Browse EPI news by topic
Living Standards
THIS SECTION includes EPI releases on factors that define most families’ living standards: wages & income, healthcare & retirement, poverty, inequality.
Healthcare & Retirement
2008
JUNE 25 | Older workers delay retirement despite weak economy
2007
FEBRUARY 2 | A health plan that’s no cure
JANUARY 23 | Bush health plan no cure
JANUARY 11 | EPI launches Agenda for Shared Prosperity ( News release [PDF]) (Web site)
2006
JULY 25 | Health Care: U.S. Spends Most, Covers Least (Book Preview)
JUNE 12 | 5 Economic Trouble Spots (Policy Memo)
MAY 5 | Administration Attacks Contractor Health Benefits (Policy Memo)
MAY 1 | Administration Attacks Traditional Pension Plans (Policy Memo)
APRIL 12 | Don’t Blame Health Insurance (Snapshot)
JANUARY 30 | It’s Not Just Health Care Squeezing Wages, It’s Profits Too (Issue Brief)
2005
OCTOBER 20 | New study charts steady erosion of health insurance coverage (Briefing Paper)
OCTOBER 19 | Budget Cuts Threaten Health Insurance for Children (Snapshot)
JULY 21 | EPI NewsFlash: Retirement grows riskier
People near retirement are facing growing uncertainty as employers have switched from traditional defined-benefit pensions to options like 401(k) plans that are subject to the vagaries of the stock market and inflation. While employers have been transferring this greater risk to their employees, they have also been cutting their contributions to employees’ retirement savings. A new Economic Policy Institute report by research director Lee Price, Shifting Risk, examines this trend.
JULY 14 | EPINewsFlash: Social Security proposal cuts deeper for minorities, those without safety net
Bush administration proposals to cut Social Security benefits and create a system of private retirement accounts will have the deepest impact on minorities and households with no life insurance or other retirement accounts. The Economic Policy Institute looks at these two groups in separate reports released today. Two Steps Back, by researchers Ross Eisenbrey and William Spriggs, notes the positive role Social Security currently plans in the retiremenet income of African-American and Latino households, then explains why minorities would lose under “reform” proposals being considered by the administration. The second report, Looking in the wrong places: Why benefit cuts will not solve Social Security’s financing problem, by researchers William Spriggs and David Ratner, is an economic snapshot that shows that between 30 and 40 percent of Americans have no private equivalent of the Social Security Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance program, meaning that Bush’s proposal to cut income replacement rates will leave many households with big income losses they cannot make up.
JULY 7 | EPI NewsFlash: Bush plan cuts survivor benefits
Retirees are one of three groups that Social Security is designed to help, as its formal name makes apparent: Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance. Yet, the debate over proposals to overhaul Social Security has been virtually silent on how these changes would affect families of workers who become disabled or die before reaching retirement age. Today’s report, Social Security’s Cruelest Cut, shows that the family of a worker who is now 25 but who will die at age 45 would lose 9.4 percent of their survivor’s benefit (more than $3,000 per year in today’s dollars) under the administrations plan. It also shows that the impact would be even greater for African Americans, who tend to earn less and die younger.
JULY 6 | EPI NewsFlash: Sen. DeMint’s no-raid raid
A plan devised by South Carolina’s Senator Jim DeMint, touted as a way to introduce private accounts by “stopping the raid” on the Social Security trust fund, has been gathering support. In today’s Economic Snapshot, researchers Lee Price and David Ratner examine the reality behind the rhetoric. They find that the DeMint proposal actually raids Social Security by diverting money from the trust fund into private accounts for a few years.
JUNE 22 | EPI NewsAlert: Congressional testimony on Social Security’s future
Despite assumptions to the contrary, our economy can easily support the rapid increase in the number of retirees in the coming decade, as the total population per worker will grow only 8% over the next 40 years and productivity grows 91%. This is according to testimony – available online - delivered by research director Lee Pride to some members of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means.
JUNE 15 | EPI NewsFlash: Raising retirement age no cure
Searching for a magic bullet to make Social Security more solvent, some policymakers have seized on the idea of raising the Social Security retirement age. This seemingly common-sense proposal relies on theories, however, rather than on the facts about when people actually stop working. Economist Elise Gould explores those facts in today’s Economic Snapshot, which maps employment rates by age (25 to 80) and gender.
JUNE 1 | EPI NewsFlash: Bush-endorsed privatization deepens SS cuts
In his push to privatize Social Security, President Bush has endorsed a plan proposed by Robert Pozen — a member of Bush’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security — that would blend the current wage indexing of benefits with price indexing. A crucial point lost so far in the discussion is that the Pozen proposal would lead to substantial and ever-increasing benefit cuts for more than 70 percent of Social Security beneficiaries, including future retirees, widows, and surviving children. Click here to download the report and the accompanying tables of data on benefit cuts.
