Media clips

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• Biden aprobará una orden ejecutiva para ayudar a los trabajadores a mejorar su empleo

  Un análisis realizado en 2019 por el liberal Economic Policy Institute estimó que entre 36 y 60 millones de trabajadores podrían estar sujetos a acuerdos de no competencia.

  Telemundo July 9, 2021
• Activists want policymakers to reimagine unemployment program, which typically serves only a fraction of the jobless

  Mason’s experience is one of the reasons advocates are calling on policymakers to reimagine the unemployment system. In a new report, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is calling for setting minimum federal standards to replace wildly divergent levels of benefits from state to state, tying the term of benefits programs to the economic conditions on the ground instead of relying on Congress and expanding eligibility in a system with a long list of reasons for rejecting people.

  EPI say state-level unemployment programs are obsolete and riddled with exclusions. Absent federal intervention that temporarily expanded eligibility during the pandemic, less than one-third of jobless people in the U.S. received unemployment benefits in 2019.

  Nevada Independent July 9, 2021
• Labor shortage? Wage data sends mixed signals.

  But, “there really isn’t any evidence of widespread labor shortage,” said Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute.

  If there were, Wilson said, employers would be jacking up wages across the board to entice unemployed workers. Instead, there are some pockets of wage acceleration, “in leisure and hospitality. A big boost in those wages is the fact that they’re getting more tips now because more people are coming to those restaurants in person.”

  Marketplace July 9, 2021
• There’s no labor shortage — just not enough good jobs

  “Nothing about this is going to be permanent,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  LA Times July 9, 2021
• Biden Moves To Restrict Noncompete Agreements, Saying They’re Bad For Workers

  The White House estimates that noncompete agreements are used by roughly half of private-sector businesses for at least some of their employees, affecting anywhere between 36 million and 60 million workers. The numbers come from a 2019 report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which surveyed 634 employers.

  The report found that while businesses with well-paid, highly educated workers are more likely to use noncompetes, the agreements were not uncommon in sectors dominated by low-wage workers. Almost 30% of establishments offering an average hourly wage below $13 require noncompetes for all their workers, the survey found.

  Famously, the sandwich chain Jimmy John’s agreed to stop using noncompetes in 2016 after being sued in New York and Illinois. The chain had prohibited its sandwich-makers and drivers from working for another sandwich shop within a 3-mile radius of any Jimmy John’s in the country.

  Noncompetes are still fairly common in construction, manufacturing and retail, the EPI survey found. And workers bound by them often enter jobs unaware of the requirement. Almost a third of businesses surveyed said they ask new employees to sign the agreements after they’ve accepted the job, often on their first day of work.

  NPR July 9, 2021
• Biden aprobará una orden ejecutiva para ayudar a los trabajadores a mejorar su empleo

  Un análisis realizado en 2019 por el liberal Economic Policy Institute estimó que entre 36 y 60 millones de trabajadores podrían estar sujetos a acuerdos de no competencia.

  Telemundo July 9, 2021
• Activists want policymakers to reimagine unemployment program, which typically serves only a fraction of the jobless

  Mason’s experience is one of the reasons advocates are calling on policymakers to reimagine the unemployment system. In a new report, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is calling for setting minimum federal standards to replace wildly divergent levels of benefits from state to state, tying the term of benefits programs to the economic conditions on the ground instead of relying on Congress and expanding eligibility in a system with a long list of reasons for rejecting people.

  EPI say state-level unemployment programs are obsolete and riddled with exclusions. Absent federal intervention that temporarily expanded eligibility during the pandemic, less than one-third of jobless people in the U.S. received unemployment benefits in 2019.

  Nevada Independent July 9, 2021
• Labor shortage? Wage data sends mixed signals.

  But, “there really isn’t any evidence of widespread labor shortage,” said Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute.

  If there were, Wilson said, employers would be jacking up wages across the board to entice unemployed workers. Instead, there are some pockets of wage acceleration, “in leisure and hospitality. A big boost in those wages is the fact that they’re getting more tips now because more people are coming to those restaurants in person.”

  Marketplace July 9, 2021
• There’s no labor shortage — just not enough good jobs

  “Nothing about this is going to be permanent,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  LA Times July 9, 2021
• Biden Moves To Restrict Noncompete Agreements, Saying They’re Bad For Workers

  The White House estimates that noncompete agreements are used by roughly half of private-sector businesses for at least some of their employees, affecting anywhere between 36 million and 60 million workers. The numbers come from a 2019 report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which surveyed 634 employers.

  The report found that while businesses with well-paid, highly educated workers are more likely to use noncompetes, the agreements were not uncommon in sectors dominated by low-wage workers. Almost 30% of establishments offering an average hourly wage below $13 require noncompetes for all their workers, the survey found.

  Famously, the sandwich chain Jimmy John’s agreed to stop using noncompetes in 2016 after being sued in New York and Illinois. The chain had prohibited its sandwich-makers and drivers from working for another sandwich shop within a 3-mile radius of any Jimmy John’s in the country.

  Noncompetes are still fairly common in construction, manufacturing and retail, the EPI survey found. And workers bound by them often enter jobs unaware of the requirement. Almost a third of businesses surveyed said they ask new employees to sign the agreements after they’ve accepted the job, often on their first day of work.

  NPR July 9, 2021