EPI in the news

• Celebrating the End of Slavery—With One Big Asterisk

   

  This has impacts across generations. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute found that by the age of 14, approximately 25 percent of African American children have experienced a parent — in most cases a father — being imprisoned for some period of time. The “evidence is overwhelming that the unjustified incarceration of African American fathers (and, increasingly, mothers as well) is an important cause of the lowered performance of their children,“ the report concludes. For example, children of incarcerated parents are more likely to misbehave at or even drop out of school, develop learning disabilities, and to suffer from migraines, asthma, high cholesterol, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and homelessness.

  Common Dreams | June 21, 2018
• Ben Carson’s plan to raise rent for poorest Americans would have ‘severe’ impact on District, experts say

   

  Harrison said she expects that the negative effects of the proposal will be more “severe” in the District because residents of the city pay more on average for basic necessities than most other Americans. A 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the District is the most expensive place to raise a family in the United States.

  The Washington Post | June 20, 2018
• Why do young parents move away? Our cities aren’t designed for kids

   

  “Average childcare costs are astronomical,” says Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “The majority of families with kids have both parents working. In states that lack infant and child care, the cost of childcare has a massive impact. According to a recent EPI study, a two-parent, two-child family in many major cities pays more to child and day care centers—who are struggling with rent and staff costs—than to the landlord. In 500 out of 618 communities nationwide, child care costs more than rent for a two-child family, and there isn’t a single community where a full-time, full-year minimum-wage worker with one child can afford a “modest yet adequate standard of living” while also paying for child care. Take San Francisco. In 2016, it became the first city in the nation to require six weeks of paid maternity leave. But while that’s a useful head start, it doesn’t address the mounting costs of child care between birth and starting school. According to EPI’s analysis, California is one of 33 states where infant care is more expensive than college. Child care for two children, an infant and a 4-year-old, costs $20,047 annually on average, 25.6 percent more than rent. A typical California family would have to spend 31.5 percent of their income on child care.

  Curbed | June 20, 2018
• Trump Picks Economic Winners, Guided by Nostalgia

   

  “The trade policies have been so erratic and inconsistently messaged that they are not a part of a broader strategic plan for the economy,” said Thea Lee, president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute and a trade specialist. “Even to the extent that there is some playing favorites, singling out workers in different sectors, that’s problematic, because it’s dividing. What workers need are policies that will be empowering, that will lift them up across sectors and not divide them.”

  The New York Times | June 19, 2018
• The Deceptive Campaign to Keep D.C. Service Workers Underpaid

   

  The other major argument against Initiative 77 is that it will kill jobs. It is true that restaurants in general operate on razor-thin margins. But this isn’t an economic experiment without precedent: Other states and locales—including the entire state of California, home to multiple cities full of restaurants, some of which I’m told are pretty good—already pay servers the minimum wage, and the evidence doesn’t support the fear-mongering on job losses. To quote the Economic Policy Institute, henceforth known as The Good EPI (emphasis added): According to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, full-service restaurants in equal treatment states saw stronger growth both in terms of number of establishments and number of jobs compared to states with a separate, lower minimum wage for tipped workers (Figure B). Between 2011 and 2014, equal treatment states saw 6.0 percent growth in the number of establishments compared to 4.1 percent growth in states with separate, lower tipped minimum wages. Likewise, employment grew 13.2 percent in equal treatment states compared to 9.1 percent in other states.

  Splinter News | June 19, 2018
• Initiative 77 Doesn’t Just Affect Servers. Why Haven’t We Heard From Delivery Drivers, Nail Technicians, Bellhops, And Others?

  “This is an incredibly hard nut to crack because the data are extremely limited,” says David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at Economic Policy Institute who has written reports in favor of eradicating the tipped minimum wage.

  DCist | June 19, 2018
• Inside the Heated Battle Over D.C.’s Subminimum Tipped Wage

   

  Besides, as a 2016 ROC United report found, tipped workers in the nation’s capital are nearly twice as likely to experience poverty in comparison to other D.C. workers. “The people who are serving you food can’t even afford to feed themselves,” says TJ. Initiative 77 could make real inroads on this issue. As research from the Economic Policy Institute shows, tipped workers have lower poverty rates in states without a subminimum tipped wage. (EPI cited throughout and chart included)

  Inequality.org | June 19, 2018

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