Nationally, about 793,000 people applied last week for their state’s unemployment benefits. It’s the 47th consecutive week that those claims were greater than the worst week of the Great Recession, according to economist Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
February 16, 2021
What is more, the investment would pay dividends for school systems. The Economic Policy Institute found that for every $1 invested in capital improvements to education facilities, $1.50 in eventual economic development in the community is generated. A Quarterly Journal of Economics study found that educational advancement, housing prices and school enrollment increases follow suit.
Detroit Free Press
February 16, 2021
“We’ve been talking about this so long that $15, had we gotten there years ago, would have been worth a lot more than $15 in 2025 would be worth,” David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, told Insider.
Business Insider
February 16, 2021
Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Senior Economist Heidi Shierholz, who was Chief Economist at the Department of Labor under President Obama, called CBO’s employment effects of the minimum wage “really out there,” saying “CBO’s employment impacts of the minimum wage from today’s report are about 25% higher than they would have been if they had simply used the methods they themselves used two years ago. What is going ON.”
A cadre of EPI economists and analysts also wrote that they believe “the CBO’s assumptions on the scale of job-loss are just wrong and inappropriately inflated relative to what cutting-edge economics literature would indicate.”
Business Insider
February 16, 2021
A new report suggests those who work on farms still face obstacles when it comes to workplace protections, and some of the Iowa data isn’t pretty.
The nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute examined 15 years of federal enforcement of labor standards within agriculture.
Seventy percent of investigations by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division uncovered violations in this area among employers.
Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Institute, said not only are farmworkers in an industry that comes with safety risks, the numbers showed many are exploited financially as well.
“They’ve also been doing work without being adequately paid for it,” Costa contended. “By any objective measure, farmworkers are some of the lowest paid workers in the entire labor market.”
Public News Service
February 16, 2021
According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, 29 states, plus the District of Columbia, have enacted minimum wages higher than the federal minimum. The highest minimum is $15 an hour, the wage in effect in the District of Columbia. Of the states, Washington has the highest minimum wage, at $13.69 per hour.
The Colorado Springs Business Journal
February 16, 2021
“Income would also shift toward lower-income people and away from higher-income people under the bill,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), during a call with reporters on Monday.
Truthout
February 16, 2021
Heritage Foundation research fellow Joel Griffith and Economic Policy Institute president Thea Lee discussed COVID-19 pandemic relief proposals and the U.S. economy.
C-SPAN Washington Journal
February 16, 2021
PennLive
February 16, 2021
“Unambiguously, [raising pay] makes low-wage workers better off. Even if you accept their job loss numbers,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Shierholz pointed out that no other policy is subject to the kind of litmus test used to evaluate raising the minimum wage, where one drawback (job loss) is equally weighted against an overwhelming array of benefits. “We don’t hold other policies to that standard,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Huffpost
February 16, 2021