EPI in the news

• Poll: Union popularity hits 57-year high

  What they’re saying: “U.S. workers see unions as critical to fixing our nation’s broken workplace — where most workers have little power or agency at work,” wrote the Economic Policy Institute Tuesday in response to the Gallup poll findings.

  Axios | August 31, 2022
• What goes into calculating employment numbers?

  “They’re all based on some kind of a sample, some kind of an estimation technique, and I think you have to take each one of them and get the information that you can from it,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Marketplace | August 31, 2022
• The worst-paying states for teachers

  It’s consistent with a separate report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) which found from 1996 to 2021, average weekly wages increased just $29 for public school teachers —consistently earning less than their non-teacher, college-educated counterparts.  

  The Hill | August 31, 2022
• Teachers say politicians, parents stressing them out

  Participation in a teacher union can reduce educators’ stress levels, according to a paper released Monday by the Economic Policy Institute. Researchers measured the stress levels of teachers in districts with collective bargaining against those with no union agreement and found a 14% difference in stress levels. 

  EPI said reduced stress levels for union-affiliated teachers may be due to support for teacher compensation, improved working conditions and advocacy for “teacher voice.”

  K-12 Dive | August 31, 2022
• Fact check: Education Secretary says average teacher pay up only ‘$29’ over last 25 years

  Cardona’s office told PolitiFact that he was referring to statistics from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.

  In a report released Aug. 16, the group found that inflation-adjusted average weekly wages of teachers had increased by just $29 between 1996 and 2021, specifically from $1,319 to $1,348 in inflation-adjusted dollars.

  To calculate these figures, the group used two detailed data sets from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We decided to see if the data from Cardona’s own department tracked with the Economic Policy Institute’s. So we examined National Center for Education Statistics’ data to find the estimated average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools.

  Those numbers are just a little different. Between the 1995-96 school year and the 2020-21 school year, average annual K-12 teacher salaries in public schools rose from $64,113 to $65,090. That’s an increase of $977 after accounting for inflation. (The Economic Policy Institute and Education Department tracked salaries of teachers via only average income, not the median. Allegretto said that either measure would be acceptable for studying teacher pay; unlike some fields where extreme outliers can skew averages compared to medians, the range of salaries in K-12 teaching is fairly compact.)

  WRAL.com | August 31, 2022
• Many Americans have happily ditched 9-to-5 office jobs. A recession could force others to join them — and change ideas of work forever.

  The majority are earning less than they would with a traditional job, and per an Economic Policy Institute analysis of a 2020 Shift Project survey, 14% of gig workers surveyed earned less than the federal minimum wage on an hourly basis. In addition to the lack of predictable income and benefits, some freelance work — like food delivery or Uber driving — can be grueling. And as more freelancers join the fold, this could mean more people competing for a limited number of opportunities. 

  | August 31, 2022
• Inflation vs. Recession

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, economists’ opinions vary on which is worse for an economy, a recession or rising inflation. One common argument is that inflation is worse than a recession because it impacts everyone. By contrast, a recession—and the associated job losses that come with it—may impact a smaller number of people.

  Forbes | August 31, 2022

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