For factual but dense reading go to “50 reasons the Trump administration is bad for workers” by the Economic Policy Institute, freely available on the web.
Moscow-Pullman Daily News
February 16, 2021
Black workers, especially, are overrepresented in essential jobs. Even though they represent about 12 percent of the total U.S. workforce, Black people hold roughly 14 percent of grocery store jobs, 26 percent of public transit positions, 18 percent of postal service jobs, 17.5 percent of health-care positions, and 19 percent of roles in child-care and social services, according to a 2020 report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Shape Magazine
February 16, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a study that is already two years old, showing that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) pay for the top 350 firms in the country had grown by more than 1000% from 1978 to 2018.
What is more incredible is that the “bootstraps to riches” story is more and more a farce. The ratio of pay for a CEO to the average worker in 1965 was 20/1, meaning if an average worker was making $10,000, the average CEO was making $200,000. Definitely a disparity, but not crazy.
Huron Plainsman
February 16, 2021
Some economists took umbrage with that number, and how the CBO came to that projection.
“We believe that 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,” The Economic Policy Institute wrote in a blog post on the report. “The median employment effect of the minimum wage across studies of low-wage workers is essentially zero, according to a 2019 review of the evidence.”
Business Insider
February 16, 2021
“When she looks at policy that impacts workers, it’s not just looking at overall effects, it’s looking at what are going to be the distributional effects,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the Economic Policy Institute. “What’s going to be the impact on racial equity? What’s going to be the impact on gender equity? What’s going to be the impact on the intersection of those two things?”
Bloomberg Law
February 16, 2021
For those on strike on Tuesday, $15 an hour is an urgent ask. The raise would increase the incomes of 32 million workers, including 59% percent of working families with incomes under the poverty line, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Nearly one third of all Black workers would receive a raise, and one out of four workers who would benefit would be a Black or Latina woman.
Fast Company
February 16, 2021
Max B. Sawicky is an economist and writer in the wilds of Virginia. He has worked at the Government Accountability Office and the Economic Policy Institute.
Jacobin
February 16, 2021
Detroit News
February 16, 2021
Other economists have disputed the CBO’s job-loss predictions – the Economic Policy Institute called them “wrong, and inappropriately inflated”. The long-running debate about the real cost of raising the minimum age will no doubt continue. What is certain is that Biden will face enormous political blowback if his campaign promise to raise the minimum wage falls so early in his presidency – a promise that during his campaign he argued was central to his plans to address racial inequality.
The Guardian
February 16, 2021
Undeniably, many older Americans cannot afford to retire. This also contributes to the aging workforce – the average 56- to 61-year-old has savings of just $163,577. This, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
401k TV
February 16, 2021