State of Working America to be released on Labor Day
EPI's flagship publication, The State of Working America 2004/2005, is slated for release this Labor Day weekend. Visit EPI's Web site on Sunday September 5 to read the executive summary, introduction, and press release, or to order your own copy online.

The states and the minimum wage
Seven years of federal inaction have allowed rising inflation to eat away at the buying power of the minimum wage. While federal efforts to increase the minimum wage have been blocked repeatedly since Congress last raised it in 1996-97, the number of states with minimums set above the federal level has risen from five in 1997 to 13 in 2004, with several others taking serious looks at raising their state's minimum. For a full analysis, see the new EPI Issue Brief, The Who and Why of the Minimum Wage, by EPI economist Jeff Chapman and EARN Director Michael Ettlinger.

How does teacher pay compare?
Some policy makers have recently suggested that teachers are well compensated when work hours, weeks of work, or benefits packages are taken into account. EPI's latest education book  How Does Teacher Pay Compare? finds that, in reality, teacher compensation lags that of workers with similar education and experience, as well as that of workers with comparable skill requirements. Incorporating benefits into the analysis does not alter the general picture—teachers remain at a substantial wage/pay disadvantage that has only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Written by EPI President Lawrence Mishel, EPI economist Sylvia A. Allegretto, and EPI research associate Sean P. Corcoran, How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological challenges and answers reviews recent analyses of relative teacher compensation and provides a detailed analysis of trends in the relative weekly pay of elementary and secondary school teachers.

Job growth falls far short of expectations in July
Job growth was extremely weak in July, with payrolls expanding by only 32,000. See EPI's JobWatch.org for an analysis of the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The JobWatch.org Web site provides a timely analysis of monthly national unemployment numbers along with tables and figures showing the full extent of the employment shortfalls.

• On August 6, EPI economists Elise Gould and Jared Bernstein participated in a conference call on the July employment numbers and the release of the Worker Displacement Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey showed that 2001 through 2003 had the highest rate of worker displacement on record.
  
  
• EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey wrote an op-ed article in response to the August 23 implementation of the Department of Labor's revamped overtime rules. His commentary criticizing the largest rollback in employee rights in more than half a century has been published by seven newspapers around the nation.
  
  
• On August 25 EPI conducted a national media conference call to discuss the latest EPI education release, How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Authors Lawrence Mishel, Sylvia Allegretto, and Sean P. Corcoran were on hand to present their analysis of trends in teacher pay.
  
  
• On August 26 the Economic Policy Institute hosted a conference call on the release of the annual Census Bureau data on family income, poverty, and health insurance coverage for 2003.  EPI President Lawrence Mishel, EPI senior economist Jared Bernstein, and representatives from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities participated in the discussion of levels and trends in the incomes of median households, full-time yearly earnings, income inequality, and poverty.

The mission of the Economic Policy Institute is to provide high-quality research and education in order to promote a prosperous, fair, and sustainable economy. The Institute stresses real world analysis and a concern for the living standards of working people, and it makes its findings accessible to the general public, the media, and policy makers.