Millions of workers will benefit from minimum wage increase
July 13, 2009
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Good news for workersAn estimated 4.5 million of the country’s lowest-paid workers will get a raise when the federal minimum wage increases this month, providing a badly needed boost to the economy. Why critics of a higher minimum wage are wrong. |
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The stimulus debateEPI experts respond to critics who argue that a second stimulus is premature, and explain why public investment works better than tax cuts to stimulate the economy. |
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Arbitration, Canadian styleAmerican employers and workers looking for common ground in union contract negotiations could borrow a page from Canada’s practices. |
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Beyond standardized testsA new report recommends a more comprehensive approach to evaluating schools that incorporates arts and physical fitness, physical health, and social development. |
Analysis & Opinion
Tax cuts won’t create jobs
July 10, 2009
History shows that tax cuts, particularly high-end cuts, don’t work well to stimulate the demand for goods and services needed to create jobs in a downturn. Read More
Plenty of need for a second stimulus
July 9, 2009
To critics who argue that a second stimulus would be like putting a second turkey in the oven before the first one is cooked, EPI policy analyst Ethan Pollack points to all the additional people who are showing up at the table. Read More
Arbitration, Canadian style
July 7, 2009
American employers and workers looking for common ground in union contract negotiations could borrow a page from Canada’s practices. Read More
Beyond standardized tests
July 6, 2009
A new report recommends a more comprehensive approach to evaluating schools that incorporates arts and physical fitness, physical health, and social development. Read More
Latest Research
Nearly six unemployed workers per available job
July 7, 2009
Ratio of job seekers to job openings continues to climb.
Nine years of job growth lost
July 2, 2009
EPI's analysis of the latest jobs report shows that this is the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all jobs growth from the previous business cycle, a testament both to the enormity of the current crisis and to the extremely poor job growth during the 2000s.
Review of the Obama retirement plan
June 26, 2009
A recent Department of Treasury report contains an outline of the retirement system reforms President Obama will pursue. Read EPI's latest Policy Memo for a sense of how adequately they address the problems.
Newly unionized workplaces
June 25, 2009
Canada's use of arbitration to resolve negotiations of a first contract in a newly unionized workplace can teach us a lot about how the process could work in the United States. Read this Issue Brief for answers to some common questions about first-contract arbitrations.
New report on education policy
June 25, 2009
A new report from the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education campaign recommends a more comprehensive assessment of student performance beyond just math and science.
RSS
Worth Reading
- On the unemployment line, unable to move New York Times — July 13, 2009 Read More
- The stimulus trap New York Times — July 10, 2009 Read More
- Homeless families increasing New York Times — July 10, 2009 Read More
- Second stimulus “might eventually be needed” U.S. News & World Report — July 9, 2009 Read More
- U.S. should plan second fiscal stimulus Reuters — July 7, 2009 Read More
- Delicate economic summer crucial to Obama’s agenda Associated Press — July 7, 2009 Read More
- Companies, workers tangle over law to curb layoffs Wall Street Journal — July 6, 2009 Read More
- Joblessness Hits 9.5%, Deflating Recovery Hopes NY Times — July 3, 2009 Read More
- Health insurance insider: They dump the sick ABC News — July 2, 2009 Read More
- U.S. stimulus a small patch for big economic hole Reuters — July 2, 2009 Read More
- See More Worth Reading
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African Americans see weekly wage decline
![[figure]](http://www.epi.org/page/-/img/20090708snapshot.jpg)
While other groups have seen a modest rise in weekly wages over the last 2 years, African Americans are the only group to experience a decline. Read More
Unemployment without borders
July 8, 12:33pm
The G-8 countries convened in Italy July 8 at a time of a global jobs crisis: The International Labor Organization (ILO) predicts that 51 million jobs will be lost globally in the current financial downturn. ILO has also proposed a way to soften the blow through a Global Jobs Pact that calls on governments to work with unions and employers to implement certain crisis-response measures that would help sustain enterprises and accelerate job creation while strengthening social safety nets. Recent history shows that such programs pay off. Germany, for instance, has seen a drop in its GDP similar to other industrialized countries, but has not had the steep rise in unemployment that many other industrialized countries have seen. In fact, Germany’s unemployment has risen only modestly, from 7.4% in April 2008 to 7.7% in April 2009. Over that same one-year period, U.S. unemployment soared from 5.5% to 8.9%. A series of crisis-response programs in Germany includes one that pays employers to retain full payrolls even as demand and production fall. –Tony Avirgan Archive
The State of Working America
A comprehensive look at the U.S. labor market and trends in income and employment levels, wages, poverty and healthcare coverage for American families
Economic Analysis and Research Network
Improving workers' lives through state and local research and advocacy
The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education
Policies to overcome the link between social and economic status and achievement
