Six of the 10 most expensive US metros for families are in California.
Business Insider looked at the monthly costs for households with two adults and two children from the Economic Policy Institute’s “Family Budget Calculator.” EPI assembled data from multiple sources and looked at several kinds of expenses a household may have.
“The Family Budget Calculator is constructed to determine the resources needed to generate a decent standard of living, one in which a family can afford the basic necessities,” a post from EPI said.
Business Insider
February 9, 2024
Additionally, we also included average figures for a single person’s monthly grocery, taking quotes from the Economic Policy Institute. The resulting list is presented in descending order, ranging from the highest cost of living to the lowest cost of living.
Insider Monkey
February 9, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute released a rather frank and somber assessment on the growing school voucher moment in 2023 entitled, State and local experience proves school vouchers are a failed policy that must be opposed. They noted that at least 23 voucher bills were introduced in state houses last year, with universal bills passing. They noted that there is, “growing evidence that voucher programs do not serve students and may deepen educational and economic inequality.”
TheChattanoogan.com
February 9, 2024
Infant care costs $1,117 more per year than in-state tuition for four-year public college, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Fayette Tribune
February 9, 2024
In the absence of significant government investments and without aggressive labor organizing, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that a rise in EVs to 50 percent of domestic auto sales by 2030 could result in losses of roughly seventy-five thousand US jobs.
Jacobin
February 9, 2024
Ben Zipperer, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said minimum wage is one of the most well-researched topics among economic experts nationwide. Most extensive studies find little downside.
“The scare stories don’t really play out in the bulk of careful research on minimum wage,” he said. “You can find studies that say there is a negative effect, but three quarters of studies find little to no employment effect.”
Zipperer said it can also have unexpected benefits.
When minimum wage goes up, businesses experience less turnover because employees aren’t constantly looking for better opportunities, he said. This can save time and money because businesses don’t have to hire and train as many new employees.
“Basically, you end up with employees who have longer tenure and who are more experienced and do better at their job,” he said.
The Virginian-Pilot
February 9, 2024
The data comes from the Keystone Research Center, an organization that researches economic equity issues and has been advocating for an increase in the minimum wage.
The organization analyzed the likely effects of state legislation that would bump Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15, using U.S. Census Bureau data and estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, a national think tank with a similar focus on issues affecting low-income workers.
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 9, 2024
According to a 2020 study by the Economic Policy Institute, a well-funded and high-quality early childhood education system not only provides relief to parents facing immediate financial strains, but can address the significant income loss experienced by those leaving the workforce because child care is just too expensive. Just capping early childhood education costs at 10% of a family’s income would lead to a significant boost in labor force participation.
Kansas City Star
February 9, 2024
Hilary Wething, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said it’s important to consider that more data is needed to fully determine the impact of the new law.
“I would push back against the idea that this is hurting drivers,” she said. “We don’t know that yet.”
GeekWire
February 9, 2024
Renters earning under $30,000 had $310 left over, according to the study, while a single-person household needs about $2,000 to pay for nonhousing needs — even in the most affordable counties, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Sacramento Bee
February 9, 2024
Although the Milwaukee area is known for having a relatively low cost of living, new data shows it’s unaffordable for many families — particularly those with more than one child. See the 2023 cost of living in Milwaukee and how it breaks down by month for different family sizes.
Cites Family Budget Calculator [paywall].
Milwaukee Business Journal
February 9, 2024
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 16.2 million workers in the United States were represented by a union in 2023 — an increase of 191,000 from 2022.
Oshkosh Northwestern
February 9, 2024
The No. 1 drag on personal budgets remains housing. That’s according to the Economic Policy Institute, which recently updated its family budget calculator to reflect 2023 cost data.
Tampa Bay Business Journal
February 9, 2024
In 2022, the top 30 H-1B employers, which included numerous large tech firms and outsourcing and consulting companies, hired more than 34,000 H-1B workers, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. That’s roughly 40 percent of the annual cap.
Inc.
February 9, 2024
According to data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute, underemployment sits slightly below 7 percent – the lowest since the agency began tracking the data in 1990. When Trump left office, underemployment was at more than 14 percent. After a peak in March 2021, there has been a steady decline since.
