In a 2020 study by the Economic Policy Institute, the teacher wage penalty was shown to have grown from 6 percent in 1996 to 19.2 percent in 2019. The year before, the penalty had been even worse, at 22 percent.
“This is something where there’s been an attack on teachers,” said one author of the study, EPI fellow Lawrence Mishel, during the Policy Matters discussion. “We have not been putting in the resources, and this is something we really need to do to guarantee children have the professionals that they need.”
That lowering came from “widespread strikes and other actions by teachers in 2018 and 2019,” the study stated.
In Ohio, the wage penalty stands at 15.2 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Highland County Press
January 4, 2021
Because Social Security only taxes income up to an annual cap, which is $142,800 in 2021, when people who earn over that amount do better than everyone else more income escapes the Social Security tax as Christian Weller explains. The Economic Policy Institute calculates wages for the top 1% grew 158% since 1979, while wages for the bottom 90% of earners grew only 24%.
Forbes
January 4, 2021
July 2019 findings from the Economic Policy Institute showed more than 33 million American workers would benefit from a federal raise to a $15 minimum wage, including 116,000 workers in New Hampshire.
Seacoast Online
January 4, 2021
The largest share of essential workers is employed in health care and the food and agriculture sectors, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
El Paso Times
January 4, 2021
According to the Economic Policy Institute, “the gender wage gap refers to historically persistent differences between what men and women are paid in the workplace.” In 2019, the average woman earned $0.85 for every dollar a man earned.
Yahoo Finance
January 4, 2021
“This bill is too long, too complicated,” said Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
…
“The most important thing that is not in the stimulus bill is aid to state and local governments,” said Lee. “If they don’t get enough aid from the federal government, they will have to start laying off workers.”
Scripps National News
January 4, 2021
According to research conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, Pennsylvania is one of the states with the most to gain from additional pandemic unemployment assistance. The study found that the programs could actually “create or save 5.1 million jobs” in 2021 by helping “workers and their families keep their heads above water while breathing necessary life into the economic recovery.” Using their model, Pennsylvania’s job share would increase by 5.7% — which equates to 265,000 jobs gained. With the CARES Act set to expire, Pennsylvanians using those programs to make ends meet — will have to look elsewhere.
WHYY
January 4, 2021
Meanwhile, the turnabout in views about a $15 wage base has been head-spinning. Even states with relatively low minimums, like Florida and Virginia, are poised for significant increases in 2021 and headed toward $15, or at least the strong possibility of it, by 2026.
By then, 42% of the U.S. workforce will be covered by $15 minimum wage laws, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
USA Today
January 4, 2021
A study by the Economic Policy Institute concludes that “although Americans are working more productively than ever, the fruits of their labors have primarily accrued to those at the top and corporate profits, especially in recent years. From 1979 to 2018, net productivity rose 69.6 percent, while the hourly pay of typical workers essentially stagnated—increasing only 11.6 percent over 39 years (after adjusting for inflation).”
Forbes
January 4, 2021
Two researchers with the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C., come down on the side of the benefits of wage increases. They wrote that three academic studies published in 2020 did historical analyses of wage increases and concluded that they raised consumer spending in local markets. “Raising the minimum wage directly pushes back against the consumer demand shortfall by providing low-wage workers with money to boost the broader economy,” the Sept. 14 post stated.
Roswell Daily Record
January 4, 2021