Media clips

• This chart shows how union membership has declined over the years

  According to a 2021 post from The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), unions can have different positive impacts on workers and others. For instance, the 17 states with the highest union densities “have state minimum wages that are on average 19% higher than the national average and 40% higher than those in low-union-density states.” But it’s not just pay.

  For instance, EPI says that union workers are also more likely to have paid sick days than their peers.
  Business Insider September 9, 2022
• The lasting impact of “right to work” laws
  • When wages are lowered for union workers, it also means that competing non-union employers are able to pay lower wages,” she said. She pointed to research from the Economic Policy Institute that found wages in right-to-work states were 3.1% lower than non-right-to-work states after accounting for differences in the cost of living.
  • Another study found that states with these laws see lower political participation than states without them, as well as reduced support for the Democratic Party specifically.

  Missouri voters overwhelmingly voted against a state version of the law in 2018, and no law has passed since. “It’s become an increasingly unpopular policy,” said Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Axios September 9, 2022
• Inflation may raise your minimum wage—but will it help?

  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.

  Fast Company September 9, 2022
• September 9, 2022
  September 9, 2022
• How Scientology Exploits Foreign Workers The church has used an obscure visa to bring in thousands of laborers — and benefit from their toil.

  “That’s just insane,” says Kent Williams, a litigator known for successfully representing hundreds of workers in a wage-theft lawsuit against Chipotle. “Prisoners make more than that.” How much value Scientology derived from immigrant workers is a matter of conjecture, relying on a significant number of variables: how many hours per week they worked, for how many years, at what nominal pay, and so on. But labor lawyers specializing in wage-theft cases do attempt to make such calculations. Four of these experts (Nicole Hallett, the director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School; Daniel Costa, the director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute; David Cooper, the director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at EPI; and Williams) agreed that based on estimates provided by former Scientologists, CIS data, and tax documents obtained by sources, over the past 30 years Scientology’s use of foreign workers has probably saved the church hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially more than $1 billion.

   
  New York Magazine September 8, 2022
• While Campaigning on “Parental Control,” Top State Officials Champion School Vouchers

  Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have voucher programs (six have educational savings accounts and nineteen have tax-credit scholarships), the oldest being one in Milwaukee. The program there began in 1990 and has expanded around the state, with less than 5 percent of Wisconsin students participating. In 2007, the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, found that “it is still not possible to measure whether voucher students in Milwaukee perform better or worse than their counterparts who remain in public schools.”

  Texas Monthly September 8, 2022
• California school district asks parents to house teachers as costs surge

  Teacher salaries have remained stagnant across the country since 1996, and a report from the Economic Policy Institute shows California teachers were paid 17% less than comparable college-educated workers last year.

  The Hill September 8, 2022
• A COVID-19 testing startup with ‘no history of success’ faces lawsuit over accuracy claims

  While millions of Americans lost jobs during the pandemic, the payouts to leaders at the three publicly traded Utah firms (Domo, Qualtrics and Co-Diagnostics) outpaced the nearly 19% jump in compensation to CEOs during the pandemic, according to research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. 

  USA Today September 8, 2022
• Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to stay $7.25 while neighboring states see increases in January

  “It has not been this low in value since February 1956, since the time Elvis Pressley had his first number one hit, Heartbreak Hotel, February 1956,” said Dave Kamper with the Economic Policy Institute. 

  “There is no place in this country where you can meet the standard of living of an adult and a child on a minimum wage job in this country. None,” Kamper said.    

  “Real wages for workers, which is what a worker’s wages is actually worth in terms of what they can buy, have fallen through the pandemic rather than actually gone up. Indexing minimum wage to inflation is a way to make up for that,” said Kamper. 

   

  CBS September 8, 2022
• State and Local Jobs May Take Until 2026 to Recoup Pandemic Losses

  For Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute, part of the challenge for local governments involves raising the appeal of public-sector employment, whether it’s by enhancing benefits, improving working conditions or boosting salaries.

  Bloomberg September 8, 2022