JUNE 1 | EPI NewsFlash: June 7 Press Roundtable — Chile’s Privatized SS and Lessons for the U.S.
Chile has had more than 20 years of experience with the privatization of Social Security, the longest of any country in North and South America. Most Chilean workers and retirees, especially women, are not reaping benefits from private accounts, however, and their plight offers lessons for the United States as it debates privatizing Social Security. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Global Policy Network (GPN) invite you to a breakfast roundtable at the National Press Club — on Tuesday, June 7, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. — featuring new research from Carmen Espinoza, an attorney, economist and director of Chile’s Program of Economy and Work (PET). To reserve a space, email EPI at news@epinet.org, or call Stephaan Harris at 202-775-8810 by 5:00 p.m., Monday, June 6.
MAY 25 | EPI NewsFlash: Social Security’s Importance in Retirement Wealth
A new EPI report finds that the growth of traditional Social Security — not private pensions, better saving or the stock market — has been the biggest contributor to secure retirement wealth, especially for women and minorities. Retirement Income: The Crucial Role of Social Security,
by economists Christian Weller and Edward N. Wolff, finds Social Security has given many households the ability to replace pre-retirement income at least twice the poverty rate.
MAY 11 | EPI NewsFlash: High Productivity Will Bolster Social Security
President Bush has wrongly declared that Social Security benefits are becoming a burden on working people. A new EPI Issue Brief finds that, although the share of the population in retirement will rise in coming decades, we can maintain a strong Social Security program because productivity will rise even faster and create a higher standard of living.
MAY 4 | EPI NewsFlash: President’s proposed cuts to Social Security explained
Last week the president endorsed a proposal to bring about substantial cuts in promised Social Security benefits for most workers through partial price indexing. Today’s economic Snapshot, by research director Lee Price and deputy director of policy Amy Chasanov, graphically shows how this proposed scheme collapses from a public pension plan for all workers to an anti-poverty plan.
MAY 3 | EPI Alert: Resources for Mother’s Day Reporting
As you write your stories themed to Mother’s Day, it’s important to remember that as of 2003 (the 2004 data are not yet out) 71.1 percent of mothers of children 18 and under were in the workforce. Here is a quick list of relevant reports and analyses that have been posted to our website since last Mother’s Day.
APRIL 26 | Labor market trends, more than longevity increase, drive Social Security gap
Two striking economic trends that contribute to the widening Social Security financing gap are sluggish wage growth and the rising wage inequality that has made a larger share of the highest earners’ wages untaxed for Social Security purposes. This is the major finding of a new report, Social Security’s Fixable Financing Issues by economist Josh Bivens.
MARCH 24 | EPI NewsFlash: Majority of Elderly Recipients Rely on Social Security for Most of Their Income
Nationally, median elderly Social Security recipients, age 65 and over, rely on Social Security for two-thirds of their income, according to a new study released today by the Economic Policy Institute. The study shows the degree to which elderly recipients rely on Social Security, broken down by state, race, and sex. Click here for news release and list of state-level research organizations for information on Social Security reliance in specific states. To view report, click link at top of news release.
MARCH 23 | EPI NewsFlash: Putting Social Security Trustees report in context
The annual report released today by the Social Security Trustees predicts that starting in 2017 the program will need to supplement trust fund cash receipts with general revenues in order to pay promised benefits, a ‘problem’ seized on by administration officials to buttress their case for major changes to the program. However, economist Max Sawicky shows, in today’s Economic Snapshot, that the Social Security ‘problem’ pales beside the overall budget deficits created largely by the administration’s tax cuts.
MARCH 16 | EPI NewsFlash: Bush budget threatens those over 55
To build support for its Social Security plan, the administration has argued that the program is moving toward a crisis in 2018 (when benefit payments are expected to exceed revenues), but that everyone over age 55 can rest assured that they have nothing to worry about. Today’s Economic Snapshot, by Research Director Lee Price, shows that over the years the Social Security Trust Fund has, in fact, switched back and forth between surplus and deficit and often much deeper deficits than the one forecast for 2018.
MARCH 16 | EPI NewsFlash: Bush budget undermines Social Security, Medicare
As President Bush crisscrosses the country seeking to reassure seniors that their Social Security benefits are safe, the administration’s budget, which is analyzed in a new EPI report tells a different story. The president’s proposals would make it all but inevitable that the president’s promise cannot be kept for workers 55 and older, not even for current retirees, according to Collision Course: The Bush Budget and Social Security, by tax and budget expert Max B. Sawicky.
