EPI in the news

• The Legal Strategy Elon Musk Uses to Shortchange Workers and Consumers

  Even after arbitration cases are allowed to move forward, they are not typically won by employees. In a 2015 report on the subject, the Economic Policy Institute noted that employees bound by arbitration clauses are not often successful in actual arbitration: “Employee win rates in mandatory arbitration are much lower than in either federal court or state court, with employees in mandatory arbitration winning only just about a fifth of the time.”

  The Progressive Magazine | December 7, 2023
• Voters deserve a say on minimum wage

  According to Economic Policy Institute research, nearly 90% of workers who would benefit from a higher minimum wage are 20 or older – and one-third are over 40.

  The Journal Record (Oklahoma) | December 7, 2023
• Free Speech at Work

  This research piece by our friends at the Economic Policy Institute explains just when employee free speech is protected and when it is not. As EPI explains, workers have suffered retaliation for failing to support the boss’s preferred political candidate, for refusing to attend mandatory Bible study, and for speaking out during COVID against unsafe working conditions.

  The American Prospect | December 7, 2023
• For the Children: Part 2; Child labor is poor solution to worker shortages

  The Economic Policy Institute noted several states recently proposed or enacted laws extending the hours 14- and 15-year-olds can work. Both New Jersey and New Hampshire passed such laws in 2022. The New Hampshire law lowered the age for minors to bus tables where alcohol is served from 15 to 14 and increased the number of hours per week 16- and 17-year-olds can work. Bills have proposed paying young workers below a state’s minimum wage and allowing them to do more hazardous jobs.

  The Duncan Banner | December 7, 2023
• The labour market’s soft landing

  But Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the Labor Department, is more optimistic. She believes that given the totality of job data (terminations, vacancies, entitlements, hours worked, wages), there is likely to be some slowdown in job creation; The apparent stability may be noise. But she believes this is the pattern one would expect as an economy approaches full employment: Monthly job gains and other measures are slowing. The key point is that we are slowly approaching the rate of employment growth that simply keeps pace with the growth of the working-age population – somewhere in the range of 75,000 to 100,000. 

  Financial Times | December 7, 2023
• Retirement Without a Net: The Plight of America’s Aging Farmworkers

  But low wages, which agriculture industry leaders say are necessary to keep U.S.-grown produce competitive, are another factor. Farmworkers in 2020 earned an average of $14.62 an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and some earned less.

  New York Times | December 7, 2023
• Looking for child care in Washington? A new online marketplace aims to help

  A state child care task force report from last December found Washington’s child care market to be “broken.” The report pointed to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute that showed costs average around $14,500 per year.

  The Columbian | December 7, 2023

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