Media clips

---

• AFL-CIO’s Former Top Atty Joins DOL To Boost Union Efforts

  The former general counsel of the AFL-CIO has joined the U.S. Department of Labor as a senior adviser in its labor-management standards office, where she will also help the agency implement…[paywall].

  Law360 June 29, 2021
• The pandemic is making a vicious cycle even worse for low-income students

  “The pandemic has exacerbated well-documented opportunity gaps that put low-income students at a disadvantage relative to their better-off peers,” Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss from the Economic Policy Institute wrote in September. They defined opportunity gaps as limits in access to conditions and resources that enhance learning and development.

  Socio-economic factors are among the biggest drivers of educational success for kids, Garcia and Weiss found in a 2017 study. Children who fall behind in their early education rarely make up the lost ground, they said.

  That can do lifelong damage to people’s wealth: Higher educational attainment correlates with lower poverty rates, according to the Census Bureau. A 2018 paper from the Congressional Research Service showed 78.9% of working-age adults living in poverty in the United States had at most a high school diploma — a much higher percentage than in the general population, where only 56% of people had at most a high school diploma.

  The opportunity gap that Garcia and Weiss warned about always existed — but it got worse in the pandemic.

  “This is not new,” Garcia, who focuses on education policy in her work as an economist, told CNN Business. But the consequences from the pandemic will compound and last beyond just the short-term, she said.

  CNN Business June 29, 2021
• EPI panel, govt. official warn companies want a ‘piece work’ society

  Intentional employer “misclassification” of workers as “independent contractors,” stripping them of minimum wages, overtime pay, jobless aid, workers comp, and the right to unionize, is not just a “gig economy” problem, two advocates, and a top enforcement official warn.

  Instead, it’s an increasing tactic of bosses to degrade and exploit workers from coast to coast. One expert warns if companies succeed in their push to turn all “employees,” now covered by labor law, into not-covered “independent contractors,” the U.S. workforce could turn to a “piece work” society, reminiscent of the garment sweatshops of the 1890s.

  The panel, the first of two convened by the Economic Policy Institute, discussed both the report, Misclassification, The ABC Test, And ‘Employee’ Status and the expensive and successful campaign by two of the most-prominent “Gig” firms, the rideshare companies Uber and Lyft, to get California voters to permanently let them misclassify all their workers as “independent contractors.”

  But the problem goes far beyond Uber and Lyft and far beyond California, EPI reports.

  People's Weekly World June 29, 2021
• Many moms left the workforce during the pandemic. For some, going back isn’t so simple.

  It’s a Catch-22 familiar to many single mothers, says Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Women are being presented with false choices,” Gould says. “You can’t leave your kid home alone and go to work if you don’t have affordable child care. That’s not a choice that you’re making.”

  The Washington Post June 29, 2021
• Blue Collars Have Outpaced White Collars in Pay—At First Glance

  “Low-wage, low-hours workers were hit hardest in the Covid-19 recession,” the Economic Policy Institute said in May, announcing its annual State of Working America report. OK, makes sense. But then how do you explain this chart?

  The chart shows that in the two years from May 2019 to May 2021, pay went up nearly twice as fast for lower-wage workers as for higher-wage workers. That seems to undercut the Economic Policy Institute argument that Covid hit low-wage workers hardest.

  “Too many white collars, not enough blue collars,” economist Edward Yardeni, founder of Yardeni Research Inc., wrote in a note to clients on June 27. “There’s no shortage of white-collar workers, including college-educated professionals, administrators, supervisors, and executives. There is a serious shortage of blue-collar workers,” he added.

  In reality, both the EPI and Yardeni are correct, although about different aspects of the labor market. The Economic Policy Institute points out that during the pandemic, average hourly earnings were artificially boosted by the disappearance of many jobs at the bottom of the income ladder. Taking those very low-wage jobs out of the calculation made the average of those remaining higher. Some of those jobs have since returned, but not all.

  Bloomberg June 28, 2021
• Activision shows the case for changing the CEO pay game

  He is not alone in having had a lucrative pandemic: six of the 10 largest executive packages on record were awarded last year, compensation group Equilar estimated. But the average US CEO pay ratio had already grown from 61:1 to 320:1 in the 30 years before Covid-19 struck, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and that gulf has started to trouble investors.

