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How workers got left behind in the pandemic while shareholder wealth soared

Sprawled out on Second Avenue behind his truck, a FEDEX worker sorts out packages to be delivered on Christmas Eve, New York, NY, December 24, 2020. With a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, package shipping services such as FEDEX, UPS and the USPS are expecting to deliver a record number of packages for 2020. (Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)No Use UK. No Use Germany.

Molly Kinder, a fellow in Brookings Metro, discusses with host David Dollar her new report, “Profits and the pandemic” (co-authored with Katie Bach and Laura Stateler), which examines pay practices and financial outcomes during the pandemic-era of 22 of the nation’s largest companies. Kinder notes that most of the large companies enjoyed record financial gains during the pandemic, and that while a few did provide workers with pay raises that exceed a living wage, most did not, and the modest wage gains workers did receive have been wiped out by inflation.