Media clips

• Five Financial Tips for Incoming College Students

  Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She’s the co-author of “Rescuing Retirement” and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.

  Bloomberg September 9, 2022
• Experts on the impact of economic disparities on worker mobility

  Join Washington Post Live for a special series that explores how the labor market is responding to dramatic disruptions brought on by inflation, automation, gigification and the pandemic. Part one of the series unpacks the economic drivers and disparities that impact mobility in the labor market, featuring Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), David Madland, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Washington Post September 9, 2022
• The U.S. unemployment rate rose in August, and Black workers’ labor force participation declined

  “There is some volatility in these numbers but seeing a downward trend in employment and participation is worrisome,” said Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNBC September 9, 2022
• Experts on the impact of economic disparities on worker mobility

  Join Washington Post Live for a special series that explores how the labor market is responding to dramatic disruptions brought on by inflation, automation, gigification and the pandemic. Part one of the series unpacks the economic drivers and disparities that impact mobility in the labor market, featuring Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), David Madland, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Washington Post September 9, 2022
• Inflation pushes minimum wages higher in Colorado and some other states

  In total, 27 states and Washington, D.C., will raise their minimum wages next year, either because of inflation or previously scheduled increases, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C., think tank. A lower minimum wage for workers who earn tips also will increase in many of those states.

  “Employers are having to compete to attract staff, and this is particularly true in low-wage industries such as leisure and hospitality,” said David Cooper, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the Economic Policy Institute.

  The minimum wage isn’t going up everywhere next year. Twenty-three states have no minimum wage increases scheduled. Twenty of those states set their minimums at or below the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The federal minimum wage, which amounts to an income of about $15,000 a year for somebody who works 40 hours a week, hasn’t changed in more than a decade.

  Cooper, of the Economic Policy Institute, said that $18 an hour in 2028 could be worth $15.50 an hour in today’s dollars.

  “It seems high, but when you consider what inflation might look like over the next few years, it’s probably not as high as it seems,” he said.

  Denver Gazette September 9, 2022
• California School District Asking Students’ Families To House Teachers Due To Soaring Home And Rent Prices

  With housing affordability in California, many teachers face issues on the 1st of the month. From 2014 through 2019, according to reports from the Economic Policy Institute, the state’s instructors earned 15.5% less than college-educated instructors.

  Blavity September 9, 2022
• New California law could raise fast-food minimum wage to $22 an hour
  But dozens of advocacy groups including the Economic Policy Institute, the National Employment Law Project and One Fair Wage urged the state in January to pass the bill.
  CNN Business September 9, 2022
• Fast-Food Workers Could Earn $22 an Hour in California Now

  Ten states have or are planning to institute a mandatory minimum wage of $15 an hour, and California just enacted a law on Labor Day creating the first-in-the-nation fast food council for chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell that will set minimum wage standards — perhaps as high as $22 an hour. Laws like these are necessary because not every employer has met what many think of as a more-realistic living wage. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, these major food chains have the largest percentages of workers making less than $15 an hour.

  MSN September 9, 2022
• Iowa teachers earn less than college-educated peers

  Iowa public school teachers earn 16.3% less than their college-educated counterparts in other fields.

  • That’s according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning group, which advocates for fair pay for low- and middle-income workers.

  Why it matters: Teacher shortages are hitting schools in the Des Moines metro and across the country, and this pay gap can discourage college students from entering the profession, the report says.

  The big picture: The national pay gap between teachers and similarly educated non-teachers grew to a record 23.5% in 2021.

  • Inflation-adjusted weekly wages for teachers have remained essentially flat over the decades, increasing just $29 from 1996 to 2021, the institute found.
  • College graduates in other professions saw wages increase $445 in the same period.
  Axios September 9, 2022
• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink thinks he has a solution to inflation: bring people back to the office

  Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, suggested to Fortune in May that one reason for falling productivity might be some people returning to work in “lower productivity” jobs like restaurant work, which was suppressed during the COVID pandemic. (“Low productivity” is a technical measurement of economic output over hours worked, and does not imply that an employee’s job is easy.)

  Fortune September 9, 2022