Media clips

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• Report: More than 70% of corporations in Colorado aren’t paying state corporate income tax

  The liberal Economic Policy Institute surveyed seven states and found more than 60% of corporations weren’t paying income tax in each of them.

  9 News (Colorado TV) April 15, 2022
• How Labor Unions Are Good for the Economy, Your Life, and Your Wallet

  According to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute, unionization can help close gender wage gaps and racial wage gaps — which could give the economy a boost. 

  The Skimm April 15, 2022
• SEIU members rally for ‘Babies before Bezos’

  An Economic Policy Institute report published Thursday shows from 2015 to 2018, 69 percent of Illinois corporations paid no state corporate income taxes.

  Chicago Sun Times April 15, 2022
• N.J. Department of Education partners with Rowan to recruit more men of color as teachers

  According to a 2019 Economic Policy Institute Report, Black and low-income children are more likely to experience adverse childhood experiences that lead to “disrupted physiological functioning” and “depressed academic achievement.”

  WHYY April 15, 2022
• Labor unions have a place in Utah

  Workers who are under a union contract earn 10.2% more than non-unionized workers within the same occupational and educational demographics according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Salt Lake Tribune April 15, 2022
• I Worked My Ass Off for the Kardashian-Jenner Apps. I Couldn’t Afford Gas.

  This disparity between worker output and income is in line with a nationwide trend. Between 1979 and 2019, worker productivity grew 59.7 percent, but wages increased only 15.8 percent. Instead of going towards worker paychecks, the value of their increased productivity flowed up the corporate ladder to executive salaries, stock options, and bonuses. In 1978, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the ratio of CEO-to-worker wages was 31-to-1; as of 2020, it’s 351-to-1. That’s a 1,322 percent increase for CEO pay in 42 years.

  VICE April 15, 2022
• Corporations aren’t paying fair share in taxes according to an Economic Policy Institute report

  You see the money come out of every paycheck that pays your income taxes, but a nationwide oversight agency is reporting that corporations often aren’t paying their fair share.

  The Economic Policy Institute, along with Illinois, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and Colorado are calling for reforms in their state governments to get corporations, especially large ones like Amazon and Comcast, to pay their share of the taxes.

  Nationwide, the institute argued the lack of corporate tax income created a revenue shortfall of $43 to $57 billion between 1989 and 2017.

  “Tax revenues are critical to the ability of state and local governments to provide basic services to their residents. However, in recent decades state and local policymakers have consistently allowed corporations to reduce their share of taxes,” report author and EPI Director of Research Josh Bivens said. “These policy decisions should be reversed to ensure profitable businesses pay their fair share in taxes.”

  HOI-TV (Illinois) April 15, 2022
• NY Farmworker Overtime Laws Are Changing, But Only at a Snail’s Pace

  The example of California suggests such a conservative approach is not necessary.  After overtime was expanded, California actually saw a small increase in the number of agricultural establishments, according to research by Daniel Costa, of the Economic Policy Institute.

  In sum, “There are no smoking guns out there showing that [overtime] will (or is) destroying the industry in any way,” Costa told me.

  The Indypendent April 15, 2022
• Two Cities Pay Teachers Based on Their Quality. Does It Work?

  When most people think of measuring teacher quality, they likely think of test scores. But expert groups, including the Economic Policy Institute, have warned against putting too much weight on test scores when evaluating teachers. D.C.’s IMPACT model “critically keyed in on something that teachers actually control, which is the character of their day-to-day practice in the classroom,” Dee says.

  EdSurge April 15, 2022
• Are You Rich? How the Wealthy Are Defined

  Among the top 5% of earners, the average annual wage was $342,987 in 2020, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank; among the top 1%, the average income was $823,763. Meanwhile, the average income in the U.S. in 2020 was $59,900.

   
  US News and World Report April 14, 2022
• Confounding and confusing events

   Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute was quoted as saying, “Inflation is really about the supply chain bottlenecks.” I would comment that she may well be right, but its unlikely inflation will rapidly return to the levels of 2% or below enjoyed during most of the past decade, however, Dr. Zandi believes that it will be back below 4% by this time next year. Authors note a 4% increase in wages no doubt played a role in the inflation rate.

  WAMC Northeast Public Radio April 13, 2022
• Legislature must act on the crushing burden of student debt

  And the switch cannot be more dramatic: According to the Pew Research Center, over two-thirds of all higher education students are now taking out loans to meet the rising cost of tuition. Education Data found that the average loan amount has tripled since 1993, to over $30,000. And, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the Black and white wage gap is worsening.

  Bay State Banner April 13, 2022
• Government numbers show depression virtually over, for now

  The additions brought total jobs to within 1% of pre-pandemic numbers, Economic Policy Institute Senior Analyst Elise Gould pointed out. There were 5.92 million jobless workers in March, compared to 5.717 million in February 2020, BLS data showed.