- News conference call at 1 pm Eastern time. Contact us at news@epinet.org for access numbers.
- Click here for news release. To view embargoed report, click link at top of news release.
MARCH 9 | EPI NewsFlash: Social Security Cap, Boon for Top Earners
Most earners around the country make less than the $90,000 earnings cap on Social Security taxes. Meaning that roughly 94 percent of Americans over the last 22 years have paid the tax on 100 percent of their earnings to receive the maximum benefits. Economic Policy Institute senior fellow, William Spriggs, illustrates in today’s Economic Snapshot that the remaining six percent who earn over $90,000 are taxed at an ever lower rate the higher their earnings go.
FEBRUARY 24 | EPI NewsFlash: Social Security and the States
Nationwide, over 47 million people currently receive some kind of Social Security benefit. But what impact would proposed changes in Social Security have in different states? EPI has done a state-by-state ranking and compiled data on individual states.
FEBRUARY 17 | EPI NewsFlash: Removing the Social Security Cap
In this Snapshot, EPI economist Josh Bivens examines the impact that eliminating the current $90,000 salary cap on both Social Security wages and benefits would have on the anticipated Social Security shortfall.
FEBRUARY 9 | EPI NewsFlash: Impact of re-indexing Social Security
The Bush administration has spoken positively about a proposal to change the way Social Security benefits are calculated, going from wage-indexing to price-indexing. Todays Economic Policy Institute Snapshot looks at the effects of such a change.
FEBRUARY 2 | EPI NewsFlash: Private accounts compound gender gap
Proposals to shift Social Security from its current structure to a partially privatized system will create a special disadvantage for women, who are still paid less than equally educated males. Thats because women typically spend more time in their 20s out of the workforce, often because they are attending school or are having and raising children. In todays Economic Policy Institute Snapshot, economist Bill Spriggs, with research assistant David Ratner, examines the motherhood penalty under private accounts.
FEBRUARY 2 | EPI NewsFlash: Issue Guide Clarifies Impact of Social Security Privatization
Just in time to answer all the important questions that will be raised during tonights State of the Union message, the Economic Policy Institute has expanded its Social Security Issue Guide with new information in a question and answer format specifically about privatization. The presidents speech is expected to give details about the administrations plans for the program. The Basic Facts about Social Security Privatization and its Impact addresses the impact of one proposal by the Presidents Commission to Strengthen Social Security known as Plan 2.
JANUARY 26 | EPI NewsFlash: Private accounts no answer for young workers
Replacing part of Social Security payments with private accounts would leave todays young generation of workers farther behind in retirement than if nothing was done to head off an anticipated shortfall in funding, which has been predicted to occur right around the time theyre hitting retirement age. In todays Economic Policy Institute Snapshot, economist Josh Bivens examines the impact of partial privatization of Social Security on todays 25- to 35-year-old workers.
JANUARY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Social Security Proposal Cuts Income Replacement
A key proposal by President Bush’s commission on Social Security would cause Social Security benefits to erode over time and result in larger income declines for retirees, the disabled, and survivors, hurting low- and middle-income families. Read the EPI Snapshot.
JANUARY 3 | EPI NewsFlash: Online Social Security Issue Guide Updated
Visit the Economic Policy Institutes updated Social Security Issue Guide, now posted with the most current data. In January, we will further update the guide with frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Social Security Privatization.
2004
DECEMBER 22 | EPI NewsFlash: Private accounts put deep retirement income cuts on menu
The administrations proposal to divert funds from Social Security to private retirement savings accounts will serve up an ever shrinking portion for U.S. retirees, according to projections by both the Presidents commission on Social Security and Goldman Sachs. Read EPI analysis of both projections in this weeks EPI Snapshot.
DECEMBER 13 | EPI ADVISORY: News Briefing Critique of Economic Summit
News Briefing Conference Call Tuesday, December 14 at 1:00 p.m. (EDT)
Before the Bush administration holds its Economic Summit on Wednesday, December 15 and Thursday, December 16, economists at the Economic Policy Institute, The Brookings Institution, and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, will brief reporters on Social Security and other, more urgent economic issues. To reserve a place on the call contact the EPI Communications Department at 202-775-8810 or e-mail news@epinet.org.
NOVEMBER 18 | EPI NewsFlash: Social Security well named
Its no surprise that income drops after 65. Only a lucky 15% of senior households have income greater than $50,000, while 61% have to make do on $25,000 or less, and more than one in five have $10,000 or less coming in. In todays Snapshot, economist Josh Bivens lays out the fundamental data showing why it is impossible to overstate the importance of Social Security for U.S. seniors.
