Media clips
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By every measure, persistent social and a history of injustices were laid bare in relation to Blacks and other minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic including disparities in health status, access to health care, employment, wages, housing, criminal justice and poverty. All of this left them more susceptible to the virus both economically and physically according to the Economic Policy Institute.
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COVID-19 did not discriminate but the institutional and systemic racial disparities over which the virus spread its funeral pall was ripe for its exploitation. (Courtesy Economic Policy Institute)
Black Voice News July 23, 2021 -
July 23, 2021
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Fact check: Biden makes false claims about Covid-19, auto prices and other subjects at CNN town hall
Facts First: Biden made very clear he wasn’t sure what the real number of workers was, but still the numbers he used were way off, according to his own administration’s previous estimates. Psaki told reporters on July 7 that noncompete agreements affect “over 30 million people” in the private sector. A White House document published on July 9, meanwhile, put the figure at “some 36 to 60 million workers,” citing an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute think tank.
CNN July 23, 2021 -
The average minimum wage worker loses approximately $3,300 per year due to wage theft, according to a survey conducted by the Economic Policy Institute. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment received 550 reports of wage theft in Denver in 2020, according to a city press release, but only 340 were claims of less than $2,000 and therefore were not criminally prosecuted.
Colorado Newsline July 23, 2021 -
The coalition is made up of influential organizations representing a range of interests. Members of the Worker Power Coalition include political organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, MoveOn and the Working Families Party; climate groups like the Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club; and other organizations like Economic Policy Institute. It also has the backing of several major unions like Communications Workers of America and International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT).
Truthout July 23, 2021 -
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee member Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed former U.S. Department of Labor chief economist Heidi Shierholz on the implications of a chart showing parallels between trends in union membership rates and the percentage of income going to the top 10% of earners going back to 1917. Shierholz, now the director of policy at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, had cited the chart in testimony supporting the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions.
Cassidy, who was a medical doctor before entering politics, suggested these trends have more to do with the movement of high-paying manufacturing jobs overseas than legal roadblocks to unionizing, quipping “we contrast between association and causation” in medicine. Shierholz conceded the chart showed a “rough relationship” but insisted workers’ difficulties forming unions under current law have played a key role in rising income inequality.
“Rigorous research that digs in and really gets at causality does show that about a third of the increase in inequality between typical workers and workers at the high end over the last 40 years was due to the decline in unionization,” Shierholz said. “The whole rise in inequality is not due to unionization, but a big chunk of it [is].”
Shierholz was one of four witnesses who testified before the HELP Committee on Thursday during a more than two-hour hearing on the PRO Act, which is pending in the Senate.
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Shortly after Shierholz’s exchange with Cassidy, Sen. Robert Marshall, R-Kan., suggested declining membership has more to do with unions’ failings than gaps in labor law. Marshall asked Obama administration National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce why the government should “restructure law in unions’ favor when unions are failing to make a compelling case?”
Law360 July 23, 2021 -
“The AEWR exists for two main reasons: To prevent farm workers who are recruited from abroad from being underpaid relative to other farm workers in the region where they’re employed, [and] to prevent downward pressure on the wages of farm workers in the United States,” wrote Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, in a 2020 analysis of a proposal to lower H-2A wages. “Lowering the AEWR will put downward pressure on the wages of all farmworkers.”
The Counter July 23, 2021 -
Elise Gould: You think about two different students in the economy, one who has to work a job maybe 30, 40 hours a week. They need that money. Compare that with somebody who can devote their entire being to being a full time student.
Laine Perfas: That’s Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, also in D.C.
Gould: Those sacrifices have a cost on their ability to focus, their ability to be fully present in – in all of their activities.
Christian Science Monitor July 23, 2021 -
In June, leisure and hospitality wages surged even higher, a 7.1% increase from the year prior. But even those wages are not much higher than pre-pandemic levels, tweeted Heidi Shierholz, a former Obama administration economist and the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. Those wages still remain lower than in other industries.
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Shierholz previously told Insider that one solution for addressing the labor shortage could be simply raising the minimum wage, a policy proposal that the president backs, but that some Democrats have shot down.
Business Insider July 23, 2021 -
A new report published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found the $7.25 minimum wage has lost roughly one-fifth of its value since July 2009, after adjusting for inflation.
The value of minimum wage in 2009 would be equivalent to $9.17 per hour today. Minimum wage hit its peak in 1986, according to EPI, as it would be worth $11.12 in today’s dollars.
