These changes have been criticized by a number of advocacy organizations. “This is absolutely a wage cut for migrants who are H-2A farmworkers,” Daniel Costa, the director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute said. “H-2A farmworkers will not benefit from any natural wage growth that occurs for three years—during what farm owners are saying is a severe labor shortage, which is exactly when you would expect wages to grow in a free market.”
Food & Wine
November 18, 2020
Similarly, the CBO study found a $15 minimum wage would could also mean an increase in pay for 10 million people who already earn slightly more than this hourly wage. David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, noted that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift the pay of 40 million workers and help some people make enough to get out of poverty.
Business Insider
November 18, 2020
Even before the pandemic, schools were facing shortages in both teachers and substitutes in some states. The pandemic has made it even harder to fill substitute vacancies in places like Indiana and Colorado. Additionally, one analysis out of the Economic Policy Institute found the US hasn’t been employing enough people in schools to keep up with enrollment since after the Great Recession.
“As of September 2019, the start of the most recent pre-pandemic school year, local public education jobs were still 60,000 short of their September 2008 level, and they were over 300,000 lower than they would have needed to be to keep up with public school enrollment,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute wrote in the blog post.
Business Insider
November 18, 2020
About 2.2 million people have paid jobs in homes in the United States. Many are employed informally and not covered by labor law protections such as sick pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute think-tank.
Thomson Reuters Foundation News
November 18, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute reports that, as of September, public K-12 education employment is more than half a million jobs below last year’s numbers and 890,000 below where it would have to be to keep up with growth in student enrollment since 2008. About half of those roles are teachers—others include counselors, teaching assistants, roles in special education, food service and more.
Enterprise Ledger
November 18, 2020
Citing Economic Policy Institute multipliers for the construction industry — 5.5 direct jobs and 10.9 indirect jobs created for every $1 million of construction cost — Sullivan estimates that Fidalgo Flats will cost $4 million to build and could result in 22 direct jobs and 44 indirect jobs.
Anacortes American
November 18, 2020
Still, Trump was right that America’s free-trade policies have been a failure. Since 2000, the United States has lost roughly five million manufacturing jobs and more than 91,000 factories. And as the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has reported, America’s ongoing trade deficit with China cost 3.7 million U.S. jobs between 2001 and 2018.
Inside Sources
November 18, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that twenty-five million workers have taken a big hit over the course of the pandemic, a number that includes seven million who’ve experienced cuts in pay and hours, three million who are unemployed but misclassified, and four and a half million who’ve dropped out of the labor force.
Jacobin
November 18, 2020
The measure’s success could endanger independent contractors outside the gig economy, too. That includes janitors and home health aides, who also do not typically qualify for minimum wage, overtime protection, paid leave or unemployment insurance, said Margaret Poydock, a policy associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank. “Prop 22 showed that companies and big corporations can buy their way out of providing protections for workers under the law,” she said.
Washington Post
November 18, 2020
Labor advocates say that Uber’s and Lyft’s plan to take the legislative model and deep pockets to other states amounts to an assault on workers rights for not just gig workers but all independent contractors.
“Prop 22 showed that companies and big corporations can buy their way out of providing protections for workers under the law,” said Margaret Poydock, a policy associate for the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank.
Washington Post
November 18, 2020