The Obama Labor Department tried to fix all this. It made a practical decision to leave intact the dog’s breakfast that Bush had made of the duties test but doubled the wage ceiling from $23,660 to $47,476. If you earned less than $47,476, it didn’t matter what your boss said your duties were, he owed you overtime whenever you worked more than 40 hours. In future years the ceiling would be “indexed” to inflation, thereby preventing another post-1975 slide. The Obama rule expanded overtime coverage from 7 percent of workers to 23 percent, according to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute.
The New Republic
February 4, 2022
The Economic Policy Institute says in 33 states, day care for a 1-year-old costs more than in-state college tuition.
Poynter
February 4, 2022
The child care crunch hits new parents particularly hard, because few day care centers accept infants younger than 6 weeks. Infant care is staggeringly expensive. Wisconsin ranks 20th among states and the District of Columbia for most expensive infant care — with an average annual cost of nearly $12,600, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A minimum wage worker in Wisconsin would need to work full time for 43 weeks to pay that bill.
Wisconsin Watch
February 4, 2022
The child care crunch hits new parents particularly hard, because few day care centers accept infants younger than 6 weeks. Infant care is staggeringly expensive. Wisconsin ranks 20th among states and the District of Columbia for most expensive infant care — with an average annual cost of nearly $12,600, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A minimum wage worker in Wisconsin would need to work full time for 43 weeks to pay that bill.
Wisconsin Watch
February 4, 2022
The high quit rate for US workers can be attributed to employees moving on to higher paid jobs with better benefits – not simply leaving their roles to follow passions or start afresh. White House economists are stressing that what has been termed the “Great Resignation” is actually the “Great Upgrade”, as workers are staying in the labour market and looking for positions where they can provide for their families. President Joe Biden was keen to point out US unemployment has fallen below 4% for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, while hiring rates are surpassing quit rates, particularly for lower-wage workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Curation
February 3, 2022
“Teachers don’t go into their occupation to get rich,” said Lawrence Mishel, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute, and one of authors of that study. “But they do have some expectation of being able to provide for the family and have a house and send their own kids to college. And I think that’s exceedingly difficult.”
Marketplace
February 2, 2022
according to a 2019 report from the Economic Policy Institute. In the last 10 years, the salary of teachers in Texas has stayed about…(paywall).
San Antonio News-Express
January 28, 2022
Overall, the Economic Policy Institutes calculates, major U.S. corporate CEOs averaged 351 times typical worker pay in 2020. In 1965, by comparison, CEOs pocketed just over 20 times typical worker pay. The gap between U.S. worker and top corporate executive compensation has essentially multiplied over fifteen-fold since the mid-20th century.
Inequality.org
January 28, 2022
New data from the Economic Policy Institute found that increased price inflation was caused by a global supply chain crisis that focuses on durable goods instead of face-to-face services.
Next City
January 28, 2022
It’s hard to tell how many workers will see their paychecks grow, considering the current volatile job market, says Julia Wolfe, a state economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute. But roughly 39 million people — 28% of the workforce — earned less than $15 dollars an hour in 2019, before the pandemic hit.
The Center for Public Integrity
January 28, 2022