Over the last 40 years, incomes of the top 1% of American households have risen by about 160%, according to the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute; those of the bottom 90% by only 26%.
LA Times
January 8, 2021
What’s the solution to that? A strong union movement is the irrefutable answer — especially in the wake of the pandemic. “During the crisis, unionized workers have been able to secure enhanced safety measures, additional premium pay, paid sick time, and a say in the terms of furloughs or work-share arrangements to save jobs,” wrote researchers at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning, Washington, D.C., think tank, highlighting the benefits of a union.
Truthout
January 8, 2021
In the meantime, the latest COVID relief package will have a positive effect on the economy as soon as this month, said Heidi Shierholz, at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Without that stimulus package, over 10 million people would have lost unemployment insurance benefits at the end of December,” Shierholz said. “That would have been a huge drag on the economy that we will not see.”
And, with the Democrats soon to be in charge, Shierholz said there is likely more relief on the way.
Marketplace
January 8, 2021
Economic Policy Institute
“This is a terrifying, but not surprising, way to end President Trump’s term, which has been bolstered by white supremacists who have sought to overturn the election results based on a massive misinformation campaign. Trump should be removed from office for his seditious actions, either by invoking the 25th Amendment or through impeachment.”
Common Dreams
January 8, 2021
As much as $3 trillion could be needed to ensure a swift economic recovery, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The left-leaning think tank noted that the most recent stimulus package omitted funding for state and local governments, which have seen a plunge in tax revenue due to the crisis.
CBS Moneywatch
January 8, 2021
Research by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and Howard University professor Ron Hira, who studies the H-1B, found that in 2019, IT staffing companies such as Infosys, Deloitte and Cognizant had applied for large numbers of H-1B workers at the second-lowest wage levels, while Bay Area technology giants Google, Apple, Cisco and Oracle had a mix of higher and lower levels.
The Mercury News
January 8, 2021
The reluctance of workers to press wage theft cases, usually out of fear of retaliation, is one of the reasons the practice is prevalent, worker advocates said. Between 2013 and 2015 about $50 million of wages were stolen from construction workers in Texas, according to a 2017 study by Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.
Houston Chronicle
January 8, 2021
Progressives say that test is an unreasonably high bar to clear, tougher than the three-part ABC test that has been adopted by some states and which formed the backbone of California’s AB 5. When the DOL rule was first proposed in September—delayed after months of departmental infighting—Rebecca Dixon of the National Employment Law Project said it was “yet another example of the Trump administration’s relentless push to stack the deck against workers at every turn,” and a way to “cheat workers” and avoid paying minimum wage. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, calculated it would cost workers at least $3.7 billion every year, in the form of reduced pay and benefits and more paperwork.
The Counter
January 8, 2021
The $900 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress at the end of December extended the PUA program through at least March but also added a new verification process that forces applicants to reapply in order to reduce fraud.
- That and President Trump’s delay in signing the bill is likely why the number of first-time PUA claims fell from more than 310,000 for the week ending Dec 26 to 161,400 during the week ending Jan. 2, Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, tells Axios.
- That created “uncertainty/confusion about whether PUA would even exist,” she says. “I assume the drop is temporary.”
Axios
January 8, 2021