EPI in the news

• They Said Seattle’s Minimum Wage Would Cost Workers a Lot. Now the Picture Looks Brighter.

  Other researchers were more skeptical. When last year’s study came out, Ben Zipperer, an expert on the minimum wage at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, pointed out that it failed to adequately account for the fact that Seattle’s economy was growing rapidly when the minimum wage increases took effect. In a booming economy, Mr. Zipperer argued, we would expect to see fewer workers employed at low wages — not because employers decide it’s not worth hiring people, but because the competition for workers bids up wages, and many low-paying jobs disappear and are replaced by somewhat higher-paying jobs. (Ben quoted throughout)

  The New York Times | October 22, 2018
• Child Care’s Impact on Women’s Opportunities

   

  The typical American family has increased its child-care spending by 70% since 1995, according to the U.S. Education Department. Those costs ballooned to a total of $4.9 billion in 2016, which is bad news for women, who tend to shoulder more child-care-related responsibilities and housework than their male partners. Economists say mothers are more likely than fathers to drop down to part-time work or leave the labor force altogether when child care gets pricey. “It just limits their choices,” says Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, adding that women tend to make less money than their male partners, which can push them to be the ones to opt out. (EPI cited throughout)

  The Wall Street Journal | October 22, 2018
• Wages for the 1% just reached their highest level ever

   

  The 1% has never had it so good. The average wage for the 1% of income earners hit $719,000 per year in 2017, up 3.7% on the year, exceeding their peak of $716,000 per year just before the Great Recession, according to a report released Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive, nonprofit think tank, citing data from the Social Security Administration. The average wage for the top 0.1% reached $2.7 million in 2017, the second-highest level ever, just 4% below their level in 2007. However, wages for the 0.1% rose 8% on the year in 2017. (whole story)

  MarketWatch | October 19, 2018
• What Does Health Insurance Cost? A New Report Says Costs Are Rising

   

  The U.S. health care system has gotten itself into a bit of a vicious cycle, says the Economic Policy Institute, in which all these health care costs are keeping us from putting money back into the rest of the economy. The Economic Policy Institute recommends policymakers stop trying to restrict health care use through implementing a single-payer system and focus on controlling health care prices, which the EPI says is really what’s getting out of control.

  Bustle | October 18, 2018
• What Lessons Can Be Learned from NAFTA?

  What are America’s shifting politics around trade going to mean for the upcoming midterm elections? What lessons from the passage of NAFTA – and approximately 25 years of living with it – can advocates for American manufacturing and workers apply to its proposed replacement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement? Those were the among the topics of discussion today at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC, where an expert panel unpacked the politics and policy influencing our dynamic nationwide trade debate. (whole story)

  Alliance for American Manufacturing | October 18, 2018
• Here’s What Health Care Costs In 2018. It’s Not Pretty.

   

  Employers cover the majority of this expense, but people end up paying for the benefit in different ways as rates continue to rise: The expense is passed along through higher cost sharing for visits and hospitalizations, and more of their compensation is coming in the form of health insurance instead of wages. “Rapid growth in the cost of US health care has put sustained downward pressure on wages and incomes,” a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal nonprofit, found.

  Buzzfeed | October 16, 2018
• Here’s How Much Soaring Health Care Prices Have Cost American Workers

   

  It’s not news that health care costs have been rising for years, but a new report from Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute puts some eye-opening numbers on just how much the rising price of health care has cost American workers.

  Fiscal Times | October 16, 2018

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