  Financial Times June 28, 2021
• For Farmworkers, the Fight for the 8-Hour Day Isn’t Over

  Nearly half of all U.S. farmworkers lack legal status, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Just more than a quarter of farmworkers are U.S.-born, according to the agency’s numbers. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research think tank based in Washington, D.C., estimates about 10% are foreign workers in the United States on H‑2A temporary visas. The average farm wage was $13.99 an hour as of 2019, roughly 60% of the average non-farm wage.

  In These Times June 28, 2021
• Child Care Should Be Universal and Well-Paid — Not Just Affordable

  An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would boost take-home pay for as many as 560,000 child care workers, or more than 40 percent; the vast majority would be women, more than a third Black and Latinx. Improved wages could also help stabilize the workforce by curbing the currently high turnover rates, which would help daycare programs attract and retain qualified staff, and put early educators on a sustainable career path. Early education advocacy and professional organizations such as the NAEYC have been pushing for more resources and infrastructure for educators seeking professional development and training.

  Truthout June 28, 2021
• Half of the people who applied for unemployment didn’t get it, new report says

  “Unemployed workers really had totally different qualities of life, totally different standards of support based solely on where they live,” David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), previously told Insider.

  Business Insider June 28, 2021
• Black Workers Stopped Making Progress on Pay. Is It Racism?

  Black workers also earn lower wages relative to their credentials. An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, found that whether they have a high school diploma or an advanced degree, Black workers make about 80 percent of the earnings of a white worker with similar education.

  The New York Times June 28, 2021
• ‘We Can’t Wait’: Thousands in DC Demand Bold Action on Climate, Immigration, and Jobs

  Demonstrators carried signs reading “We Can’t Wait for Jobs” and “We Can’t Wait for Citizenship” at the rally organized by the Center for Popular Democracy, Unemployed Action, Make the Road, and other national groups that are calling on lawmakers “to act quickly and boldly to enact transformative changes for an equitable economy,” according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which released a report on the need to overhaul the unemployment system to coincide with the day of action.

  Common Dreams June 25, 2021
• Polly Irungu Is Helping Black Women Photographers Land Jobs

  As documented by the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for recent graduates ages 16-24 increased by 16%, going from from 8.4 percent to 24.4 in the year between spring 2019 and 2020. These numbers are even greater for Black people, which is why Polly Irungu, founder of Black Women Photographers, stepped in.

  Essence June 25, 2021
• Most Marylanders on unemployment are on federal programs. Those end next week.

  With this significant expansion, “what we’ve done in this recession is very different” than in the past, said Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist for Obama administration’s labor department and now director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. Now, “even though the labor market is improving, there’s still a long way to go,” she said. Shierholz said cutting benefits will disproportionately harm Black and Latino workers, who have higher rates of unemployment. She said there is “no economy-wide labor shortage.” While there is some evidence of a shortage in leisure and hospitality, it is “isolated” and has not extended to other sectors, she said. “The very, very low-wage jobs are the ones where there are lots of openings now,” Shierholz said.

  The Baltimore Sun June 25, 2021
• Corporations like Amazon pay big bucks for “union avoidance” — and it all happens in the dark

  According to a 2019 estimate by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), U.S. employers spend nearly $340 million per year on union avoidance services. The EPI also found that by the early 2000s, about 75% of all employers facing union elections involving 50 or more voters retained a union avoidance consultant.

  Salon.com June 25, 2021
• Some 7-Eleven stores are using surveillance cameras to prevent workers from stealing, months after some franchisees paid back $173 million over wage-theft accusations

  The NRF’s survey found retail chains fired an average of 559 employees for stealing in 2019, and prosecuted an average of 156, while research by the Economic Policy Institute found employers are rarely prosecuted and underfunded labor regulators often lack the ability to enforce wage laws.

  Business Insider June 25, 2021
• The big job exodus might not be all it’s cracked up to be

  But that doesn’t necessarily mean they were moving on to better jobs — wages across industries haven’t meaningfully risen, meaning workers who quit aren’t, as a whole, making more money, Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, told Vox: “Really key wage measures are just not showing strong growth.”

  Money isn’t the only factor, either. Some retail workers are leaving their jobs for roles that may have better conditions — for example, jobs in construction or warehouses where they may not have to deal with difficult customers. But some say it will take more than the fluctuations of a post-pandemic job market to really give workers meaningful power, in retail or elsewhere. Unless the surge in quitting leads to greater unionization and policy shifts like a higher minimum wage, Shierholz said, “it’s not going to be a lasting change.”

