“Where workers have been able to act collectively and bargain through their union, they have been able to secure enhanced safety measures, additional premium pay, and paid sick time, during the pandemic,” said Heidi Shierholz, the executive director of policy at the pro-union Economic Policy Institute.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
January 25, 2021
But economists disagree, Emporia resident Jeff Lutes responded on that page while attaching a link to a related article from the website of the Economic Policy Institute.
“The price of goods and services have been going up for the past 12 years – minimum wage has not,” Lutes wrote. “Right now employers can’t find enough bodies to fill the positions they have so what better time?”
Topeka Capital-Journal
January 25, 2021
“I definitely think some measure of student debt forgiveness is a good thing. I see it as basically recompense for a string of bad policy failures,” says Josh Bivens, economist and director of research at the Economic Policy Institute. “Policymakers cut back funding for higher education, and these cutbacks were made up with huge increases in tuition costs, forcing people to take on more debt. Policymakers failed to police diploma-mills and the predatory for-profit sector. And finally, policymakers made decisions that prolonged the recovery from the Great Recession far, far longer than it had to be, making it super-hard for many debt-holders to earn enough reliably to pay off debts.”
He continues, “I think a measure of forgiveness could help undo lots of this damage – I’d personally go higher than $10,000, but it’s a start.”
CNBC
January 25, 2021
According to a 2021 paper by the Economic Policy Institute’s Larry Mishel, “the union wage premium — the percentage-higher wage earned by those covered by a collective bargaining contract — is 13.6 percent overall.” So workers typically are better off if they work in a unionized shop, even if they have to pay a small percentage of their wages as fees to the union.
VOX
January 25, 2021
More workers in Texas stand to benefit than anywhere else because the state is so large and has not adopted a higher pay floor. Over 3.5 million Texans would directly benefit from a $15 minimum wage by 2025, according to a 2019 study by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington.
Dallas Morning News
January 25, 2021
“It is perfectly reasonable and necessary to start with a strong statement of intent from the administration, and it sounds like that is how they will use the executive orders — as ammunition in the battles to come,” said Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning thinktank.
Bloomberg
January 25, 2021
Before joining the Biden Administration, Jones had extensive experience in economics and research. In her prior role, she was the managing director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative and the Policy & Research Director at The Hub Project. Before The Hub, Jones was an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute until 2018. She was also a research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and an economist at the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
According to EPI, Jones’ focus areas as an economist include: racial inequality, job quality, unemployment and unions.
The Moguldom Nation
January 25, 2021
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute and Local Solutions Support Center examined the extent to which state preemption of local policies (such as how to fund police, which the governor’s proposal zeroes in on) disenfranchises people of color, women and workers across the south. Lawmakers in Tallahassee introduce preemption bills frequently, though perhaps none as brazenly punitive and racist as Gov. DeSantis’ current proposal. The governor is a big fan of overturning local policies he doesn’t like — even if they’re policies put in place to protect peoples’ lives, such as local mask ordinances.
Sun Sentinel
January 25, 2021
Both Lyft and Uber have consistently cut drivers’ pay over the years. About a decade ago, when the companies first started out, drivers could reportedly expect to make roughly $20 per hour after expenses. Now that number is believed to have dropped by half. According to a 2019 study by the Economic Policy Institute, Uber drivers make around $9 per hour. Uber has disputed those findings. Both Lyft and Uber went public in 2019, but neither has yet made a profit.
CNET
January 25, 2021
The “essential workers” who are dying or going without pay so they can quarantine were already severely underpaid when the pandemic began, particularly those in the food industry. In 2019, the median wage for food and agricultural workers, for example, was just $13.12, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, just 8% of workers in this sector were represented by unions.
In These Times
January 25, 2021