Al Jazeera
February 9, 2024
By the winter of 2022, though, things were looking up: my pay had increased to a whopping $11 an hour! (Before tax, mind you.) According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, this was pretty much typical. In 2021, 92 percent of Dollar General workers made less than $15 an hour. In other words, starvation wages.
Current Affairs
February 9, 2024
In a 2022 report, the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute said change is needed to the H-2B visa program to protect workers from abuses. “Department of Labor data show that nearly $1.8 billion was stolen from workers employed in the main H-2B industries (which includes both U.S. and migrant workers) between 2000 and 2021,” it reads.
KSL.com
February 9, 2024
Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows average weekly wages for teachers fell nearly 9 percent, adjusted for inflation, from 2021 to 2022, while wages for other college graduates kept pace. That means the pay gap widened: Teachers in Massachusetts now earn more than 20 percent less than workers with similar education levels.
Boston Globe
February 9, 2024
Research from the Economic Policy Institute highlights the extent of the issues:
- If classified as an independent contractor, a typical construction worker loses over $16,729 each year in salary and benefits. That’s compared to their potential earnings and employment rights if they were classified as an employee.
JD Supra
February 9, 2024
The average teacher salary in Virginia was just over $61,000 last year, ranking at No. 22 nationally. The average weekly wage rate for Virginia teachers is the third least competitive rate in the country when compared to other similarly educated professions, according to an Economic Policy Institute report from last year.
Daily Press
February 9, 2024
Few states or municipal areas have raised the minimum wage for workers to the degree that California is poised to do for fast-food employees. Localities typically increase minimum wages by 12% to 15% a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which studies wage increases.
The Wall Street Journal
February 9, 2024
Black unemployment reached a record low of 4.7% in April 2023 and real wages – earnings adjusted for inflation – have risen. Between 2019 and 2022, the last two years of the Trump administration and the first two years of the Biden administration, real wage growth grew the most for workers in the bottom 10th-percentile, according to a March 2023 report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
…
Valerie Wilson, the director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, said part of voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy may come from sticker shock over high prices.
But those feelings, particularly in the Black community, may also be a response to long-standing racial disparities.
“Inequality isn’t a new thing, it hasn’t gone away,” Wilson said.
CNN
February 9, 2024
Renter households with annual incomes below $30,000 had a record-low median residual income of $310 a month in 2022, the Harvard study found. For perspective, a single-person household in even the most affordable counties need about $2,000 a month for non-housing needs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
February 9, 2024
As another sign of dominating employer power, a 2023 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the amount of company profits flowing to employees has been declining for decades.
Forbes
February 9, 2024
Though the uptick in the unemployment rate for Black men is something to monitor, it can be more indicative of an anomaly in December’s low data, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. January’s 5.3% rate comes basically in line with the average 2023 month, while December’s 4.6% was the lowest level seen in the year.
…
“A better economy absolutely can help historically disadvantaged groups more because they’re the ones that are often left out and are slow to recover in weaker times,” Gould said. “Full employment is definitely sort of a requirement for many historically marginalized groups to be able to see positive impact in the labor market, but it’s not the only thing.”
CNBC
February 9, 2024
“There is no other relationship in the labor market that is nearly this consistent and stable,” Valerie Wilson, the director of a program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News.
“Employment equity is essential to racial and economic justice because work is essential,” Wilson added. “It’s people’s ability to provide for themselves and their families.”
ABC News
February 9, 2024
In a 2022 report, the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute said change is needed to the H-2B visa program to protect workers from abuses. “Department of Labor data show that nearly $1.8 billion was stolen from workers employed in the main H-2B industries (which includes both U.S. and migrant workers) between 2000 and 2021,” it reads.
KSL.com
February 5, 2024
Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows average weekly wages for teachers fell nearly 9 percent, adjusted for inflation, from 2021 to 2022, while wages for other college graduates kept pace. That means the pay gap widened: Teachers in Massachusetts now earn more than 20 percent less than workers with similar education levels.
Boston Globe
February 5, 2024