Thus, the effect of the inaccurate titles has been to bury a story about massive wage theft. Wage theft is a massive problem in the United States. A 2017 study from the Economic Policy Institute across ten U.S. states found that 2.4 million minimum wage workers were being defrauded out of an average of $64 per week, equating to $8 billion annual losses. For many, their employer is far more likely to steal from them than a masked robber. Yet this is rarely the sort of violation that “tough on crime” politicians have in mind when they deploy that rhetoric. And when the public thinks of crime, wage theft is rarely high on the list, thanks, in no small part, to how the media downplays corporate crime where the rich steal from the poor.Mint
Mint Press News
February 3, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said a $15 minimum wage would lower expenditures on public-assistance programs by between $13.4 billion and $31 billion annually, in the form of fewer tax credits and less nutrition assistance. Those effects are why some Democrats say a minimum-wage increase could advance through a process known as reconciliation, requiring just a simple majority in the Senate.
Fox Business
February 3, 2021
If this change takes place, it’s estimated that nearly 32 million workers will see an increase in their pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The majority of these workers, according to EPI data, will be women and people of color. Right now, 59% of workers who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage are women, with nearly one in four of these women being Latina or Black. African Americans make up 31% of the workforce that would benefit from a minimum wage increase and Latinos make up 26%, reports EPI.
CNBC
February 3, 2021
KALW San Francisco
February 3, 2021
Additionally, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, argues that a $15 federal minimum wage would decrease dependence on federal welfare programs by at least $13 billion annually.
Reason
February 3, 2021
“I am not often optimistic,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. “But I am optimistic now.”
The Associated Press
February 3, 2021
But as recent estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, the Brookings Institute, and Groundwork Collaborative find, the economy will continue to struggle in the next two years without a substantial spending package.
Roosevelt Institute
February 3, 2021
The coronavirus pandemic has devastated the hospitality industry, including hotels and those who work in them.
Many who have been impacted are Black and Brown women. Before the pandemic, 14.6% of all Latina workers in the U.S. worked in the hospitality sector, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
WTTW
February 3, 2021