EPI in the news

• Councilman wants to ‘double down’ on D.C.’s ‘sanctuary’ status with extortion bill

   

  Heidi Shierholz, chief economist at the Labor Department during the Obama administration, said that typically, in an open marketplace, workers have several points of leverage, including the ability to unionize and regulated labor standards, such as a minimum wage. But for immigrants in the country illegally and fearful that an employer could report them or their family if they push back against demands, “that bargaining power goes out the window,” Shierholz said.

  That, she added, hurts citizens and immigrants who came to the United States legally as much as it hurts workers here illegally, because it “degrades the standards of that workplace.” (Heidi quoted throughout)

  The Washington Post | July 18, 2018
• Short History Of The Wine-Mom Meme

   

  And it is indicative of the vice moms find themselves in: childcare in many states costs almost as much as a college education, per the Economic Policy Institute; mothers face outright discrimination in the workplace, with 31,000 reports of maternity discrimination lodged in the U.S. in over a roughly four-year period to 2015; mothers in 2012 spent an average of an hour longer with their children each day than mothers in 1965, per Quartz. We may or may not be headed into a recession in the U.S. No wonder a simple rallying cry for parents — “it’s whine o’clock, baby” — has so many applications, regardless of whether or not drinking is involved.

  Romper | July 18, 2018
• Study: Hispanic Workers’ Wages Less than Whites

   

  Dr. Alberto Dávila, dean of the Donald L. Harrison College of Business at Southeast Missouri State University, recently co-published a new study with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) which examines the Hispanic-white wage gap among full-time workers. In the study, Dávila and and his wife Marie Mora, professor of economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, determined the Hispanic-white wage gap has remained wide and relatively steady. Dávila and Mora examined earnings gaps between 1979 and 2016, including how they are affected by gender, Hispanic national origin, education level, birthplace, immigrant status and generational status. (whole story)

  Southeast Missouri State University | July 18, 2018
• LTE: Institute finds ‘right to work’ would be bad for Missouri

   

  The article “Fight over Prop A revs up” (July 15), while discussing the conflicting claims regarding the economic impact of “right to work” laws and citing a 2011 paper by the Economic Policy Institute, fails to reference a more recent study by that organization that buttresses the conclusion that “right to work” would be bad for Missouri. This past month, the institute issued an analysis of the effects of “right to work” based on data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This study concluded that “right to work” is associated with lower wages and a weakened middle class. (whole LTE)

  St. Louis Post Dispatch | July 18, 2018
• Campaigns revving up in fight over Missouri’s right-to-work referendum

   

  In a 2011 briefing paper for the Economic Policy Institute, authors Gordon Lafer and Sylvia Allegretto note that right-to-work states are concentrated in the South, where significant changes dating to the 1950s have altered the economy — including the advent of air conditioning, better roads, desegregation and “massive federal investments in these states’ education systems.” “Any one of these factors is more likely than right to work to account for the more rapid growth of manufacturing in Southern states,” the paper says. (2011 study cited throughout)

  St. Louis Post Dispatch | July 17, 2018
• If You Live in Missouri, Vote ‘No’ on Proposition A

  Proposition A will drive down wages for Missouri families: If it passes, Proposition A will drive down wages for all Missourians. New research from the Economic Policy Institute shows that “right to work” laws like Proposition A are associated with lower wages and a weaker middle class. EPI found that wages were 3.1% lower in states with right to work laws like Proposition A. EPI’s Heidi Shierholz said, “If Missouri goes in the direction of right to work, we will see that the wages of workers, including those that are not in unions, will decline. Most middle-class workers spend their wages on things like food and clothes at local retailers.” The wage decline will harm businesses where middle-class workers shop.

  AFL-CIO | July 17, 2018
• What progressives like about Trump’s trade war

   

  Trump has responded to this reality with massive tariffs — something some progressive economists agree with, at least in principle. “Tariffs are sorely needed to retaliate for theft of intellectual property, state-owned enterprises, overcapacity, and other forms of unfair trade, including more than a decade of massive currency manipulation,” Robert Scott of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) told me. (Rob quoted throughout)

  The Week | July 16, 2018

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