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• CEO pay has soared 1,322 per cent since 1978

  These outsize compensation packages have grown faster than the stock market, and the pay of typical workers, college graduates, and even the top 0.1 per cent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  “Exorbitant CEO pay is a major contributor to rising inequality that we could safely do away with,” write authors Lawrence Mishell, a distinguished fellow, and research assistant Jori Kandra.

  “CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay and because so much of their pay (more than 80 per cent) is stock-related, not because they are increasing their productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills.”

  During the same period, the pay of the typical worker increased 18 per cent.

  The Independent (via Yahoo! News) August 13, 2021
• Retail Workers Are Quitting At A Record Pace. But Stores Are Rapidly Hiring, Too

  Meanwhile, inflation is erasing the buying power of those new raises. I talked to Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, and she says if this was a big change that’s giving workers a new kind of long-term power, wage growth would be much higher. And she worries over time, wages might simply get frozen again while prices continue rising.

  NPR August 13, 2021
• Millennials make up the largest share of homebuyers in California. How do they do it?

  While housing costs doubled or tripled, wages didn’t. Compensation rose 17.2% since 1979, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Sacramento Bee August 13, 2021
• Wages rise in US as companies scramble for staff

  “For the first time since the late 1990s, low-wage workers have a little more leverage to demand higher pay,” said David Cooper, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive Washington think tank.

  AFP (via Yahoo! News) August 13, 2021
• Since 1978, CEO Pay Has Risen 1,322%. Typical Worker Pay? Just 18%

  A new analysis released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute finds that CEO pay in the United States rose by a staggering 1,322% between 1978 and 2020—a sharp contrast to the pay increase of the typical worker, which was just 18% during that same period.

  In 2020, a year of pandemic and widespread economic dislocation, the top executives at the largest public firms in the U.S. were paid 351 times as much as the typical worker, with CEO pay measured by salary, bonuses, long-term incentive payouts, and exercised stock options.

  Common Dreams August 13, 2021
• CEO pay at big companies rose nearly 19% last year to $24 million, report finds

  The chief executives at major U.S. corporations received millions of dollars in bonuses or raises last year even as many companies saw slumping sales and job cuts because of the pandemic, a new analysis shows.

  CEO compensation at the top 350 companies jumped nearly 19% in 2020 to an average $24.2 million, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank. By comparison, pay for rank-and-file workers last year rose roughly 4%. The typical corporate leader at big companies in 2020 made $351 for every dollar earned by a typical employee, up from a ratio of 307-to-1 in 2019, according to EPI.

  Economist Lawrence Mishel, who co-authored the report, said some companies touted reductions in pay for top executives to reflect the pandemic’s impact on business, but had little impact. “CEOs offering pay cuts during the pandemic yielded favorable headlines, but were symbolic at best and a head fake at worst,” he said in a statement.

  CBS August 13, 2021
• Another 3.9 million people quit their jobs in June—and many are getting higher-paying roles

  If all these workers were taken into account, July’s unemployment rate would be 8.1% instead of the reported 5.4%, according to Heidi Shierholz, the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNBC August 13, 2021
• Amazon forewent incentives to build massive facilities

  Still, all numbers considered, the Impact DataSource analysis shows that the benefits outweigh the costs. But there may be more to consider than just the numbers: An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit think tank, found that while Amazon fulfillment centers clearly create warehouse jobs, the new employment is “likely offset by job losses in other [local] industries.”

  “Amazon isn’t only hiring people who don’t have jobs,” explains Ben Zipperer, an economist at EPI who coauthored the analysis on Amazon. “It’s attracting workers from other businesses that already have jobs.”

  These could be people coming from fast food or retail jobs, he says. And while these folks may be able to find higher wages at Amazon, the overall impact on employment in a local area is often minimal.

  “In those places that Amazon builds fulfillment centers, you do see [that] there’s more people working in warehousing,” Zipperer says. But when it comes to the “overall impact on the local economy, we didn’t find any evidence that it [Amazon] significantly increased the number of people working.”