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“That’s a really remarkable finding, that more than 50 years ago we paid the lowest wage workers in this economy substantially more than what we pay them today,” Ben Zipperer, an economist at EPI, told Newsweek.
“Maybe the minimum wage hasn’t changed, but the cost of living has increased over that period,” Zipperer added. “It’s more expensive to pay rent, it’s more expensive to buy food and it’s more expensive to pay for healthcare.”
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Zipperer noted the United States has the economic capacity to pay employees higher wages but has primarily only done so for those who are already at the top of the wage distribution.
“But for a low-wage worker that essentially means that you can’t afford a decent standard of living,” he said.
He added, “A single adult with no kids is going to need at least a $15 an hour job today in order to afford basic necessities like rent, food, transportation expenses and taxes.”Newsweek July 23, 2021 -
Employment benefits have given workers a little more time and higher expectations to find better jobs. “Workers have seen during the pandemic that when lawmakers choose to step in and act and protect people [via stimulus checks, unemployment benefits, healthcare], work doesn’t have to suck as much. When workers are asked to do tough jobs, they want to be paid more,” David Cooper, senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute said. “For the first time since the late 1990s, low wages workers have the leverage to demand higher pay. The workers who walk out of Burger King are using this to their advantage.”
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While some professionals are quitting because of burnout or existential crises, according to a New York Times article about the phenomenon from April, low wage workers don’t have the savings or other financial cushion to leave the job market for extended periods of time to explore passion projects and travel, Cooper says.
But people are finding better jobs in the same industries, or entirely new ones. Cooper says the expanded social safety net has left workers wanting and expecting more, and has allowed them to spend a little more time out of the workforce looking for the right job. “In general, unemployment benefits give workers the ability to wait for better jobs and better working conditions,” said Cooper. “They’re taking time to pick the right jobs. Those jobs might be closer to their interests, closer to what they studied, jobs that are a career rather than a means to pay the bills.”
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“Flexibility to look for better jobs has been eroded intentionally through policy choices and campaigns to undermine workers’ leverage and ability to expect more from employers,” said Cooper.
VICE July 23, 2021 -
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee member Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed former U.S. Department of Labor chief economist Heidi Shierholz on the implications of a chart showing parallels between trends in union membership rates and the percentage of income going to the top 10% of earners going back to 1917. Shierholz, now the director of policy at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, had cited the chart in testimony supporting the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions.
Cassidy, who was a medical doctor before entering politics, suggested these trends have more to do with the movement of high-paying manufacturing jobs overseas than legal roadblocks to unionizing, quipping “we contrast between association and causation” in medicine. Shierholz conceded the chart showed a “rough relationship” but insisted workers’ difficulties forming unions under current law have played a key role in rising income inequality.
“Rigorous research that digs in and really gets at causality does show that about a third of the increase in inequality between typical workers and workers at the high end over the last 40 years was due to the decline in unionization,” Shierholz said. “The whole rise in inequality is not due to unionization, but a big chunk of it [is].”
Shierholz was one of four witnesses who testified before the HELP Committee on Thursday during a more than two-hour hearing on the PRO Act, which is pending in the Senate.
…
Shortly after Shierholz’s exchange with Cassidy, Sen. Robert Marshall, R-Kan., suggested declining membership has more to do with unions’ failings than gaps in labor law. Marshall asked Obama administration National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce why the government should “restructure law in unions’ favor when unions are failing to make a compelling case?”
Law360 July 23, 2021 -
“The AEWR exists for two main reasons: To prevent farm workers who are recruited from abroad from being underpaid relative to other farm workers in the region where they’re employed, [and] to prevent downward pressure on the wages of farm workers in the United States,” wrote Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, in a 2020 analysis of a proposal to lower H-2A wages. “Lowering the AEWR will put downward pressure on the wages of all farmworkers.”
The Counter July 23, 2021 -
Elise Gould: You think about two different students in the economy, one who has to work a job maybe 30, 40 hours a week. They need that money. Compare that with somebody who can devote their entire being to being a full time student.
Laine Perfas: That’s Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, also in D.C.
Gould: Those sacrifices have a cost on their ability to focus, their ability to be fully present in – in all of their activities.
Christian Science Monitor July 23, 2021 -
In June, leisure and hospitality wages surged even higher, a 7.1% increase from the year prior. But even those wages are not much higher than pre-pandemic levels, tweeted Heidi Shierholz, a former Obama administration economist and the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. Those wages still remain lower than in other industries.
