EPI in the news

• Offices are negotiating a ‘return to work’ — but many people never left their workplace during the pandemic

  As white-collar workplaces debate the future of hybrid work with more than half of U.S. adults fully vaccinated, a new analysis provides a reminder that access to remote work during the pandemic has been a privilege for a lucky few, not the norm.

  Just one in five U.S. workers are able to work remotely due to the pandemic, according to a report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which analyzed U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data from May 2020 to April of this year.

  Of course, the ability to telework once COVID-19 hit was not created equally — and disparities, falling along demographic dimensions like education and race, have endured over the course of the pandemic.

  About six in 10 workers with at least a bachelor’s degree were able to work remotely toward the start of the pandemic, compared to just 12% of workers with a high-school diploma or less. While the overall share of people teleworking declined over the ensuing months, a sizable gap between the two groups remains (34% versus 5%, respectively).

  MarketWatch | June 4, 2021
• Why the U.S. Monthly Jobs Report Matters

  Since the jobs report is so important and such a recurring feature of the news cycle, it’s probably time that you understood what the heck it is. We reached out to Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an avid reader of the monthly jobs report, for some answers.

  HowStuffWorks | June 4, 2021
• What would a better US immigration system look like? We asked the experts.

  Over the past four years, temporary worker programs have increased, while opportunities for permanent residency have declined, a shift that was accelerated by the Trump administration during the coronavirus pandemic. The shift has allowed for greater economic opportunities for migrants while also increasing instances of corporate exploitation of migrant labor, according to the progressive Economic Policy Institute.

  USA Today | June 4, 2021
• Unemployment claims dip to another pandemic low

  “Nearly all the states cutting [unemployment insurance] still have significantly fewer jobs than before the pandemic,” David Cooper of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute noted in a blog post. “The country is simply not at a place yet where states should be cutting off supports to unemployed workers.”

  CBS Moneywatch | June 4, 2021
• Lexington server weighs in on worker shortage

  For tipped workers like servers, base pay in Kentucky is $2.13 an hour and has been since 1991.

  Dave Cooper, senior analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, says that is the real problem.

  “Kentucky is one of only about 20 states that still use the federal standard for minimum wages,” said Cooper. “So if you’re a server in California, you’re making $14 an hour out of your paycheck, plus tips on top of that, whereas someone in Lexington, might only be making $2.13 an hour, and hopefully tips are getting up, getting them up to at least 7.25 but, you know in a lot of cases even that doesn’t.”

  Cooper says the argument that prices may increase is valid- but could be worth it in the long run.

  “There’s a lot of research that shows that when you raise wages, businesses, see some savings from lower turnover workers stay on the job longer, maybe they get better at their jobs,” said Cooper.

  LEX-TV | June 4, 2021
• Obama Was Always in Wall Street’s Corner

  Somehow, we are all supposed to forget that the Obama era was defined by one of the largest drops in workers’ share of corporate income in the modern history of the United States, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute:

  That decline was punctuated by huge Democratic electoral losses — which strongly suggests not coincidence but causation. It suggests that the Obama-led Democratic Party kicking the working class in the face while enriching finance billionaires prompted a political backlash that ended up (misguidedly) benefiting the GOP.

  Jacobin | June 4, 2021
• Worker pay went up just 1.8% in 2020. CEO pay increased nearly 16%

  At the start of the pandemic, some CEOs announced, to much fanfare, that they’d give up their salaries in order to protect their companies from layoffs or closures. But those gestures did little to curb the trend of soaring CEO earnings (because salary is often just one component of CEO compensation). In 2020, what CEOs took home rose nearly 16%, according to preliminary data, while the average worker’s compensation rose just 1.8%.

  Those figures come from a preliminary report from the Economic Policy Institute, which each year reports on CEO compensation trends based on data from the 350 largest firms. That annual report uses information these firms file by June, but 281 of those 350 firms have already reported their CEO compensation for 2020, so Lawrence Mishel, distinguished fellow at and former president of the EPI, decided to put out some analysis early. “We think this is a proper early look at what we can expect,” he says. And what he’s expecting is fast CEO compensation growth: “We would estimate that CEO compensation will hit, by far, its historic peak in 2020.”

  Fast Company | June 4, 2021

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