EPI in the news

• Film ‘Legacy Lives On’ premieres at ABFF, follows financial journey of three black women

  African American households lag sorely in wealth compared to white households. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), black households receive an underwhelming 61.6% of the yearly income earned by an average white household. This disparity is due in part to the racial income gap in which black employees bring home 82.5 cents for every dollar white workers earn; substantially contributing to black poverty. It should come as no surprise, then, that the most recent data suggests black people are more than twice as likely to experience poverty than whites. Therefore, the timing of such a documentary is ideal.

  Black Enterprise | June 19, 2019
• What do Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump have in common?

  The left-wing Economic Policy Institute embraced the idea in this NYT Op-Ed: Warren’s Radical Plan to Fix the Dollar.

  Revaluing the dollar could create two million to five million good-paying jobs, according to research by my organization, the Economic Policy Institute. And that could set off a much-needed economic revival.

  Townhall Finance | June 19, 2019
• Letters to the editor — for Wednesday, June 19

  Our total trade deficit with China alone is approaching half a trillion dollars a year. What does that do to the American worker? Senior Economist Robert E. Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank says it best. “Trade with China has redistributed vastly more income from working Americans to those at the top, than it has created through any increases in economic efficiency.

  News and Tribune | June 19, 2019
• Being black in America is a health risk. It’s time for reparations.

  Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute estimates that a loss of one IQ point from lead poisoning may lead to a loss of more than $22,000 in lifetime earnings (adjusting for inflation). Now consider that 14 percent of the children poisoned in Flint, Michigan, had very high blood lead levels—above 10 micrograms, which works out to a lifetime loss of at least $162,800 in earnings per child. It is medically impossible to reverse the damage done to the nervous systems of these children. But it is very possible to compensate them for unnecessary harm.

  VICE | June 19, 2019
• Boulder County leaders say localizing minimum wage comes with risks, rewards

  Colorado’s move is commendable and positive, said David Cooper, senior economic analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. It’s the first state to undo the restrictions, he said.

  Colorado Daily | June 19, 2019
• America has never gone this long without hiking the federal minimum wage

  The value of that wage has fallen by about 17 percent over the past decade, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, which translates into a $3,000 loss in annual earnings for a full-time year-round minimum-wage worker.

  “There is not a single community in the U.S. where someone can have a decent quality of life at the current federal minimum wage,” said David Cooper, an EPI researcher on the minimum wage. “Congress has never waited this long to lift up the wages of workers at the bottom.”

  The Washington Post | June 19, 2019
• Adams, Butterfield, Price on board as U.S. House prepares to vote on $15 minimum wage

  The Economic Policy Institute estimates that these workers would earn an average of $4,422 dollars more every year as a result of the increase. This would provide resources needed to meet basic needs like the cost of quality child care for three months or rent for five months at fair market rent. People of color — who are often excluded from higher-paying jobs due to historic exclusion, educational opportunities, and persistent discrimination in the labor market — would earn as much as $5,100 more per year, taking a significant step toward overcoming historically-rooted racial discrimination in wages.

  NC Policy Watch | June 19, 2019

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