EPI in the news

• States Across America Are Trying to Weaken Child Labor Protections

  As a recent analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reveals, the much-publicized Youth Hiring Act of 2023 is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the weakening of child labor standards. Over the past two years, some ten states have either introduced or passed legislation in this vein, with eight of such bills appearing in the past few months alone.

  Jacobin | March 30, 2023
• Our View: Teacher shortage demands money more than innovation

  According to a report last year from the Economic Policy Institute, the average weekly wages of U.S. public school teachers increased $29 from 1996 to 2021. The weekly wages of other college graduates rose by $445 in the same period. What the report calls “the teacher weekly wage penalty” is greater than 20% in 28 states (in Maine, it’s 24%), where teachers are paid less than 80 cents on the dollar compared to similar college-educated workers in those states.

  Central Maine | March 30, 2023
• Pay for low-wage workers grew ‘tremendously fast’ in the last 3 years—but experts don’t think it’ll last

  Workers in the 10^th percentile, that is those making less than 90% of everyone else, saw real wages (or those adjusted for inflation) grow 9% between 2019 and 2022, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute. They earned $12.57 per hour in 2022, or $26,145 annually. It’s the biggest hike they’ve seen in decades as measured by business cycles, which are periods of economic growth followed by a contraction and possible recession.

  CNBC | March 30, 2023
• The powerful lesson from 18 million workers getting a pay raise over $15

  The data come from Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute who runs the tracker “How many low-wage workers are in the U.S.?” Before the pandemic, fast-food workers, home health aides, janitors and other low-wage workers saw modest pay increases largely due to 30 states raising their state minimum wages above the $7.25-an-hour federal requirement, Zipperer says. 

  Washington Post | March 30, 2023
• The Fed’s Fight Against Inflation Could Cost Black Workers The Most

  That roughly 2-to-1 relationship between Black and white unemployment has held true for a long time, according to Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. The gap is especially harmful during times of crisis — when Black workers routinely face unemployment rates upwards of 15 percent — but it also means that Black and other marginalized workers can see their unemployment rates drop faster than white workers.

  FiveThirtyEight | March 30, 2023
• Employers spend more than $400 million a year fighting unions

  Though a majority of Americans support unions, just a small fraction of workers—about 12%—are actually in one. Labor experts say one reason for that discrepancy has to do with the efforts companies have made to fight or derail union organizing. And all those efforts have come at a hefty cost: Employers spend more than $400 million a year on “union-avoidance consultants,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Fast Company | March 30, 2023
• Opinion: Real public safety starts with funding public goods, not police

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, New York is the most unequal state in the country, where the richest 1% take home 31% of all income. (Nationwide, the richest 1% take home 21% of all income.) Rather than directly addressing the need for stable housing, incomes, and health care, we’ve seen these basic services replaced by ever more intensive and invasive policing: stop-and-frisk, quotas, abusive anti-crime units, homeless sweeps and the broad criminalization of young people of color.

  City and State New York | March 30, 2023

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