Luke Pardue
Policy Director
Aspen Economic Strategy Group
Luke Pardue is Policy Director at the Aspen Institute’s Economic Strategy Group (AESG). He obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Maryland and, before joining AESG, worked as an economist at Gusto, a small business payroll platform. Before Gusto, Luke held research positions at the US Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Board. His research focuses on finding policies and practices that help businesses, workers, and families thrive. His work and commentary have been featured in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Luke currently lives in Washington, DC.
Luke Pardue is Policy Director at the Aspen Institute’s Economic Strategy Group (AESG). He obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Maryland and, before joining AESG, worked as an economist at Gusto, a small business payroll platform. Before Gusto, Luke held research positions at the US Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Board. His research focuses on finding policies and practices that help businesses, workers, and families thrive. His work and commentary have been featured in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Luke currently lives in Washington, DC.
Publications
Introduction: Strengthening America’s Economic Dynamism
Global tensions and domestic discontent are driving a new era of economic policymaking. Leaders in both parties are turning away from free-market principles and endorsing an increase in protectionist trade policies and more active government-directed industrial policy. Further, these disruptions come when the country’s economic and political landscapes face systemic difficulties including limited state capacity ...
The Widening Economic and Social Gaps Between Young Men and Women
Recent social and economic data has revealed a troubling trend: young men in the US are increasingly falling behind their female peers, a long-widening gap that has accelerated in the wake of COVID-19. Many young men have struggled to navigate the disruptions associated with the pandemic, resulting in stagnating labor force participation rates, declining college ...
August 2024 Jobs Report: The Summer Slowdown Continues
The BLS estimated that the US economy added 142,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate ticked down slightly from 4.3% to 4.2%. This report is far from a worst-case-scenario many had feared, but does tell a consistent story of a labor market that is moving from a phase of post-pandemic normalization into outright weakness. ...
July 2024 CPI Report: Trending Towards Two
The steady cooldown in inflation that has marked much of 2024 continued in July. The Consumer Price Index rose at a 2.9% annual pace for all items, and at a 3.2% pace for all items excluding food and energy. These headline and core inflation rates are now at their lowest points since March 2021 and ...
Rising Childlessness is Driving the Decline in Birth Rates in the United States
The United States has experienced a dramatic decline in birth rates, starting in 2007 and continuing through recent years. This post updates and expands on findings in Kearney, Levine, Pardue (2020), The Puzzle of Falling Birth Rates in the United States, which concludes that the decline in birth rates has been fueled more by a ...
June 2024 CPI Report: The Summer Cooldown Continues
The Consumer Price Index rose at a 3.0% annual pace in June 2024, and 3.2% for all items excluding food and energy. Three things stood out from this report. 1. Core CPI Hits Lowest Level in Three Years While markets expected a small increase in prices from May to June, the Consumer Price Index declined ...
June 2024 Jobs Report: Entering a New Phase of the Job Market
The BLS estimated that the US economy added 206,000 jobs in June, with the unemployment rate ticking up from 4.0% to 4.1%. Three things stood out beneath the headlines of this report. 1. Revisions to April and May Show a Softer Job Market While the topline number of 206,000 jobs added in June was about ...
May 2024 CPI Report: Can the US Economy Have it All?
The Consumer Price Index rose at a 3.3% annual pace in May 2024, and 3.4% for all items excluding food and energy. Three things stood out from this report. 1. Inflation Softens More Than Expected Overall, consumer prices were unchanged from April to May and rose by 3.3% over the past year. Core CPI, excluding ...
May 2024 Jobs Report: Mixed Messages in the Job Market
The BLS estimated that the US economy added 272,000 jobs in February, with the unemployment rate ticking up from 3.9% to 4.0%. Three things stood out beneath the headlines of this report. 1. Job Growth Accelerates Today’s estimate of 272,000 jobs added substantially beat the consensus market forecasts of 180,000, and by all measures is ...