OCTOBER 21 | EPI NewsFlash: New Report Maps Middle-Class Squeeze
From 2000 to 2003, typical middle-income families lost ground before taxes, after taxes, and especially after taxes and health care expenditures. A new analysis by the Economic Policy Institutes Lawrence Mishel, Michael Ettlinger, and Elise Gould examines income trends for four kinds of families: married couples with children; single mothers; elderly couples 65 and older; and young singles age 25-34.
OCTOBER 20 | EPI NewsFlash: Health care: US Spends More, Gets Less
Today’s Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute compares the United States to 29 of the world’s other industrialized nations to illustrate the relationship between health spending and life expectancy.
JUNE 17 | EPI NewsFlash: Health Care Squeeze on Retirees and Older Workers
The rising cost of individual health insurance and the discontinuing of retiree health coverage are contributing to a crisis in health care affordability for retirees and older workers, according to a new report published by the Economic Policy Institute, and released jointly with the Center for American Progress. REPORTERS: Contact EPI Communications for a review copy of Health Insurance Coverage in Retirement: The Erosion of Retiree Income Security by Christian E. Weller, Jeffrey Wenger, and Elise Gould.
JUNE 15 | EPI NewsFlash: Conference Call on Looming Health Care Crisis
On Thursday at 12 Noon (ET), EPI and the Center for American Progress will hold a national media conference call over a new report that details the health insurance crisis facing current and future retirees, including how employer cuts will leave some retirees vulnerable. To sign-up for the call and see more details, click here.
JUNE 9 | EPI NewsFlash: Job quality dims for new high school graduates
For the 31 percent of workers who enter the U.S. labor force armed with a high school diploma, the chances of finding a good job are becoming slimmer. This Snapshot gives details and a graph.
MAY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Growing Industries Provide Less Health Coverage
Using health insurance coverage as the yardstick, the quality of U.S. jobs in industries that are expanding is lower than in those that are contracting, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Read the Economic Snapshot.
APRIL 27 | EPI NewsFlash: Budget Cuts Compassion
Does the Bush administration mean to keep its tax cuts, as well as to honor its commitments to support Social Security, Medicare, defense and homeland security and to stand by its implied promise to balance the budget in ten years? If so, it will force a 63% cut by 2014 in the part of the budget that pays for things like education, environmental protection, federal law enforcement, and new technology. Read the Snapshot by EPI research director Lee Price.
MARCH 4 | EPIdeas: Offshoring and Stubborn Unemployment
Long-term unemployment is rising fast for workers with college degrees and those who are 45 and older. And the unemployment rate does not count the growing population who have given up looking for work in a labor market with three job seekers for every one opening. For more about these issues, please click here
2003
DECEMBER 3 | EPI SNAPSHOT:GDP Growth Unbalanced
NOVEMBER 26 | EPI SNAPSHOT:How the New Medicare Will Fail Seniors
AUGUST 20 | EPI SNAPSHOT:Trends in Health Insurance for Children
JULY 16 | EPI SNAPSHOT: Older Workers in Labor Force Increasing
JULY 15 | EPI NewsFlash: Retirees At Risk Under Bush Pension Proposals
Click here to read Christian Weller’s U.S House Testimony On Pension
JULY 9 | EPI SNAPSHOT:Medicating the Elderly Into Poverty
JULY 8 | EPI Pension News
JULY 2 | EPI SNAPSHOT:Health Care Costs Defer Retirement
MAY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Call it the Pension INsecurity Act
MARCH 17 | Social Security Report Due Out Today 
2002
AUGUST 22 | New approaches needed on retirement: Report shows private investments cannot meet retirement needs
Inequality
2008
JUNE 18 | Wages surge for topmost sliver
2007
MARCH 28 | Recent Gains Only Went to Highest Incomes
JANUARY 17 | Unprecedented income inequality
2006
AUGUST 9 | Poverty Rates and Work for Single Mothers (Snapshot)
JULY 25 | Health Care: U.S. Spends Most, Covers Least (Book Preview)
JULY 7 | Black-White Income Gap Re-Widens (Snapshot)
JUNE 27 | CEO Pay vs. Lowest-Paid Workers (Snapshot)
JUNE 21 | CEO-worker pay imbalance grows (Snapshot)
MAY 17 | How the Rich Will Get Richer (Snaphsot)
MAY 11 | Swim Together or Sink Alone? (Book)
MAY 3 | White House Economic Spin Analyzed (Snapshot)
APRIL 20 | Income Gap Widens in South Africa, Narrows in Brazil (Snapshot)
APRIL 20 | Dispelling the High School Graduation Myth (Book)
MARCH 15 | The Minority Wealth Gap (Snapshot)
FEBRUARY 17 | Gulf Grows Between Minimum Wage and Average Workers (Snapshot)
FEBRUARY 16 | Report Shows Effectiveness of Living Wage Policies (Briefing Paper)
FEBRUARY 15 | The Rise of Immigrant Worker Centers (Book)
JANUARY 26 | Income Inequality on the Rise (Report)
JANUARY 24 | EPI Founder Decodes the “Party of Davos” (Book)
2005
DECEMBER 14 | Worker Centers for Immigrants Changing Workplace, Debate (Briefing Paper)
OCTOBER 26 | Gulf Rebuilding May Worsen Residents’ Plight (Viewpoint)
SEPTEMBER 14 | EPI NewsFlash: Pay losses mount from gender gap (Snapshot)
JULY 27 | Single mothers face steeper job market climb
The employment rates of both married parents and single mothers fell in the recession and jobless recovery. But while the married parents’ rate has begun to recover over the past year, the rate for single mothers remains distressingly low – signaling an uphill battle in the labor market for tehse economically vulnerable families. In today’s Snapshot, EPI senior economist Jared Bernstein shows the steep decline in job opportunities for single mothers, especially compared to their married counterparts. The Snapshot looks at the share of employment for both types of working parents at the first quarter of every year from 2000-2005 to show how the employment rate for single mothers remains depressed.