  If Amazon doesn’t necessarily boost local employment, will it at least boost wages across Albuquerque? We won’t know until it happens, but a 2018 article from The Economist explains that in some areas, Amazon warehouse jobs seem to be linked to lower wages for similar occupations across a region. And Zipperer from EPI notes that working conditions are reportedly poor in some Amazon locations. Finally, even if Amazon doesn’t push down wages, their starting pay isn’t especially competitive compared to similar jobs.

  KRQE Media August 13, 2021
• Businesses really don’t want to fire anyone right now — but workers are quitting more than ever

  Heidi Shierholz, the director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, previously told Insider that this isn’t a “damaging” labor shortage — hiring was still up in industries like leisure and hospitality as pay went up, showing that growing wages might be the key to getting workers back.

  Business Insider August 13, 2021
• Wall Street Splashes Cash on Junior Bankers

  In late 2018, there were 1.5 million more available jobs than there were Americans looking for work. Right now, with 9.5 million Americans out of work, that difference is 600,000. But as Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute pointed out, if you consider people without jobs not actively looking for work, who are not counted as part of the official unemployed, the ranks of the jobless far out number open positions.

  New York Times August 13, 2021
• Why Is the American Education System So Expensive?

  Parents first experience the heavy burden of tuition costs when they enroll their child in preschool. The average cost of child care, which includes early education, is more than $8,000 annually, according to the Economic Policy Institute — a figure which exceeds the in-state tuition for public universities in many U.S. states.

  GO Banking Rates (via Yahoo! Finance) August 13, 2021
• CEOs got paid 351 times what typical workers made in 2020

  A new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, authored by Lawrence Mishel and Jori Kandra, finds that CEO compensation has grown by 1,322% between 1978 and 2020.

  In contrast, the report finds that the typical worker saw their compensation grow by just 18% during that time period. 

  That could also be seen in the discrepancy between CEO and worker pay, which was 351-to-1 in 2020. While the authors note that the CEO to worker compensation ratio peaked in 2000 at 366-to-1, it’s still higher than any time from the 1960’s through the 1990’s. 

  They used a “realized” measure for compensation, which accounts for stock awards when they were vested, and stock options when they were cashed in. Under the “granted” measure, which values compensation plans based on when stock packages were granted, compensation was slightly lower.

  Inequality between CEOs and everyone else even extends to the top. The report also looks at CEO compensation in comparison to the earnings of the top 0.1% of earners. The authors found that CEO compensation was 6.44 times higher than what those in the top 0.1% made in 2019, based on the most recently available tax data from the IRS.

  “The CEOs are in a different stratosphere,” Mishel told Insider, adding: “It’s not just that the CEOs are so-called highly skilled or highly educated, they’ve done far better than the average earner who’s very highly skilled in the top one-thousandth, or very highly educated.”

  …

  Mishel said that he thinks unemployment will continue to drop substantially by the end of 2022. 

  “I think the pressure on employers to improve wages and benefits will continue,” Mishel said. He said that Biden administration policies addressing labor standards — like raising the minimum wage and improving collective bargaining — could also contribute to a greater shift. 

  “If those are able to be enacted it’ll reinforce a shift in power towards workers, which is something they desperately need — because they’ve been on the losing end for four decades.”
  Business Insider August 13, 2021
• This is a first: The US has 10 million job openings

  The uptick in the quits rate is likely due “in part to increased opportunities for workers to find better job matches, potentially with higher wages or safer working conditions in the lingering pandemic,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, in a tweet.

  CNN Business August 13, 2021
• Report Finds CEO Compensation at Large Companies Increased by Nearly 19 Percent in 2020

  CEOs at the top 350 companies in 2020 made an average $24.2 million, a 18.9% jump, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  The report also found that CEO compensation has increased an astounding 1,322% since 1978. From 1978-2020, the pay for an average worker only increased 18.0%.

  Complex August 13, 2021
• Kansas City child care options dwindle amid program closures and staff shortages

  In Missouri and Kansas, infant care costs more than in-state tuition for four-year public college, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average annual cost of infant care in Missouri is just over $10,000. In Kansas, it’s $11,222. Infant care for one child takes up 17% and 18% of a median family’s income in Missouri and Kansas respectively.