…
Shierholz previously told Insider that one solution for addressing the labor shortage could be simply raising the minimum wage, a policy proposal that the president backs, but that some Democrats have shot down.
Business Insider July 23, 2021 -
A new report published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found the $7.25 minimum wage has lost roughly one-fifth of its value since July 2009, after adjusting for inflation.
The value of minimum wage in 2009 would be equivalent to $9.17 per hour today. Minimum wage hit its peak in 1986, according to EPI, as it would be worth $11.12 in today’s dollars.
…
“That’s a really remarkable finding, that more than 50 years ago we paid the lowest wage workers in this economy substantially more than what we pay them today,” Ben Zipperer, an economist at EPI, told Newsweek.
“Maybe the minimum wage hasn’t changed, but the cost of living has increased over that period,” Zipperer added. “It’s more expensive to pay rent, it’s more expensive to buy food and it’s more expensive to pay for healthcare.”
…
Zipperer noted the United States has the economic capacity to pay employees higher wages but has primarily only done so for those who are already at the top of the wage distribution.
“But for a low-wage worker that essentially means that you can’t afford a decent standard of living,” he said.
He added, “A single adult with no kids is going to need at least a $15 an hour job today in order to afford basic necessities like rent, food, transportation expenses and taxes.”Newsweek July 23, 2021 -
Employment benefits have given workers a little more time and higher expectations to find better jobs. “Workers have seen during the pandemic that when lawmakers choose to step in and act and protect people [via stimulus checks, unemployment benefits, healthcare], work doesn’t have to suck as much. When workers are asked to do tough jobs, they want to be paid more,” David Cooper, senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute said. “For the first time since the late 1990s, low wages workers have the leverage to demand higher pay. The workers who walk out of Burger King are using this to their advantage.”
…
While some professionals are quitting because of burnout or existential crises, according to a New York Times article about the phenomenon from April, low wage workers don’t have the savings or other financial cushion to leave the job market for extended periods of time to explore passion projects and travel, Cooper says.
But people are finding better jobs in the same industries, or entirely new ones. Cooper says the expanded social safety net has left workers wanting and expecting more, and has allowed them to spend a little more time out of the workforce looking for the right job. “In general, unemployment benefits give workers the ability to wait for better jobs and better working conditions,” said Cooper. “They’re taking time to pick the right jobs. Those jobs might be closer to their interests, closer to what they studied, jobs that are a career rather than a means to pay the bills.”
…
“Flexibility to look for better jobs has been eroded intentionally through policy choices and campaigns to undermine workers’ leverage and ability to expect more from employers,” said Cooper.
VICE July 23, 2021 -
In the wake of the mass unemployment caused by the pandemic, several organizations, including the Economic Policy Institute and National Employment Law Project, created a report with unemployed workers outlining reforms needed to fix the widespread issues to unemployment insurance that were exposed by Covid-19.
July 23, 2021 -
“The AEWR exists for two main reasons: To prevent farm workers who are recruited from abroad from being underpaid relative to other farm workers in the region where they’re employed, [and] to prevent downward pressure on the wages of farm workers in the United States,” wrote Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, in a 2020 analysis of a proposal to lower H-2A wages. “Lowering the AEWR will put downward pressure on the wages of all farmworkers.”
The Counter July 23, 2021 -
Elise Gould: You think about two different students in the economy, one who has to work a job maybe 30, 40 hours a week. They need that money. Compare that with somebody who can devote their entire being to being a full time student.
Laine Perfas: That’s Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, also in D.C.
Gould: Those sacrifices have a cost on their ability to focus, their ability to be fully present in – in all of their activities.
Christian Science Monitor July 23, 2021 -
In June, leisure and hospitality wages surged even higher, a 7.1% increase from the year prior. But even those wages are not much higher than pre-pandemic levels, tweeted Heidi Shierholz, a former Obama administration economist and the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. Those wages still remain lower than in other industries.
…
Shierholz previously told Insider that one solution for addressing the labor shortage could be simply raising the minimum wage, a policy proposal that the president backs, but that some Democrats have shot down.
Business Insider July 23, 2021 -
A new report published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found the $7.25 minimum wage has lost roughly one-fifth of its value since July 2009, after adjusting for inflation.
