“We have seen roll-back bills in states across the country, and 2024 is no exception to that,” said Nina Mas, state economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank and research organization, in an interview Tuesday. “There are bills to roll back child labor protections in 11 states alone, and five states have active bills to eliminate work permits or similar forms, so Alabama is really just one of those states.”
According to a report from EPI published in February, 28 states have introduced bills to weaken child labor laws since 2021. Most of them, according to the accompanying graphic in the report, are located throughout the Midwest and along the south.
Alabama Reflector
March 1, 2024
West Virginia’s 7 percent Black unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2023 far exceeded the state’s 4.2 percent clip across all racial groups, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank.
That means Black West Virginians are more likely to be adversely affected by moves state lawmakers are making toward slashing state unemployment benefits.
Governing
March 1, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute found that states where abortion bans take hold have historically had “intentionally constructed” economic policies with weak labor laws in underfunded areas with dysfunctional public services.
Scripps TV
March 1, 2024
“Preemption overall in any state is harmful, but I think that Tennessee and Memphis, it’s been so blatant,” said Jasmine Payne-Patterson, senior state policy strategist at the Economic Policy Institute. “It’s so different than other states, between kicking people out or just having so many levels of preemption. … Tennessee is one of the states that preempts the most on our measures.”
MLK50
March 1, 2024
A study from the Economic Policy Institute, found the merger between Kroger and Albertsons would cause 746,000 grocery store workers across over 50 metropolitan areas to lose a staggering $334 million in wages annually.
Longmont Leader
March 1, 2024
The Washington-based nonprofit Economic Policy Institute recently compared the two states’ economies since the 2010 election of Republican Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Democrat Mark Dayton in Minnesota, two politicians with vastly different policy agendas. Walker and the Wisconsin GOP-led Legislature have pursued a highly conservative agenda centered on cutting taxes, shrinking government and weakening unions.
Capital Times
March 1, 2024
Around “50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers,” the paper said, citing an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.” Moreover, far from stealing jobs from Americans as immigration foes have often claimed, the analysis said immigrant workers took on openings that employers had been struggling to fill otherwise.
Inc.
March 1, 2024
Schools across the country are facing bus driver shortages. A fall report from the Economic Policy Institute found that about 192,400 bus drivers were working in K–12 schools in September 2023, down 15.1% from five years before.
Kentucky Lantern
March 1, 2024
Dubose’s bill follows the trend of state’s loosening child labor protections in an attempt to combat the ongoing labor shortage. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 28 states have introduced or enacted laws weakening child labor protections since 2021.
Cullman Times
March 1, 2024
According to the Economic Policy Institute, many are backed by state affiliates of industry groups like the National Restaurant Association, the Associated Builders and Contractors, Chambers of Commerce, and special interest groups like the Naples-based Foundation for Government Accountability, which has been a driving force behind child labor rollbacks across the country.
Orlando Weekly
March 1, 2024
At the federal level, data clearly show massive corporate tax avoidance – for example, in 2020, 55 of the largest corporations in the U.S. paid $0 in taxes. Information obtained by the Economic Policy Institute from seven states reveals that more than 60% of corporations operating in those seven states pay no state income tax. As it stands, we have no state-level data to know what is happening in Maine.
Portland Press Herald
March 1, 2024
When controlling for age, gender, experience, and other factors, the Economic Policy Institute found that Black employees were paid 14.9% less than white employees.
Business Insider
March 1, 2024
The report, “Policies for states and localities to fight oppressive child labor,” is a joint project of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), in Washington, D.C., and the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative, where Gerstein is the director. The initiative is housed at the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Wisconsin Examiner
March 1, 2024
Another piece of context that can be missing in immigration polling is the influx’s apparently positive impact on the economy. According to The Washington Post, an Economic Policy Institute analysis found that about 50% of the labor market’s strong recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024.