  People’s World April 13, 2022
• The ‘Crazy’ Reason for the IRS’s Huge Backlog

  As strong as the jobs numbers have been, it’s worth remembering that the economy is still millions of jobs short of where it was projected to be in the absence of the pandemic. At the current rate of growth, the job market will return to pre-pandemic levels this year, as soon as summer. “We are on pace to recover nearly EIGHT YEARS faster than we recovered from the Great Recession,” Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute tweeted, while crediting the rapid recovery to the fiscal policy choices made by Congress.

  The Fiscal Times April 13, 2022
• Frugality Goes Only So Far in Dealing With Inflation

  Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She’s the co-author of “Rescuing Retirement” and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.

  Bloomberg April 13, 2022
• New York poised to increase child care budget by billions, which could help women reenter the workforce

  Even before the pandemic, the cost of child care in New York had soared: The average cost of child care is $15,394, more than both the cost of in-state college tuition and average rent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

  The 19th April 13, 2022
• Worker-led win at Amazon warehouse could provide new labor playbook

  “This is a moment when we know that workers’ expectations are rising,” Jennifer Sherer, senior state policy coordinator with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “They were told from day one of the pandemic that they were essential, but they weren’t always treated that way.”

  The Washington Post April 13, 2022
• How Much Do Top CEOs Make?(Way More Than You)

  The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute took umbrage with executive pay in a report last August. “Corporate boards running America’s largest public firms are giving top executives outsize compensation packages that have grown much faster than the stock market and the pay of typical workers, college graduates, and even the top 0.1%,” the report said.

  The Street April 13, 2022
• Washington Lyft, Uber Driver Deal Not Safe from Court Challenge

  Worker advocates such as Jennifer Sherer of the Economic Policy Institute disagree. She testified against the Washington measure in February while it was moving through the state Senate, arguing that it did not go far enough and that drivers need the full benefits of employee status and union-organizing rights.

  Bloomberg Law April 13, 2022
• More California state workers might get COVID bonuses. Negotiations are underway

  Other states have restricted the bonuses to law enforcement. Most haven’t paid pandemic bonuses to state employees, said Dave Kamper, a senior state policy coordinator who has been tracking the federal coronavirus money for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “In some ways the state and local fiscal relief funds created a problem by having so many possible uses,” Kamper said. “It’s a good problem, but usually when the federal government sends money to a state, it’s very specific.”

  Sacramento Bee April 13, 2022
• Yes, US unemployment has dipped below its current rate only 3 times in the last 50 years

  Heidi Sheirholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, explained in a Twitter thread that the U.S. economy is currently “on pace to recover nearly eight years faster” from the high unemployment rates created by the COVID-19 pandemic than it did from the Great Recession. This is in part due to Congress acting to provide COVID-19 relief, including the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan, Shierholz said. 

  Verify This April 13, 2022
• The Real Numbers Behind the Labor Movement

  Features EPI chart on union membership. 

  The Nation April 13, 2022
• MBAs in management lead to lower employee pay, study finds

  The spread of MBA degrees throughout upper management coincides with declining fortunes for the average worker, the researchers found. Between World War II and the late 1970s, U.S. workers’ pay rose in lockstep with how much they produced. Since 1980, however, workers’ output has increased at three and a half times the rate of pay, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute.

  CBS April 13, 2022
• Biden group launches TikTok account to boost the president’s agenda

  On Instagram, Building Back Together frequently posts news clips and infographics promoting the Biden administration’s goals. In one recent post, the group used data from the Economic Policy Institute claiming that Biden’s economic plans would help Americans pay for services like health and child care.

  The Verge April 13, 2022
• Foodservice added 250K jobs in first 3 months of 2022

  Elise Gould, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said it’s likely hiring will continue to outpace turnover. In February, foodservice establishments hired about 1 million workers, while almost 800,000 workers quit their jobs.

  Restaurant Dive April 13, 2022
• NLRB Top Attorney Takes Aim at Company Anti-Union Meetings

  Abruzzo’s proposal goes further than any of her modern predecessors. Such meetings have been considered legal under board precedent since the 1940s, and have since become a common employer tool to dissuade workers from joining a union. A 2009 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that 89% of businesses required employees to attend anti-union meetings during work hours.

  Bloomberg Law April 13, 2022
• The U.S. Postal Service and how it can be reimagined

  Monique Morrissey is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning economic think tank. She says the postal service is important because leaving it to the private sector would mean many rural residents are left out of critical public services.

  WDET April 13, 2022
• Experts: Americans will spend extra $5,200 this year due to inflation

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, worker productivity has increased to more than 61.8% from 1979-to 2020, while the Havard Business Review notes research of worker wages increasing only by 9% since 1970. 

  Fox 43 April 13, 2022
• Is it possible for unemployment numbers to be too low?

  Studies show that if the overall unemployment rate drops low enough, “even those gaps start to erode a little bit,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Marketplace April 13, 2022
• How to reverse the teacher crisis exacerbated by the pandemic: Experts

  Research released by the Economic Policy Institute in February found that the number of people employed in public K-12 elementary and secondary schools fell by 4.7% between fall 2019 and fall 2021, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  ABC News April 13, 2022