Media clips

• For Sen. Sherrod Brown, ‘dignity of work’ is essential to life

  Brown, Walsh, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Race, Ethnicity and the Economy Program at the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, hit those themes in their interviews. Brown plans to pursue them legislatively if he returns to the panel’s top job after the November election, assuming Democrats hold the Senate this fall.

  Walsh made many of the same points. Both EPI’s Wilson and Walsh, a Laborers Local 223 member, emphasized such measures must reach those who have been left out and left behind, even in the current fast recovery from the coronavirus-caused depression.

  The anti-coronavirus laws Biden, Brown and Walsh pushed through “create a pathway to middle-class jobs, especially for workers of color” and people with disabilities, the Labor Secretary said. They need it, Wilson added.

  And DOL now will award job creation grants “and make sure we measure the outcomes” for those hardest-hit workers, the secretary promised.

  The worst damage from the pandemic was to Black woman workers, Wilson elaborated. They got hit two ways. Many of the occupations they were forced into, and which already were low-paying, such as home health care and restaurant servers, suffered the worst job losses. And even if jobs remained, the pandemic-caused national closure of schools forced thousands of working women to reluctantly quit, to take care of their own kids.

  “This continues to be a problem and a challenge,” Wilson said of the future facing those working women. “And it’s due to the larger structural problems” in the economy and society, she added—a polite way, though she didn’t say so, of endemic structural racism.

  People's Weekly World September 9, 2022
• What the number of involuntary part-time workers tells us about the economy

  The measure of involuntary part-time employment gives us a sense of how much slack or unmet potential is in the labor market, per Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

  “When that number is lower” — like it’s been in the last couple of years — “it means that there are more opportunities and fewer people are scrambling to get additional hours,” Gould said.

  That’s good news for workers, who have lots of options and additional leverage vis-a-vis employers, Gould said.

  Marketplace September 9, 2022
• Transcript: Future of Work: Economic Mobility
  Washington Post deputy business editor Damian Paletta speaks with 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, about the economic drivers and disparities that impact mobility in the labor market. Conversation recorded on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.

  See article for full transcript of Valerie’s comments.

  The Washington Post September 9, 2022
• 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