  Kansas City Star August 13, 2021
• Job openings hit record high, with 10.1 million openings

  However, that most frequently used unemployment figure leaves out millions of people who are jobless but not actively job-searching. According to Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, the true count of the unemployed in July was over 13 million.

  CBS Moneywatch August 13, 2021
• The July jobs report ends the myth of a ‘damaging’ labor shortage, former Obama economist says

  Heidi Shierholz, who is currently the director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the employment and wages figures unveiled in Friday’s data show that reports of a labor shortage still aren’t right. Or, she said, it’s not a labor shortage we should be worried about.

  “A concerning labor shortage would be very tight, strong wage growth that is not accompanied by strong job growth. That’s a bona fide labor shortage,” Shierholz said. When wage growth isn’t accompanied by accelerating job growth, that’s when we should get worried — and that’s not what’s happening here.

  …

  “Are we seeing labor shortages that are really hurting us? I don’t see any evidence of that,” Shierholz said.

  …

  “There are always pockets, there are always places where people can’t find the workers they need,” Shierholz said. But it’s not widespread enough to be a core dynamic in the labor market.

  …

  Shierholz, for her part, said she doesn’t think those elevated wages will stick around.

  “In low-wage industries, it’s even actually easier for employers to quote unquote ‘cut wages,’ without giving anyone an actual pay cut, because there’s a lot of turnover in industry,” she said. “That does make it easier to bring new people in at a lower level and sort of make the adjustment over time.”

  Business Insider August 13, 2021
• July US jobs report shows growth – but these industries are slow to recover

  Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), noted that while the recent wage growth does suggest that the leisure and hospitality and retail industries are facing a tighter labor market, there is little reason to think that this applies to other industries, or even that the wage growth from recent months will be permanent.

  “I think it’s much more likely that when we do have the pandemic in the rearview mirror and this temporary leverage that workers have goes away, we will see employers freezing wages to eat back some of the gains that workers made at this point,” she said.

  The EPI’s own research has suggested the decades of low wage growth is at least in part due to the declining unionization rates in the US.

  The Guardian August 13, 2021
• The economy’s recovery from COVID is 3 times faster than the rebound from the Great Recession

  The trend of job creation is even more encouraging. Even if job growth slows slightly from the July pace, the US is still on track to recoup its lost payrolls by the end of 2022. That would be five times faster than it took to recover every job lost during the Great Recession, Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a tweet.

  Business Insider August 13, 2021
• Will Unemployment Benefits Be Extended? Not if This U.S. Senator Has His Way

  In Manchin’s home state, the average annual cost of childcare for one child is $8,736, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Consider a parent who works full-time and earns $13 per hour. Realistically, after taxes, that parent brings home around $21,500 a year. Childcare costs for one child would eat up more than 40% of their take-home pay. While childcare costs can impact all parents, working women are particularly affected.

  The Motley Fool August 13, 2021
• Economic Policy Institute’s Shierholz on Jobs Report

  Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at Economic Policy Institute, discusses jobs report and the U.S. labor market. She speaks with Taylor Riggs and Guy Johnson on “Bloomberg Markets.” (Source: Bloomberg)

  Bloomberg TV August 13, 2021
• August 13
  August 13, 2021
• Kentucky already has a teacher shortage, but consistently low pay could be making it worse

  According to the National Educational Association, Kentucky ranks 42nd in the nation for starting salaries, with new teachers averaging about $37,000 per year. The overall salary for educators is a little better, at nearly $54,000 per year, but teachers are still only making 78 cents for every dollar someone with similar education and experience in a different field can make, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Salaries aren’t the only point of contention for Kentucky teachers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, teachers in Kentucky on average spend more than $400 of their own money every year to provide supplies for their students and classrooms.

  WHAS 11 August 12, 2021
• Tinder Sex Assault Case Centers on Arbitration as #MeToo Barrier

  The use of arbitration clauses in employment agreements has increased dramatically in the last 20 years, from only 2% of workers subject to forced arbitration in 1992 compared with 56% in 2018, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. The left-leaning think tank projects that this number will increase to 80% by 2024.

