Relying on customers to pay the bulk of tipped workers’ wages exposes workers to tremendous instability of income, as pay can vary dramatically day-to-day and week-to-week. Employers are legally required to ensure that on a weekly basis tips (the “tip credit”) cover the gap between the tipped minimum wage and the regular minimum wage.
If they do not, employers are responsible for making up the difference. In practice, this requirement is exceptionally difficult to enforce. As a result, tipped workers — who are already paid low wages — are particularly vulnerable to wage theft.
From low pay to high poverty rates, to wage theft, sexual harassment, and workplace discrimination, the injustices tipped workers face are not equally shared across demographic groups but are concentrated among workers of color and women.
Inequality.org
August 20, 2024
Mandatory arbitration is now the norm in corporate America, The Post has reported. Because a majority of nonunion jobs in the country require arbitration, 60 million workers can’t sue in court, according to a 2018 report from the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
August 20, 2024
It’s an industry that’s seeing less and less action. According to the Economic Policy Institute, there were more than 192,000 bus drivers across the country in 2023. That’s down more than 15% from 2019 and nearly 100,000 from a decade before.
WVLT-TV
August 20, 2024
Nearly 30 percent of US workers, roughly 44 million people, make less than $17 per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Independent
August 20, 2024
Michigan and Ohio are both relatively expensive places to raise children compared to the fastest growing states in the U.S. The average cost for infant care in Michigan is $10,881 or $905 per month, according to the Washington, D.C., think tank Economic Policy Institute. Infant care for one child in the state accounts for 19% of a median family’s income. Infant care costs $9,697 in Ohio, or about $808 per month.
Crain's Detroit Business
August 20, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute found that states with voucher programs spent $2,800 less per student than those without in 2021.
WKYT
August 20, 2024
Stunning stat: Fewer than 1% of agricultural employers are investigated annually, but WHD finds wage and hour violations in 70% of its investigations, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Axios
August 20, 2024
The liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute has also argued that the merger would reduce the number of outside employment options available to workers, lowering grocery store workers’ annual wages by a total of $334 million — about a $450 loss in annual wages per worker.
Dayton Daily News
August 20, 2024
Though Economic Policy Institute’s class of 2024 report notes that young high-school graduates experienced a “faster rebound” in job prospects and strong wage growth through the pandemic recovery, many young people are grappling with jobs that pay low wages or have inconsistent scheduling, an affordable housing crisis, and student debt. These crises, among others, have shaped coming of age for young people, bringing up questions of what it means to support people during a transitional period of life.
Dame Magazine
August 20, 2024
Fiscal Times
August 20, 2024