U.S. News & World Report
March 1, 2024
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 22 U.S. states increased their minimum wages on January 1 of this year, raising pay for an estimated 9.9 million workers. As such, operators are looking for ways to get the most out of their labor spend—and for many, that means turning to automation.
Restaurant Business Magazine
March 1, 2024
The outlet cites an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, which shows that half of the labor market’s recent growth can be explained by foreign-born workers over the past year. And before that, the study said, it helped close the labor force gap created by the pandemic.
Latin Times
March 1, 2024
The bills come amid a national move to strip protections even as child labor violations increase, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In the first nine months of 2023, the Washington Post found that three-quarters of these violations came from the food service industry.
Indiana Capital Chronicle
March 1, 2024
9. IMMIGRATION FILES: “The economy is roaring. Immigration is a key reason,” by WaPo’s Rachel Siegel, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Meryl Kornfield: “About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.”
Politico Playbook
March 1, 2024
As states pass bills that weaken established child labor protections, one unintended consequence could be setting up businesses to break federal law, says Terri Gerstein, the director of NYU Wagner Labor Initiative. “What they’re doing is misleading employers in their state, putting them on a path towards federal violations, in addition to really putting kids at risk,” she says.
On Monday, Gerstein released a report, in conjunction with the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank, that encourages states to deter and address child labor violations and strengthen protections for child workers.
Governing Magazine
March 1, 2024
Immigration has boosted the economy with thousands filling jobs otherwise left untouched, according to financial experts cited by The Washington Post.
In 2023, about half of the US job market’s robust growth came from foreign-born workers, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data cited by the Post on Tuesday.
Daily Mail
March 1, 2024
“This agreement…is a very, very big deal,” said Dave Kamper, Senior Strategist at the progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute. “Starbucks Workers United has shown that determined workers, willing to use all the tools of worker power at their disposal…can bring companies to the bargaining table.”
In These Times
March 1, 2024
Because unions raise wages not only for their own members but for non-members as well (as non-union firms are forced to compete with unionized ones for workers), this absolute loss in worker power has been magnified across the entire economy. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that if union density had remained at 1979 levels, the average non-union worker in the mid-2010s would have been earning $2,700 per year more.
defector
March 1, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute reported that the number of K-12 bus drivers at the…[paywall].
Richmond Times-Dispatch
March 1, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released a study that finds the merger would reduce employment options for workers and put downward pressure on their wages. They say 776,000 workers would see an overall loss of $334 million in earnings. That averages out to $450 in annual wages lost per worker.
My Bellingham Now
March 1, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said Florida’s bills are part of a nationwide effort to weaken child labor laws. Florida was the 16th state to introduce bills in the past two years, according to the EPI, a nonpartisan think tank.
Florida Politics
March 1, 2024
It also had larger costs for American democracy, according to a 2012 study from the Economic Policy Institute.
Researchers found that the decline of unions during the latter half of the 20th century had accompanied a rise in economic inequality to levels not seen since before the New Deal.
The Hill
March 1, 2024
The academic consequences associated with missing school are profound. An Economic Policy Institute study estimated that missing just one or two days of school was associated with a statistically significant drop on the 2015 math NAEP exam (the “Nation’s Report Card”).
New York Post
March 1, 2024
That momentum picked up aggressively over the past year. About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.
…
Experts argue that the strength of the U.S. economy has benefited American workers and foreign-born workers alike. Each group accounts for roughly half of the labor market’s impressive year-over-year growth since January 2023, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis that used three-month rolling averages in labor force participation to account for data volatility.
The Washington Post
March 1, 2024
Cites EPI’s child care calculator.
Investopedia
March 1, 2024
Snce the Kroger-Albertsons merger was first announced in 2022, consumer advocates, unions and lawmakers have urged the FTC to investigate the proposed deal and take action to protect consumers and the company’s workers.
The deal could cost workers a total of $334 million each year, an average of $450 per employee, according to a May 2023 policy brief by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning, pro-union think tank.
The Hill
March 1, 2024