To figure out how much income households need, we used data from the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Family Budget Calculator. EPI estimates expenses by county for households with up to two adults and up to four children. The expenditure categories include housing, transportation, health care, food, childcare, taxes, and other necessities. We modified some of these estimates to account for the actual housing costs and ages of household members reported in 2018 American Community Survey data, the most recent year available when we conducted the analysis.
Joint Center for Housing Studies
January 14, 2021
Some of this is only becoming more obvious, including to myself, in an era when stable, full-time employment is evaporating, and holding on to any job is its own kind of feat. The Economic Policy Institute calculates that the failed political response to the pandemic has left nearly 16 percent of the workforce—26.8 million people—unemployed or employed but losing hours and pay. And having work isn’t necessarily a guarantee against hardship—even before the current recession, one in nine workers received wages too low to get out of poverty, even if they worked full-time hours. But the idea of a dream job is still catnip. There’s a slew of self-help articles advertising tips on how to Land Your Dream Job by the End of the Year or 9 Genuine Steps to Quit Your Job and Fulfill Your Dream. Indeed.com lists info for 25 dream jobs, three-quarters of which have an average national salary of less than $50,000 per year.
The New Republic
January 14, 2021
Unions are legally required to represent all workers in a unionized workplace, whether individual workers are union members or not. According to Margaret Poydock, who focuses on workplace and labor issues at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., right-to-work in practice strains unions by creating the so-called free rider problem: “If you decide not to pay your dues, you can be not [a member of] the union, but you’re still getting all the benefits that the union negotiates over.”
Montana Free Press
January 14, 2021
Last year 8% of Blacks in the state were unemployed, compared to 3.3% of whites, according to 2020 Q1 and Q2 data from the Economic Policy Institute’s most recent report.
Dover Post
January 14, 2021
This increase was described Tuesday as “troubling” by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. “The latest congressional relief bill is an important step toward addressing some of this pain, but it is not at the scale of the problem. I’m hopeful that more relief measures are on the horizon for increasingly desperate workers and their families. Senate Republicans forced the December bill to be far too small,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the EPI.
Market Watch
January 14, 2021
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit policy think tank supported in part by labor unions, more than half of non-union private sector workers are subject to mandatory arbitration agreements. That’s about twice the percentage seen two decades ago.
The Register
January 14, 2021
Agile will also attract highly-skilled engineers to Durango, new residents who will patronize local businesses and invest in the town, the case study said. EIG estimated the company would be able to indirectly add 209 jobs, based on a multiplier tool developed by the Economic Policy Institute.
The Durango Herald
January 14, 2021
For restaurants, the benefit is straightforward—the ability to narrow the pay gap between the front and back of the house. On the worker side, though, it could get dicey. Heidi Shierholz, a scholar at the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the Labor Department under President Obama, told The Hill the ambiguity of “reasonable time” would be difficult to enforce and open a loophole for employers—a point capable of costing tipped workers a collective $700 million a year.
FSR Magazine
January 14, 2021
There are lots of reasons to invest in infrastructure and clean energy, including addressing climate change. But these investments also create jobs, which is why the federal government must also get to work. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a $2 trillion, four-year investment in infrastructure and clean energy would create at least 3.3 million new jobs.
Alliance for American Manufacturing
January 14, 2021