  Bloomberg Law August 12, 2021
• CEO Pay Now 351 Times Higher Than Average Worker

  A new report issued by the Economic Policy Institute has tracked CEO pay back to 1978 and says that the average chief executive’s pay has grown 1,322% in that time period. And while that’s certainly a long span of time — more than 40 years — the average worker’s pay has grown a mere 18 percent during that same time period.

  This means the average CEO makes $351 for every dollar the average worker does… and though a recent report in Forbes says wealth increased for the ultra-wealthy to the tune of $5 trillion during the pandemic, EPI points out that the CEO-to-worker pay ratio isn’t even the highest it’s ever been. That happened in 2000, when it was 366-to-1.

  And even if you’re at the bottom rung of this lop-sided ladder, you’re not alone: the report says that even the top .1% of workers — those just below the chief exec category — still make about 6 and a half times less, putting CEOs, according to the report’s author Lawrence Mishel, “in their own stratosphere.”

  But there’s hope. EPI says that the existing labor shortage will continue to put pressure on companies to increase wages and benefits for even their lowest paid workers and that could shift some power in the direction of the rank-and-file which is, says Mishel, “something they desperately need.”

  Manufacturing.net August 12, 2021
• One-off tax on $5.5 trillion Covid profits of world’s richest would pay for world to be vaccinated and give unemployed $20k

  An August report from progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute found that corporate boards have awarded America’s top executives compensation packages that radically outpace stock market growth and worker pay, while the nation’s federally set hourly minimum wage has remained at $7.25 for more than a decade.

  The Independent August 12, 2021
• CEO pay has soared 1,322 per cent since 1978

  These outsize compensation packages have grown faster than the stock market, and the pay of typical workers, college graduates, and even the top 0.1 per cent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  “Exorbitant CEO pay is a major contributor to rising inequality that we could safely do away with,” write authors Lawrence Mishell, a distinguished fellow, and research assistant Jori Kandra.

  “CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay and because so much of their pay (more than 80 per cent) is stock-related, not because they are increasing their productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills.”

  During the same period, the pay of the typical worker increased 18 per cent.

  The report uses a “realised” measure of CEO pay that counts stock awards when vested and stock options when cashed in, rather than when granted.

  One of the biggest jumps in executive pay was during the Covid-19 pandemic, which the authors describe as “remarkable”.

  “While millions were out of work, CEOs’ realised compensation jumped 18.9 per cent in just one year.” they write.

  “Typical worker compensation, of those who remained employed, did rise 3.9 per cent over that year – and even that wage growth is overstated: Perversely, high job loss among low-wage workers skewed the average wage higher.”

  Historically, using the realised compensation measure, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 21-to-1 in 1965, 61-to-1 in 1989, and peaked at 366-to-1 in 2000.

  In 2020 the ratio was 351-to-1. The ratio was far higher than at any point in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.

  As to how the problem of massive income inequality can be solved, the EPI recommends enacting policy solutions that would reduce incentives for CEOs to extract economic concessions and limit their ability to do so.

  “Such policies could include reinstating higher marginal income tax rates at the very top; setting corporate tax rates higher for firms that have higher ratios of CEO-to-worker compensation; use of antitrust enforcement and regulation to restrain firms’ – and by extension, CEOs’ – excessive market power; and allowing greater use of ‘say on pay’, which allows a firm’s shareholders to vote on top executives’ compensation.”

  The Independent (via Yahoo! News) August 11, 2021
• < Retail Workers Are Quitting At A Record Pace. But Stores Are Rapidly Hiring, Too

  Meanwhile, inflation is erasing the buying power of those new raises. I talked to Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, and she says if this was a big change that’s giving workers a new kind of long-term power, wage growth would be much higher. And she worries over time, wages might simply get frozen again while prices continue rising.

  NPR August 11, 2021
• Millennials make up the largest share of homebuyers in California. How do they do it?

  While housing costs doubled or tripled, wages didn’t. Compensation rose 17.2% since 1979, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Sacramento Bee August 11, 2021
• Wages rise in US as companies scramble for staff

  “For the first time since the late 1990s, low-wage workers have a little more leverage to demand higher pay,” said David Cooper, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive Washington think tank.

  AFP (via Yahoo! News) August 11, 2021