EPI in the news

• The Supreme Court just killed affirmative action in the deluded name of meritocracy

  According to studies by the Economic Policy Institute and U.S. Census Bureau, the top 1% of Americans takes home 21% of all income in the country. Meanwhile, the gap in earnings between those with and without college degrees (also known as the college wage premium) has steadily increased since 2000. 

  San Francisco Chronicle | June 30, 2023
• Get On the Bus: Why the Switch to Clean Mass Transit Will Improve Public Health

  “We’re seeing reinvestment, but the majority of it is going to the South, which in many cases looks like American maquiladoras,” said Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute at the Chicago Federal Reserve’s annual auto industry outlook conference in January. (Maquiladoras are factories in Mexico run by foreign companies looking to employ cheap labor and avoid tariffs.) He noted that unionization in the South is less than 4 percent, creating a wage gap between the North and the South in the auto sector greater than the 15 percent wage gap for all industries.   

  Washington Monthly | June 30, 2023
• Opinion: The UPS strike authorization vote is about more than just pay

  The negotiations at UPS could also help workers who are not union members. Unions cause a spillover effect, achieving gains that later become standard or legally mandated, like benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their families, as well as the eight-hour work day and days off on weekends. Air-conditioned UPS trucks, for example, will help set a norm that all workers deserve heat protection.

  The UPS strike authorization vote also reflects the increasing willingness of workers in a range of industries to exercise collective power to seek better conditions for themselves, their coworkers and future generations. And it’s not just about pay. Railroad workers last fall sought paid sick days. The Amazon Labor Union was formed because of concerns about Covid safety. Kellogg’s workers went on strike in 2021 over a two-tier compensation structure. And on Friday, workers in about 150 Starbucks locations went on strike over the company’s alleged restricting of Pride decorations in some locations.

  CNN | June 30, 2023
• DoorDash delivery workers to get option of hourly rate

  The other side: Critics say gig economy apps like DoorDash leave workers with less than they’d have if they had a steady job.

  • About 1 in 7 gig workers earned less than the federal minimum wage as of spring 2020, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
  Axios | June 30, 2023
• What’s Keeping Rental Car Prices so High?

  Indeed, a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, suggests that corporate profits contributed more to overall inflation in 2020 and 2021 than labor or material costs. Higher rental car prices and corporate profits may be part of this trend.

  NerdWallet | June 30, 2023
• Why so many workers are going on strike these days

  It’s the kind of energy and enthusiasm that can ripple beyond unions, per Margaret Poydock, a policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.

  “So, you know, if there are unionized workers who are going on strike and they get their demands of increased wages and certain benefits, research shows that unions have spillover effects,” she said.

  In other words, if a big airline, retailer or restaurant chain improves working conditions or increases pay, other companies in those industries may follow.

  Marketplace | June 30, 2023
• Joe Biden tries to change the narrative on the economy

  Between 2019 and 2022, the inflation-adjusted wages of workers in the tenth percentile of the wage distribution increased by nine per cent, according to a study published earlier this year by Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, in Washington, D.C. When I spoke to Gould on Tuesday, she said that, based on wage data from industries such as leisure and hospitality, which employ a lot of low-wage workers, it appears that this trend has kept up into 2023. “Low-wage workers have had a bit more leverage, and that is reflected in the wage data,” Gould said. “They are doing better than before.”

  The New Yorker | June 30, 2023

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