After decades of declining unionization, in the middle of a pandemic, “the share of the workforce that’s represented by a union jumped up, from 11.6 percent to 12.1 percent,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
Shierholz said more than 20 million workers lost their jobs last year, union and non-union alike. But she said union workers “lost fewer jobs than their nonunion counterparts. And so the unionization rate actually rose.”
She said unions successfully negotiated furlough and work-share arrangements to preserve jobs.
NPR Marketplace
January 26, 2021
Advocates have also noted the policy’s potential to cut into racial and gender inequity. In cheering the Raise the Wage Act on Tuesday, the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute said 23% of workers who would benefit from the policy are Black or Latina women.
CNBC
January 26, 2021
Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which played a pivotal role in backing the Fight for $15, sees considerable momentum behind a $15 minimum.
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“A $15 minimum is the single most concrete way to reduce racial inequality, put money in people’s pockets and make material change in people’s lives,” Henry said. The Economic Policy Institute, a progressive thinktank, found that raising the minimum to $15 would help 25% of Black workers, 19.1% of Hispanic workers, 13.1% of White workers and 10.8% of Asian workers.
The Guardian
January 26, 2021
Also impacting the statistics, however, is the fact that COVID-19 hit industries with smaller union presences, such as hospitality and leisure, especially hard. About half of the increase in the unionization rate in 2020 was the result of the pandemic’s concentrated impact on less-unionized job sectors, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. (The other half can be attributed to union workers faring better than nonunion workers in their same industries.)
Time Magazine
January 25, 2021
The Paris News
January 25, 2021
Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss discussed the serious issues in their article published by the Economic Policy Institute titled “COVID-19 and student performance, equity, and U.S. education policy.”
“Research regarding online learning and teaching shows that they [teaching and learning] are effective only if students have consistent access to the internet and computers and if teachers have received targeted training and supports for online instruction.”
Kinston Free Press
January 25, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute said Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is set equal to the federal minimum wage by statute.
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The EPI says 29 states in total have increased the minimum wage, some through legislation, others through ballot initiatives. Ballot initiatives are not part of the Pennsylvania legislative process.
KYW Newsradio
January 25, 2021
“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