JULY 14 | EPINewsFlash: Social Security proposal cuts deeper for minorities, those without safety net
Bush administration proposals to cut Social Security benefits and create a system of private retirement accounts will have the deepest impact on minorities and households with no life insurance or other retirement accounts. The Economic Policy Institute looks at these two groups in separate reports released today. Two Steps Back, by researchers Ross Eisenbrey and William Spriggs, notes the positive role Social Security currently plans in the retiremenet income of African-American and Latino households, then explains why minorities would lose under “reform” proposals being considered by the administration. The second report, Looking in the wrong places: Why benefit cuts will not solve Social Security’s financing problem, by researchers William Spriggs and David Ratner, is an economic snapshot that shows that between 30 and 40 percent of Americans have no private equivalent of the Social Security Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance program, meaning that Bush’s proposal to cut income replacement rates will leave many households with big income losses they cannot make up.
JULY 7 | EPI NewsFlash: Bush plan cuts survivor benefits
Retirees are one of three groups that Social Security is designed to help, as its formal name makes apparent: Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance. Yet, the debate over proposals to overhaul Social Security has been virtually silent on how these changes would affect families of workers who become disabled or die before reaching retirement age. Today’s report, Social Security’s Cruelest Cut, shows that the family of a worker who is now 25 but who will die at age 45 would lose 9.4 percent of their survivor’s benefit (more than $3,000 per year in today’s dollars) under the administrations plan. It also shows that the impact would be even greater for African Americans, who tend to earn less and die younger.
JUNE 1 | EPIdeas: Fresh Perspectives on the Economy
Book an Economic Policy Institute Expert for Your Talk Show. EPI’s economists and policy experts have vast media experience and are ready to explain how economic trends affect working people and their families. For interviews or more information, please contact EPI’s communications department at (202) 775-8810 or news@epinet.org.
MAY 3 | EPI Alert: Resources for Mother’s Day Reporting
As you write your stories themed to Mother’s Day, it’s important to remember that as of 2003 (the 2004 data are not yet out) 71.1 percent of mothers of children 18 and under were in the workforce. Here is a quick list of relevant reports and analyses that have been posted to our website since last Mother’s Day.
APRIL 29 | EPI News Alert: Employment Cost Index shows wages stuck in cellar
Today’s release of the Employment Cost Index shows that wage growth remains stuck at its slowest rate on record as a persistently slack job market, and faster inflation continues to squeeze workers’ paychecks. Click here for analysis.
APRIL 28 | EPI NewsFlash: Slow Growth in GDP and Wages
The sharp decline in the growth rate of the gross domestic product is mirrored in listless wage and salary growth. See the analysis in today’s GDP Picture.
APRIL 26 | Labor market trends, more than longevity increase, drive Social Security gap
Two striking economic trends that contribute to the widening Social Security financing gap are sluggish wage growth and the rising wage inequality that has made a larger share of the highest earners’ wages untaxed for Social Security purposes. This is the major finding of a new report, Social Security’s Fixable Financing Issues by economist Josh Bivens.
APRIL 6 | EPI Advisory: Tax Enforcement in Crisis – News Forum April 12
If taxpayers run true to form next week, the combined total they pay in taxes will be significantly less than what they actually owe. The majority of honest taxpayers are carrying a significant burden for those who are not paying their full share. The Economic Policy Institute will convene a panel of experts, including former IRS Commissioners, to examine this problem and possible solutions at a tax week news forum. Two new reports will be released at the forum, which is open to the media and others interested in issues of taxation and budget. Click here for a list of speakers.
