Immigrant Worker Centers
Immigrant workers are changing the landscape of low-wage work and the labor market, with President Bush advocating a guest-worker program, Congress pushing increased border security and patrol. But as national policy is debated, a locally based grassroots movement is taking the initiative to assist millions of immigrants in the American workforce facing poor pay, bad working conditions, and few prospects to advance to better jobs. Worker Centers—Building Communities at the Edge of the Dream (EPI's new book co-published with Cornell University) takes one of the first comprehensive looks at the rising phenomenon of worker centers, fast-growing institutions that improve the lives of immigrant workers through service advocacy and organizing.

NEW BOOK
The Global Class War
A provocative new book called  The Global Class War, by EPI founder and former president Jeff Faux, explains how globalization is creating a new global political elite—"The Party of Davos"—who have more in common with each other than with their fellow citizens. Learn more about the book and Jeff Faux's upcoming book signing appearances.

New poverty (mis)measurements
The Census Bureau recently unveiled new alternative poverty measures, which produce poverty rates as much as one-third below the official poverty rate. These measures also do no account for things such as families' expenses for child care and medical care. A new Issue Brief, Poor measurement: New Census report on measuring poverty raises concerns, by EPI's Jared Bernstein and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explores how the bureau's new flawed measures may end up giving an incomplete picture on the true state of poverty in this country.

Note to Federal Reserve: Don't Base Rate Hike's on the Wrong Indicator
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee is expected to raise the federal funds interest rate for the 14th consecutive time. But is the Fed using the right yardstick for measuring its inflationary fears? Read Jared Bernstein and Josh Bivens' EPI Issue Brief, Note to Fed: Don't Base the Rate Hike on Capacity Utilization for a quick review.

• When EPI released Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream, by Rutgers University professor and EPI research associate Janice Fine, the phones started ringing. New York Newsday said, "…institutions that traditionally assisted immigrants such as unions, political parties and 'resettlement houses' that helped them find housing and jobs are no longer involved in that work."  This report is one of the first comprehensive looks at the rising phenomenon of the immigrant worker center—the fast-growing institution that improves the lives of immigrant workers through service advocacy and organizing.  About 140 centers in 80 U.S. areas advocate for mostly low-income, undocumented workers who face discrimination, poor working conditions, lost wages.
  

• EPI offers a clear picture of the benefits and challenges of local living wage initiatives with the release of The Economic Impact of Local Living Wages by Jeff Thompson and Jeff Chapman.  Over 120 communities since 1994 have set some form of living wage requirement.  The report compiles and analyzes the results from several different studies on the effectiveness of actual living wage programs in cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.  "The overwhelming consensus from these studies shows that living wage policies create positive outcomes for working families with little or no negative effects for municipalities and firms," said EPI economist Jeff Chapman.  The report prompted the New York Times Magazine to include Chapman in their story called, What is a Living Wage?
  

• The Survey of Consumer Finances only comes out once every three years, so it was no surprise that EPI's analysis of this comprehensive economic indicator received tremendous notice in the business press.  Nearly 40 media outlets carried EPI's analysis, including the Associated Press, Reuters, New York Newsday, and the Washington Post.
  

• Jeff Faux's provocative new book is getting national attention with a book tour that has so far taken him from DC to Honolulu, speaking in bookstores on both coasts.  He was also featured on C-SPAN's Book TV, and the book was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review on March 5th.
   

• None other than Pat Buchanan quoted EPI statistics in his nationally syndicated opinion column titled Our Hollow Prosperity, where he complained of the trade deficit and the failure of NAFTA. He asked, rhetorically, "But are not wages rising? Nope. When inflation is factored in, the Economic Policy Institute reports, 'real wages fell by 0.5 percent over the last 12 months after falling 0.7 percent the previous 12 months.'"
  

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.