  VOX June 25, 2021
• US jobless claims tick down to 411,000 as economy heals

  In their report, the Economic Policy Institute, NELP, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth recommended a range of reforms, such as permanently expanding eligibility to include gig workers and contractors; automatically extending benefits during recessions beyond the 26 weeks provided by most states; and increasing minimum benefit levels.

  The Associated Press June 25, 2021
• Scholars: Let’s Focus on Women and Caregiving in the Economy

  Despite expected strong job growth and recovery as society opens back up and vaccine availability is more widespread, there needs to be an active effort to make jobs in the care industry equitable, said Dr. Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. She noted that good job growth does not necessarily mean an equitable economic recovery.

  “We know that more than 90% of care jobs are held by women, over half of care jobs are held by women of color,” Shierholz said. “On an hourly basis, care workers are paid about three quarters of what other workers with similar demographic characteristics – who do other jobs – are paid. Care workers are much more likely to be poor or near-poor. It’s difficult to think of a better strategy for an equitable recovery than making sure these care jobs are good jobs.”

  Diverse: Issues in Higher Education June 25, 2021
• Signing bonuses a sign of the times in Colorado’s tightening labor market

  Left-of-center economists counter the problem isn’t about labor supply. Low-wage sectors are seeing stronger job growth than high-wage sectors, which shouldn’t be the case if unemployment benefits were holding back hiring, argues Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, in a recent editorial.

  She said the states that have ended enhanced federal unemployment benefits early in response to complaints from employers stand to lose $22 billion in aid and slow their economic recovery. Colorado instead has tried a carrot approach, offering workers who find a new job a payment of up to $1,600.

  Denver Post June 25, 2021
• VERIFY: Here’s why Americans aren’t going back to work

  “There are very large amounts of job openings and there are a very large number of people who are unemployed, and the pace of filling those jobs somehow feels slower than it might be,” Federal Chairman Powell said in a press conference.

  In June, Powell pointed out the mismatch of unemployed workers and openings has several factors behind it. Number one, the largest group of unemployed workers are back to work.

  “There were people just getting temporarily laid off and their businesses said, ‘When we can come back online, we’ll bring you right back,’” Heidi Shierholz explained, “That is what many businesses did.”

  WUSA 9 June 25, 2021
• American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights, latest company to claim labor shortages

  The Economic Policy Institute did find signs of short-term labor shortages in the hospitality and leisure sectors. According to the institute’s own analysis though, these shortages are unlikely to spill into the larger economy. A recent report by the economic think tank suggests a continuation of unemployment insurance and other forms of direct assistance.

  Instead of cutting benefits, the Economic Policy Institute found increasing wages in the restaurant and leisure industries was a natural way to bring workers back. The government’s April jobs report showed employers are doing just that: wages are rising as employers try to attract more workers.

  “The rapid wage growth of the past three months is exactly what is supposed to happen when there is a sectoral imbalance between supply and demand,” according to a post on the institute’s Working Economics Blog.

  KNX News Radio June 25, 2021
• Wage Gains at Factories Fall Behind Growth in Fast Food

  “Workers in some of these low-wage industries are demanding and getting better pay,” said Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  Mr. Mishel said the premium that manufacturers pay has fallen since the 1980s and 1990s. Mr. Mishel attributed the decline to global competition, outsourcing, lower unionization rates and wider use of contractors. Mr. Mishel said jobs in manufacturing in many cases still offer better healthcare and retirement benefits than some other industries.

  The Wall Street Journal June 25, 2021
• Factory work used to pay far better that fast-food jobs — but thanks to the labor shortage, the gap is quickly closing, and manufacturers are losing staff

  Manufacturing executives told The Journal that as well as struggling to find workers, they’re also being hit by higher prices of raw materials including fuel, lumber, and packaging amid the current shipping crisis, making it harder for them to afford new staff perks.

  Some restaurants have been hiking up prices to offset the higher wages. But Paul Isely, a business professor at Michigan’s Grand Valley State University, told The Journal that it’s harder for manufacturers to raise prices because they have to compete with factories around the world, not just nearby restaurants.