APRIL 6 | EPI NewsFlash: African-Americans Lose Traction In Labor Market
In this Snapshot, senior economist Jared Bernstein shows that African-American workers still struggle in the job market even though the jobless recovery is solidly behind us. He compares current conditions and those of the early 1990s recovery to gauge the workers’ fortunes.
FEBRUARY 2 | EPI NewsFlash: Private accounts compound gender gap
Proposals to shift Social Security from its current structure to a partially privatized system will create a special disadvantage for women, who are still paid less than equally educated males. Thats because women typically spend more time in their 20s out of the workforce, often because they are attending school or are having and raising children. In todays Economic Policy Institute Snapshot, economist Bill Spriggs, with research assistant David Ratner, examines the motherhood penalty under private accounts.
JANUARY 5 | EPI NewsFlash: Gender Wage Gap Shrinks As Men’s Earnings Slow
By late 2004, the gender gap in wages shrunk as the female median earnings jumped to 81% of male earnings, from 76% in the late 1990s. But that’s because male median earnings, after rising consistently over the latter 1990s, have since flattened. Read more in this EPI Snapshot.
2004
OCTOBER 27 | EPI NewsFlash: Female Employment Rates Decrease, Reversing Trend
Economic Policy Institute economist Sylvia Allegretto finds employment rates (the ratio of employment to population) for females decreased by 1.7 percentage-points since the last business cycle peak in March 2001. At this point in every past cycle since 1948, female employment rates have gone up. Allegretto illustrates this substantial decrease and reversal of historic upward trends with two graphs in todays economic Snapshot.
OCTOBER 7 | EPI NewsFlash: Safety Net for Single Mothers is Fraying
For low-income single mothers, the safety net of programs such as welfare, unemployment insurance, and food stamps have helped to blunt the impact of an economic downturn. But we’re moving towards a system that boosts single mothers’ incomes in good times but fails to prevent losses in bad times. In this week’s Snapshot , EPI senior economist Jared Bernstein looks at how the safety net for low-income single mothers is failing to prevent their incomes from contracting.
AUGUST 12 | EPI NewsFalsh: Education Weak Buffer Against Downturn
Higher education is typically a buffer against economic downturns. But as an Economic Policy Institute analysis shows, 13 quarters into this weak recovery no educational status was left unscathed. Todays Snapshot by EPI economist Sylvia Allegretto shows that college graduates experienced larger decreases in employment rates than all other educational categories.
JULY 13 | EPI NewsFlash: Most Stock Wealth Not Shared With Many Workers
Stock ownership is out of the reach of many workers. A report from the forthcoming State of Working America finds that half of American households dont hold stock in any form, including mutual funds and pensions two keys to a secure retirement. Read here for more.
JUNE 9 | EPI NewsFlash: Job quality dims for new high school graduates
For the 31 percent of workers who enter the U.S. labor force armed with a high school diploma, the chances of finding a good job are becoming slimmer. This Snapshot gives details and a graph.
JUNE 2 | JOURNALISTS BEWARE: Anti-immigration group is distorting EPI research
Recent news releases from a group that calls itself FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) have misstated the current trends in U.S. wages and misused the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis to support its contention that immigration is chiefly what is depressing U.S. wages.
MAY 19 | EPI NewsFlash: Single Moms Lose Ground
The Economic Policy Institute charted the rising incomes of low-income single mothers during the 1990s labor market boom, as many moved from welfare to jobs. The latest data now available show safety net programs like welfare, unemployment compensation, and EITC, are not reversing the damage done by the recession and jobless recovery. Read the Economic Snapshot.
MAY 7 | EPI NewsFlash: Confronting the Black-White Achievement Gap
The stubborn achievement gap between black and white students is a key measure of our countrys failure to achieve true equality. National education expert Richard Rothstein finds that focusing on social class differences that affect learning are vital to closing that gap, according to his new book Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap. Read the press release.
- Press Conference in Washington DC: Thursday, May 13, 10 A.M.
Read the advisory. Listen to an audio recording and view photos from this conference. - National Media Conference Call for non-DC area journalists: Friday, May 13, NOON (EST). Read the advisory.
- To see Mr. Rothstein’s lectures on the black-white student achievement gap in video form, visit http://www.tc.edu/educationalequity.
APRIL 21 | EPI NewsFlash: Sex and the Unemployment Rate
Recently the labor force participation rate of college educated men and women fell by the same amount.This challenges the notion that many women are voluntarily withdrawing from the labor force to stay home to care for young children. Research director Lee Price’s Snapshot looks at unemployment rates by gender and offers insights into the missing labor force.
