 less per hour than their American counterparts.
Now the coronavirus crisis has left many with even lower income, if at all.
For the undocumented, the situation is worse, because they typically have no access to government aid when they lose their job.
To help protect them, Democrats in the Senate re-introduced last month the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.
First presented by then-Senator Kamala Harris in 2019, the bill would ensure paid sick leave as well as meal and rest breaks for homecare employees, on top of extending civil-rights protections to this category. Ten states, including New York, already have bills of rights for domestic workers.
The Economic Scene
Among Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s myriad options to help revive his economy from a rare contraction brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, “Project Tiger” is definitely among the most unlikely.
The country intends to grow the wild tiger population by 35% to as many as 4,000 in the next decade, which would protect forests while also boosting economic gains from conservation.
One rupee invested in tiger reserves provides 243- to 7,488-times worth of benefits to the country in a year, said Madhu Verma, New Delhi-based chief economist at the World Resources Institute.
A study she authored in 2019 showed monetary value of direct and indirect benefits from 10 tiger reserves ranged from 51 billion rupees ($687 million) to 162 billion rupees in a year.
Today’s Must Reads
- Tax questions | Wealthy Americans wondering how much more taxes they’ll owe after Democrats pass their sweeping social-spending package may have to wait until deep into the fall, or later, to find out.
- State aid | The spread of the delta variant could force even states that cut off extra unemployment benefits early, like Florida, to offer additional support, President Joe Biden’s U.S. labor chief told Bloomberg.
- Harris to Asia | U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will look to bolster economic cooperation in China’s backyard as she visits Singapore and Vietnam in the Biden administration’s most high-profile trip yet to Asia.
- Going backward | Japan’s inflation dropped for a 12th month in July, extended the longest losing streak in a decade after data revisions showed weakness during the pandemic was worse than previously reported.
- Still home | The worst of the coronavirus pandemic may be receding into the rear-view mirror, but office workers are little closer to returning to their desks full-time.
- Longer lockdowns | Sydney’s two-month long lockdown will be extended until at least the end of September and masks will need to be worn outside as the Covid-19 delta variant outbreak in Australia’s most populous city worsens — and ensnares New Zealand.
Need-to-Know Research
A blowout in government borrowing since the pandemic began will ultimately require spending cuts and higher taxes to get public finances back on track.
That’s a lesson from economic history highlighted by James McCormack, Fitch’s global head of sovereign ratings, who said that even if austerity is not on the agenda right now, the bill to pay for the pandemic will come due.
Governments around the world have rolled out about $16 trillion worth of fiscal measures to prevent economic collapse during the pandemic, according to the International Monetary Fund, helping to drive the recovery but also leaving war-time era levels of debt.
On #EconTwitter
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The fourth annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum will convene the world’s most influential leaders in Singapore on Nov. 16-19 to mobilize behind the effort to build a sustainable and inclusive global economy. Learn more here.