The value of minimum wage in 2009 would be equivalent to $9.17 per hour today. Minimum wage hit its peak in 1986, according to EPI, as it would be worth $11.12 in today’s dollars.
…
“That’s a really remarkable finding, that more than 50 years ago we paid the lowest wage workers in this economy substantially more than what we pay them today,” Ben Zipperer, an economist at EPI, told Newsweek.
“Maybe the minimum wage hasn’t changed, but the cost of living has increased over that period,” Zipperer added. “It’s more expensive to pay rent, it’s more expensive to buy food and it’s more expensive to pay for healthcare.”
…
Zipperer noted the United States has the economic capacity to pay employees higher wages but has primarily only done so for those who are already at the top of the wage distribution.
“But for a low-wage worker that essentially means that you can’t afford a decent standard of living,” he said.
He added, “A single adult with no kids is going to need at least a $15 an hour job today in order to afford basic necessities like rent, food, transportation expenses and taxes.”Newsweek July 23, 2021 -
Employment benefits have given workers a little more time and higher expectations to find better jobs. “Workers have seen during the pandemic that when lawmakers choose to step in and act and protect people [via stimulus checks, unemployment benefits, healthcare], work doesn’t have to suck as much. When workers are asked to do tough jobs, they want to be paid more,” David Cooper, senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute said. “For the first time since the late 1990s, low wages workers have the leverage to demand higher pay. The workers who walk out of Burger King are using this to their advantage.”
…
While some professionals are quitting because of burnout or existential crises, according to a New York Times article about the phenomenon from April, low wage workers don’t have the savings or other financial cushion to leave the job market for extended periods of time to explore passion projects and travel, Cooper says.
But people are finding better jobs in the same industries, or entirely new ones. Cooper says the expanded social safety net has left workers wanting and expecting more, and has allowed them to spend a little more time out of the workforce looking for the right job. “In general, unemployment benefits give workers the ability to wait for better jobs and better working conditions,” said Cooper. “They’re taking time to pick the right jobs. Those jobs might be closer to their interests, closer to what they studied, jobs that are a career rather than a means to pay the bills.”
…
“Flexibility to look for better jobs has been eroded intentionally through policy choices and campaigns to undermine workers’ leverage and ability to expect more from employers,” said Cooper.
VICE July 23, 2021 -
Meanwhile, 2019 analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank created to address the needs of low- and middle-income workers, recognized some economic benefits of Airbnbs but concluded that those benefits do not outweigh the costs to local jurisdictions in the form of tax revenue and potentially higher housing costs for local residents if enough properties for long-term housing were converted to short-term accommodations. The analysis also concluded that those benefiting from short-term rentals were disproportionately white and high-wealth households.
Albany Times Union July 21, 2021 -
By the way: Farmworkers continued to make less in 2020 than workers with even minimal education, the Economic Policy Institute says in an analysis of wage data. Ag workers made $14.62 per hour on average, and H-2A workers made less — $13.68 per hour, writes EPI’s director of Immigration Law and Policy Research, Daniel Costa.
Agri-Pulse July 21, 2021 -
Au pair hours can be difficult to confine to the one-day 10-hour maximum or the 45-hour weekly cap, especially if they’re on call to take care of babies crying all night, said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute.
“When you’re having people come and work 40 to 80 hours a week, I think the Labor Department should be involved,” he said.
Bloomberg Law July 16, 2021 -
Heidi Shierholz / sr. economist and director of policy, economic policy institute) we know that non compete agreements suppress workers wages and so banning them will remove that wage suppressing effect and actually increase workers wages.
CBS News July 16, 2021 -
The Federal Arbitration Act is a 100-year-old law that was initially designed to be a cost effective way for business entities to resolve disputes. A series of Supreme Court decisions beginning in the 1990s expanded its scope. In 1992, just 2 percent of U.S. workers were subject to mandatory arbitration clauses. By 2018, more than 56 percent were, or roughly 60 million workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The 19th July 16, 2021 -
This executive order comes as noncompetes are on the rise across the country, with anywhere between 27% and 46% of all private-sector workers subject to the agreements, according to a 2019 survey by the Economic Policy Institute. Though broadly intended to discourage employees from taking trade secrets along with them when they switch jobs, noncompete clauses are increasingly worked into jobs across the economic scale.
LA Times July 16, 2021 -
Black workers are especially underrepresented in industries and occupations with the fastest growth in pay. Valerie Rawlston Wilson…[Paywall]
USA Today July 16, 2021