Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) who has closely studied the USPS for years, shared with me in a recent interview that she too was initially suspicious of the reform bill. Usually broad support “signals something that’s weak or ineffectual, or even bad,” she said. “Not in this case.”
LA Progressive
March 25, 2022
According to an Economic Policy Institute report, preemption is a policy tactic more prevalent in the South and rooted in racist policymaking that prevents people of color and low-income families from expressing their needs. It’s been particularly effective in its use against workers, stopping a raise in the minimum wage in Birmingham; paid sick leave in Dallas; and fair scheduling for retail and foodservice workers in Atlanta.
MLK 50
March 25, 2022
According to the Economic Policy Institute’s Minimum Wage Tracker, only 12 states currently have a minimum wage above $12.50. And as the price of goods and services keeps climbing, even $15 an hour isn’t good enough. EPI says a worker needs to earn at least $14.50 an hour to cover the cost of living in America’s most affordable county (Orangeburg, South Carolina). For cities like San Francisco, New York, and even Seattle, it goes as high as $23.
Fast Company
March 25, 2022
The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that in 1980, stock options were rarely included in CEO compensation. When they were a part of the compensation package, average stock options rarely made up even 20% of the total direct pay for CEOs. But today, according to Lawrence Mischel from the Economic Policy Institute, “Stock-related compensation comprises around 85% of CEO compensation.”
Business Insider
March 25, 2022
Since Takano introduced the 32-Hour Workweek Act in July, several groups, including the Economic Policy Institute and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has close to 100 members, have endorsed the measure, which would reduce the standard workweek by eight hours.
New York Times
March 25, 2022
The practice of a subminimum wage for tipped workers, which allows businesses to pay their workers US$2.13 an hour on the good-faith effort that tips will make up the difference, is flagged as well. “The enforcement of that is very, very sketchy,” Henderson noted. Wage theft affects 17 per cent of low-wage workers, according to an Economic Policy Institute report.
Bloomberg
March 25, 2022
Kyle K. Moore, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, put it this way: “Our current system has so many points of failure that you really have to address them on multiple levels.”
The Center for Public Integrity
March 25, 2022
Ron Hira is an associate professor of political science at Howard University. He is also a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute. He has written widely on high-skilled immigration, offshoring, and the decline of the middle class. Daniel Costa is an attorney and the director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, and is a visiting scholar with the Global Migration Center at the University of California, Davis. He researches and writes about US and global labor migration.
Jacobin
March 25, 2022
There are various analyses of how many people earn less than $15 an hour. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute last year that 22 million people would see a boost in pay if the federal minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour in 2025 under the Raise the Wage Act.
CNN
March 25, 2022