MARCH 17 | EPI NewsFlash: More College Grads Than Dropouts Now Unemployed
The number of unemployed college graduates has surpassed that of high-school dropouts.Senior economist Jared Bernstein’s Snapshot shows how labor market problems in the current economy are creeping up the education ladder.
MARCH 4 | EPIdeas: Offshoring and Stubborn Unemployment
Long-term unemployment is rising fast for workers with college degrees and those who are 45 and older. And the unemployment rate does not count the growing population who have given up looking for work in a labor market with three job seekers for every one opening. For more about these issues, please click here
MARCH 3 | EPI NewsFlash: Victims of long-term joblessness
In 2003 long-term unemployment rose to its highest level in two decades, according to BLS data. Two groups having an especially hard time finding a new job are people with more education and more experience. A report by Sylvia Allegretto of the Economic Policy Institute and Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Center analyses the new data and identifies which groups are most affected by the rising tide of long-term unemployment. News Release.
FEBRUARY 11 | EPI NewsFlash: Long term unemployed shifts to more educated workers
The current recession and weak recovery are unique in the extent to which workers with substantial education are also economic victims. Long-term unemployment between 2000 and 2003 increased 299 percent for workers with a bachelor’s degree or more. EPI economist Sylvia Allegretto details these trends in the economic Snapshot .
JANUARY 28 | EPI SNAPSHOT: Economic growth not reaching middle- and lower wage earners
2003
SEPTEMBER 17 | EPI SNAPSHOT:Study Says Race Discrimination Persists In Hiring
SEPTEMBER 03 | EPI SNAPSHOT:New CBO data show dramatic rise in inequality
2002
SEPTEMBER 30 | Efforts to close achievement gap must begin much earlier, new report shows
AUGUST 22 | Historic economic gains for minorities tempered by inequalities, downturn
AUGUST 22 | Women test the new economy: Unprecedented gains, but what’s the tradeoff?
AUGUST 19 | College grads saddled with rising loan debt as jobs picture dims
Poverty
2008
JULY 2 | Poverty: official rate understates level and trend
2006
AUGUST 9 | Poverty Rates and Work for Single Mothers (Snapshot)
JULY 26 | States Help Raise Minimum Wage’s Value (Snapshot)
JULY 25 | Health Care: U.S. Spends Most, Covers Least (Book Preview)
JULY 19 | Child Poverty Higher in US than Developed Nations (Snapshot)
JUNE 12 | 5 Economic Trouble Spots (Policy Memo)
MARCH 29 | New Census Measures Undercount Poverty (Issue Brief)
MARCH 22 | Working and Still Poor (Snapshot)
FEBRUARY 17 | Gulf Grows Between Minimum Wage and Average Workers (Snapshot)
FEBRUARY 16 | Report Shows Effectiveness of Living Wage Policies (Briefing Paper)
2005
DECEMBER 21 | Inflation Eats Away Minimum Wage’s Value (Snapshot)
NOVEMBER 9 | Katrina Evacuees Face Very High Unemployment (Snapshot)
OCTOBER 26 | Gulf Rebuilding May Worsen Residents’ Plight (Viewpoint)
OCTOBER 12 | Income and Poverty Affect College Completion (Snapshot)
SEPTEMBER 28 | Gulf families’ recovery at risk (Snapshot)
SEPTEMBER 13 | WSJ Gets Minimum Wage Facts Wrong (Viewpoint)
SEPTEMBER 1 | The Incredible Shrinking Minimum Wage (Issue Brief)
SEPTEMBER 1 | Report Charts Basic Living Costs In Hundreds Of Areas
AUGUST 31 | EPI NewsFlash: Expanded Analysis of Census Poverty and Income Report for 2004
The Economic Policy Institute’s Income Picture, released today, is an expanded analysis of yesterday’s Census Poverty and Income Report.
MAY 3 | EPI Alert: Resources for Mother’s Day Reporting
As you write your stories themed to Mother’s Day, it’s important to remember that as of 2003 (the 2004 data are not yet out) 71.1 percent of mothers of children 18 and under were in the workforce. Here is a quick list of relevant reports and analyses that have been posted to our website since last Mother’s Day.
JANUARY 24 | EPI-FYI: Which EPI is which?
Whats in a name? A world of difference if the names in question are the ECONOMIC Policy Institute and the EMPLOYMENT Policies Institute, both known as EPI. We (the original EPI) believe that higher minimum wages and better working conditions are sound economic policy because thats what the research data show. They (EPI#2) actually try to make a case that it hurts minimum-wage workers to raise their pay. Theres a huge difference between the two institutes, and just to help you keep it straight, heres a helpful hint: Think of them not as the EmployMENT Policies Institute, but as the EmployERS Policies Institute, and its easy to remember.
