Media clips

• California Fights to Set Minimum Work Standards in Fast Food Establishments Statewide

  “This could be a historic turning point,” said Jennifer Sherer, a senior state policy coordinator with the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute. “The bill is a very important acknowledgement that our federal labor law, which we know is supposed to protect the right of local workers to organize, is broken. We cannot wait for federal reform.”

  Capital and Main August 26, 2022
• New Report Shows Colorado Teachers Losing Ground In Pay Penalties

  A new report out from the Economic Policy Institute found that the so-called teacher pay penalty is at an all time high, but that gap is even higher right here in Colorado. KGNU News Director Shannon Young spoke with report author and Economic Policy Institute research associate, Sylvia Allegretto.

  KGNU August 26, 2022
• Wage thieves will soon face criminal prosecution in Multnomah County

  The union-backed think tank Economic Policy Institute reported last year that district attorneys in at least 15 states had brought criminal charges against employers for wage theft or other workplace issues. The report noted a small but growing number of district attorneys are creating labor units specifically to prosecute employer crimes against workers.

  NW Labor Press August 26, 2022
• Economists Fear Fed Minutes Show Central Bank Bent on ‘Unleashing Mass Unemployment’

  “We have a supply-side problem, but rather than trying to restore or raise supply-side capacity the Fed is aiming to push demand down to the level where supply is currently constrained by pandemic, war, and climate crises,” noted Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Common Dreams August 26, 2022
• Opinion: Ford’s job cuts are just the beginning of another EV earthquake

  The Economic Policy Institute, a U.S.-based liberal think tank, estimated a loss of 75,000 U.S. automotive jobs by 2030 if, as President Joe Biden envisions, half of all car sales are battery electric vehicles by that year — unless the U.S. subsidizes reshoring of jobs and supports industries critical to electric vehicle production.

  MarketWatch August 26, 2022
• Ford is slashing thousands of jobs as it goes electric. Experts say a tidal wave of layoffs will rock the industry as it undergoes a seismic shift.

  In a September study, the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, said that the US could shed 75,000 auto jobs by 2030 if electric cars rise to 50% of domestic sales. (Today, they account for around 5%.) European automotive suppliers estimate that rapid electrification could cost them 275,000 jobs by 2040, even accounting for new positions that arise making EV parts.

  Business Insider August 26, 2022
• Teacher Pay Penalty Reaches Record High. What’s at Stake?

  The disparity between what teachers are paid and what their peers in other, comparable professions earn has reached an all-time high, according to findings published this month by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

  For decades—indeed, almost every year since the EPI first began documenting the teacher pay penalty in 1996—the pay of teachers has slipped further behind that of their non-teacher counterparts, adjusted for education, experience and demographics.

  In 2020 and 2021, the two years whose data has been newly considered in this most recent EPI report, that gap reached new heights, with teachers earning 23.5 percent less than their professional peers. (The two data sources for this analysis come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

  What that means is that teachers in the United States earn, on average, about 76.5 cents on the dollar compared to similar professionals who have bachelor’s degrees

  EdSurge August 26, 2022
• H-2B visa holders at risk for wage exploitation, EPI says
  • Industries that employ the majority of H-2B visa holders have accounted for nearly $1.8 billion in wage and hour violations during the past two decades, creating an environment that is likely exploitative of migrant employees and U.S. citizens who work beside them, according to an Aug. 18 Economic Policy Institute report. 
  • EPI pointed to more than 180,000 violations between the fiscal years of 2000 and 2021 across a list of seven industries, including amusement; construction; food services; forestry; hotels and motels; janitorial services; and landscaping services. In all, more than 1.6 million employees were owed back wages.
  • EPI said its data represented violations and back wages owed to any employees in the select industries, including U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, H-2B workers and workers of any other immigration status.
  HR Dive August 26, 2022
• Ford slashing 3,000 jobs as it looks to make EV transition

  The open question, Smith said, is whether the major policy shifts embedded in the climate package President Biden signed last week will offset those losses with new jobs. The legislation provides incentives for automakers to move their production lines away from China and other countries and back to the United States. Before the legislation passed, the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank, projected that 75,000 autoworker jobs could be lost by 2030 in the transition to electric cars and trucks without strong federal policies that protect and promote American employment.

   
  The Washington Post August 26, 2022
• Why teachers seem more willing to go on strike

  Teachers pay a ‘wage penalty’

  The Economic Policy Institute used government data to argue that average weekly wages for teachers, when adjusted for inflation, increased about $29 in the 25 years between 1996 and 2021.

  The weekly wages of all other college graduates rose by $445 over the same time period using the same inflation-adjusted figures. See the full argument.

  While teachers do get non-salary compensation, like time off in the summer and health and retirement benefits, they are still paying a “wage penalty” compared with other college-educated workers, according to EPI.
  CNN August 26, 2022