“The U.S. is an outlier among advanced economies in its extremes of income and wealth inequality,” says Monique Morrissey, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
Next Avenue
October 17, 2024
A number of mostly Republican-controlled states have weakened child labor protections in recent years and a second Trump administration would likely escalate the deregulatory push, as per plans laid out in Project 2025, according to a report released Wednesday.
The 55-page report, Protecting Children From Dangerous Work, was prepared by Governing for Impact, the Economic Policy Institute, and Child Labor Coalition. It includes harrowing stories of teenagers killed on the job, documents right-wing plans for increased minor involvement in dangerous work, and calls for action by the U.S. Labor Department to strengthen and codify legal protections for workers under age 18.
Common Dreams
October 17, 2024
Between 1979 and 2024, productivity in the U.S. rose 80.9%, while hourly pay grew by only 29.4%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
MoneyWise
October 17, 2024
The bill is supported by SEIU, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Action Center on Race and the Economy, the AFL-CIO, the American Economic Liberties Project, the American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Popular Democracy, the Coalition for Patient-Centered Care, the Communications Workers of America, Community Catalyst, the Economic Policy Institute…
McKnight’s Senior Living
October 15, 2024
The average annual cost of care for two children in North Carolina — an infant and a 4-year-old — was $17,593 in 2020, according to the Economic Policy Institute, an independent nonprofit policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. In comparison, in-state tuition at a university in the UNC system in 2020 was $7,354 a year, and the average annual rent was $10,375.
North Carolina Health News
October 15, 2024
Located just 90 miles to the north, Milwaukee, like Chicago, sits on Lake Michigan and has a vibrant cultural scene. But it also boasts a lower cost of living, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s family budget calculator.
MoneyWise
October 15, 2024
Tax cuts and spending cuts became the Holy Grail of American politics, and the Democrats who opposed them seemed unable to run an economy.
But that belief was not based in reality. In April the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute found that since 1949 the nation’s annual real growth has been 1.2 percentage points higher under Democratic administrations than under Republican administrations (3.79% versus 2.60%), total job growth averages 2.5% annually under Democrats compared to barely over 1% under Republicans, business investment is more than double the pace under Democrats than under Republicans, average rates of inflation are slightly lower under Democrats, and families in the bottom 20% of the economy experience income growth 188% faster under Democrats than under Republicans.
Letters from an American (Heather Cox Richardson)
October 15, 2024
Globalization and trade impacts also hit the Iron Range and rural America disproportionately along educational lines. Americans without college degrees lost nearly $2,000 a year in wages due to trade policies, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Broader research showed, as of 2008, that “international trade tends to make low-skilled workers in the United States worse off — not just temporarily, but on a sustained basis.”
Minnesota Post
October 15, 2024
Back in 1965, the Economic Policy Institute noted last month in its latest annual CEO pay report, the top execs at major U.S. corporations only averaged 21 times what typical American workers earned. Nearly a quarter-century later, in 1989, CEOs were still only averaging 61 times worker pay.
Counterpunch
October 15, 2024
When they vote in November, Missouri voters will decide on Proposition A, which would raise the state’s minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave for all private employees. If passed, the minimum wage would rise from $12.30 to $13.75 by 2025, and reach $15 per hour in 2026. Employers would be required to provide one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the move would mean more money for about 900,000 workers. The group Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages says that boost would help 137,000 parents and, by extension, 338,000 kids in the state.
Truthout
October 15, 2024