Inflation is on the rise, and increasing the minimum wage can help to reduce economic inequality, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Axios
January 6, 2023
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that more than 8 million workers got a pay bump. That’s certainly welcome during these times of elevated inflation. Thing is, wages have been going up in this tight labor market — around 5% over the past year. So how much do hikes in the minimum wage matter?
Marketplace
January 6, 2023
As a result of the recent high inflation, minimum wage increases in states where cost of living is taken into consideration were greater than in years past, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Those include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington state.
NPR
January 6, 2023
Raising the minimum wage would not lead to as fast or drastic an improvement, but a 2019 Congressional Budget Office analysis found that increasing the amount to $15 an hour would lift more than 500,000 children from poverty. And the Economic Policy Institute estimated in 2021 that if Congress passed a $15 minimum wage increase by 2025, up to 3.7 million people wouldn’t have to live in poverty – 1.3 million of those being children.
The Miami Times
January 6, 2023
Policy Matters had the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, analyze how the latest minimum wage increase in Ohio would impact low-wage workers.
The analysis estimates that:
- 188,300 Ohioans now paid less than $10.10 will see an increase
- 278,000 workers currently paid a little more than the new minimum will likely get a raise as employers adjust pay scales.
- Two-thirds of workers benefiting from the minimum wage increase are over 20.
Signal Cleveland
January 6, 2023
A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that AAPI workers have a higher unemployment rate than White workers but a lower unemployment rate than Black and Hispanic workers in the second quarter of 2022.
AsAm News
January 6, 2023
As of Jan. 1, 2023, 23 states and Washington DC have raised their minimum wage, according to the think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The hikes will affect approximately 8.4 million workers, increasing wages by more than $5 billion.
Quartz
January 6, 2023
Nearly two dozen states rang in the new year with hourly minimum wage increases, boosting paychecks for millions of U.S. workers.
The pay raises are now in effect for 8.4 million workers across 23 states, set in motion by previously passed legislation, ballot measure or as annual cost of living adjustments, according to a data analysis by the nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute. Twenty-seven cities and counties also bumped up their minimum wages on Jan. 1, and four more states are hiking minimum wages later this year, adding to the number of Americans expected to see higher earnings.
Money Magazine
January 6, 2023
A new Economic Policy Institute report reaffirms that the post-pandemic teacher shortage is both widespread and severe in schools serving students of color or from low-income families. The report warns: “The shortage is not a function of an inadequate number of qualified teachers in the U.S. economy. Simply, there are too few qualified teachers willing to work at current compensation levels given the increasingly stressful environment facing teachers.”
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
January 6, 2023
By January 1, hourly minimum wages in 23 states will rise as part of previously scheduled efforts to reach $15 an hour or to account for cost-of-living changes. The increases account for more than $5 billion in pay boosts for an estimated 8.4 million workers, the Economic Policy Institute estimates.
Additionally, nearly 30 cities and counties across the US will increase their minimum wage, according to the EPI, a left-leaning think tank.
“The fact that there’s high inflation really just underscores how necessary these minimum wage increases are for workers,” said Sebastian Martinez Hickey, a research assistant at the EPI. “Even before the pandemic, there was no county in the United States where you could affordably live as a single adult at $15 an hour.”
CNN Business
January 6, 2023