2004
DECEMBER 1 | EPI NewsFlash: States, Not Feds, Take Lead On Minimum Wage
The president and Congress have failed to raise the hourly minimum wage of $5.15 since 1997, but 13 states stepped in to enact wage minimums higher than the federal level, with several others poised to do the same. This EPI Snapshot traces the value of the minimum wage since 1979 and looks at the history of how states have acted in response to federal inaction.
OCTOBER 15 | EPI NewsFlash: Minimum Wage Hike Supported by Nobel Economists
Wednesday nights presidential debate brought the issue of a long overdue increase in the minimum wage back into the national spotlight. Last week, in a signed statement released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 562 economists, including four Nobel Prize winners in economics, agreed that this is an important national issue that deserves more attention than its gotten recently.
OCTOBER 7 | EPI NewsFlash: Safety Net for Single Mothers is Fraying
For low-income single mothers, the safety net of programs such as welfare, unemployment insurance, and food stamps have helped to blunt the impact of an economic downturn. But we’re moving towards a system that boosts single mothers’ incomes in good times but fails to prevent losses in bad times. In this week’s Snapshot , EPI senior economist Jared Bernstein looks at how the safety net for low-income single mothers is failing to prevent their incomes from contracting.
OCTOBER 6 | Economists Support Minimum Wage Raise
Its been seven years since Congress last increased the minimum wage the second longest stretch of government inaction since the minimum wage was enacted in 1938. In a signed statement, released today by the Economic Policy Institute, 562 economists, including four Nobel Prize winners in economics, support a modest increase in the minimum wage, saying it can significantly improve the lives of low-income workers and their families. These economists also support raising state minimum wages, including proposed raises in Florida, Nevada, and New York.
SEPTEMBER 1 | EPI NewsFlash: Low Wages, Part-time Can Block UI Benefits
Todays Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute illustrates that policies in 25 states block many unemployed part-time minimum wage workers who are seeking part-time jobs from getting Unemployment Insurance (UI).
AUGUST 5 | EPI NewsFlash: Other Nations Lead US: Higher Productivity, Lower Poverty
New Economic Policy Institute research released today shows seven European countries have surpassed the United States productivity levels with fewer working hours and lower poverty rates. This is report is a preview of the international comparisons chapter in the forthcoming EPI book, The State of Working America 2004/2005, a comprehensive review of the U.S. labor market and living standards.
JULY 19 | EPI NewsFlash: To help poorest working families, raise minimum wage.
Opponents of raising the minimum wage say it wouldnt help the poorest households, but the data say differently. In a new Economic Policy Institute Snapshot, EPI economist Jeff Chapman shows that in a typical state the lions share of the benefits of a higher minimum wage would flow to low-income working households.
JUNE 23 | EPI NewsFlash: US Child Poverty Rate High, Social Spending Low
From a look at 17 rich, industrialized countries, the United States’ child poverty rate 22 percent is by far the highest, and one reason appears to be the relative lack of spending our country commits to social services for disadvantaged families. In an insightful Snapshot, Economic Policy Institute economist Sylvia Allegretto finds that countries with higher social expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) have dramatically lower poverty rates among children.
MAY 19 | EPI NewsFlash: Single Moms Lose Ground
The Economic Policy Institute charted the rising incomes of low-income single mothers during the 1990s labor market boom, as many moved from welfare to jobs. The latest data now available show safety net programs like welfare, unemployment compensation, and EITC, are not reversing the damage done by the recession and jobless recovery. Read the Economic Snapshot.
MAY 11 | EPI NewsFlash: Raising the Minimum Wage, Federal and State
Congress is considering whether to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.00 an hour. Twelve states and the District of Columbia have already raised their minimum wages. Two reports released today by the Economic Policy Institute, show that increases in the minimum wage do not result in job losses and clearly outline the need for raising the minimum wage to enable individuals and families to escape poverty. Read the news release.
APRIL 28 | EPI NewsFlash: Minimum wage raise overdue
In the six years since Congress last raised the federal minimum wage, the value of that $5.15 per hour, which translates to $10,712 per year for a full-time worker, has slipped to a historic low, far below the poverty line. Two proposals now in the talking stages in Washington would bump the hourly rate up to $7.00 or to $6.25. Snapshot author, Amy Chasanov, EPIs deputy policy director, finds that although the raise to $7.00 would help 7.4 million low-wage workers over two-thirds of them adults the benefits of a raise of this magnitude would be far smaller than in the 1996-97 increase.
JANUARY