  Lawrence Mishel, an economist at left-leaning think tank the Economic Policy Institute, told the publication that global competition, outsourcing and contractors, and lower unionization rates were also causing manufacturing jobs to lose their wage premium.

  As a result of all these changes, the proportion of US workers employed in the manufacturing industries was shrinking. Less than 9% of US workers are currently employed by manufacturers, The Journal reported. In the early 1980s this was more than 20%.

  Business Insider June 25, 2021
• MSNBC Politics Nation

  The missing Black father trope is largely due to deliberate and racist policy decisions. According to a 2016 Economic Policy Institute study, up to 1 in 10 Black children has an incarcerated parent. The ugly reality of mass incarceration in the US is that a huge proportion of those behind bars are convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. and while Black and white people use drugs roughly at the same rates, Black folks are almost six times as likely to be imprisoned for it. 

  MSNBC June 25, 2021
• New legislation aims to allow patients to sue health insurance companies

  Companies typically contend they use arbitration because it saves everyone involved time and money. But whether consumers actually fare better is disputed. The Economic Policy Institute found that consumers only won monetary relief in 9% of the arbitration cases it studied.

  …

  More than half, or about 60 million American workers, were required to use arbitration to settle disputes as of 2017, including when fighting against serious claims such as discrimination, civil rights violations and sexual harassment, EPI found. If nothing changes, the nonprofit predicts about 80% of workers will be covered by arbitration agreements by 2024.

  CNBC June 25, 2021
• As U.S. Considers Revisiting Steel Tariffs Against The EU, Local Manufacturers Remain Divided On The Issue

  In March, the pro-union Economic Policy Institute reported that, since Trump ordered the tariffs in 2018, American steelmakers had vowed to invest nearly $16 billion in upgraded facilities that promise to reduce carbon emissions. EPI estimates those projects will create 3,200 new jobs in steel production.

  90.5 WESA June 25, 2021
• $15 an hour minimum wage headed to the governor’s desk

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, 60% of minimum-wage earners in the United States are older than 25, nearly 60% are women, 51% are people of color, and 25% support children.

  Delaware Business Times June 25, 2021
• New survey: 1 in 4 U.S. teachers may quit

  In its 2019 series, “The Teacher Shortage Is Real, Large and Growing, and Worse Than We Thought,” the Economic Policy Institute noted the United States is seeing falling enrollments in teacher prep programs. From the 2008-2009 to 2015-2016 school years, there was a 15.4% drop in the number of education degrees awarded and a 27.4% drop in the number of people who completed a teacher preparation program.

  Atlanta Journal Constitution June 25, 2021
• ‘We don’t need you’: Employers reject US workers for H-2B visas

  With official unemployment at 5.8%, some have raised questions about claims of labor shortages, suggesting open positions should be filled by the ranks of unemployed Americans before raising the visa cap.

  “In a moment where we have millions of workers laid off, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense,” said Daniel Costa, the director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute.

  The H-2B statute specifies that temporary worker visas should be authorized “if unemployed persons capable of performing such service or labor cannot be found in this country.” Costa noted that most of the major H-2B occupations and industries still have rates of unemployment that are higher than pre-pandemic levels. Many have renewed demand for workers, including landscaping, food service, housekeeping, construction and amusement and recreation attendants remain below pre-pandemic levels.

  “I do think the priority is getting U.S. workers back to work before we use a program for labor shortages. But I think you can see why employers would turn to this program,” Costa said. “If you don’t want to raise your wages to $15 an hour to attract workers, then the H-2B program is one option.”

  Sinclair Broadcast Group June 25, 2021
• People are quitting their jobs at record rates. That’s a good thing for the economy.

  However, for newly empowered workers, the honeymoon days are likely numbered. Economist Heidi Shierholz cautions against reading too much into the data from April, “which is a very, very long time ago in COVID terms,” she said. In May, wage growth slowed considerably and employers added nearly 600,000 jobs — hardly a sign of a long-standing shortage, Shierholz pointed out.

  The economy is still 7.6 million jobs below its pre-pandemic level, and despite all of April’s quits, the month ended with half a million more unemployed job seekers than open positions. How long it will take for the other 7 million to return is an open question. In the meantime, those who can work are in the drivers’ seat, enjoying the ride while they can.

  CBS Moneywatch June 25, 2021