As we say goodbye to 2013, the economy is still failing ordinary workers.
What is being done to make it better? Not enough.
Public spending and public investment are too low, wages for increasingly productive workers are flat or falling, and the minimum wage is inadequate.
However, there is hope for 2014.
The policies that created these trends can be reversed. There is a renewed push to raise the federal minimum wage, states are raising their own minimum wages, and more policymakers are coming to terms with the downside of economic inequality.
EPI’s top charts of 2013 explain why a full economic recovery and policies that ensure broadly shared prosperity should be policymakers’ foremost priorities in 2014.

Adapted from:“Recession Has Left in Its Wake a Jobs Shortfall of Nearly 8 Million,” an EPI Economic Indicator updated Dec. 6, 2013, on www.stateofworkingamerica.org

Adapted from:“Drop in Employment for ‘Prime-age’ Workers during 2007 Recession Truly Stunning,” an EPI Economic Indicator updated Dec. 6, 2013, on www.stateofworkingamerica.org

Adapted from:“Millions of Potential Workers Sidelined,” an EPI Economic Indicator updated Dec. 6, 2013

Adapted from:Taking Middle-Out Economics Seriously in This Fall’s Fiscal Debates, an EPI report published Sept. 26, 2013

Adapted from:“Economy Built for Profits, Not Prosperity,” an EPI Economic Snapshot updated Dec. 6, 2013

Adapted from:CEO Pay in 2012 Was Extraordinarily High Relative to Typical Workers and Other High Earners, an EPI report published June 26, 2013

Adapted from:A Decade of Flat Wages: The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class, an EPI report published Aug. 21, 2013

Adapted from:“Cumulative Change in Total Economy Productivity and Real Hourly Compensation of Production/Nonsupervisory Workers, 1948–2012,” an EPI Economic Indicator updated Sept. 4, 2013

Adapted from:The Class of 2013: Young Graduates Still Face Dim Job Prospects, an EPI report published April 10, 2013

Adapted from:Guestworkers in the High-Skill U.S. Labor Market, an EPI report published April 24, 2013

Adapted from:Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10 Would Lift Wages for Millions and Provide a Modest Economic Boost, an EPI report published Dec. 19, 2013

Adapted from:Figure 11 in EPI’s Retirement Inequality Chartbook, published Sept. 6, 2013

Adapted from:Figure 26 in EPI’s Retirement Inequality Chartbook, published Sept. 6, 2013