“Workers want unions, but a broken system is undermining their efforts to organize at every turn,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “Employers have exploited weaknesses in U.S. labor law, and federal and state policymakers have failed to prevent this from happening.”
…
EPI’s Shierholz said the smaller premium may also owe something to “spillover effects” when wider pay standards set by unions help boost non-union pay. It’s a phenomenon she said played out “in real time” recently in the pay increases for non-unionized autoworkers after strikes by the United Auto Workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis resulted in substantial union pay hikes.
“So the union premium is reduced by the spillover effect, but that’s all good as far as workers are concerned,” Shierholz said.
Reuters
January 24, 2024
The gains in private sector union membership came courtesy of younger workers and people of color, according to an analysis of the BLS data by the Economic Policy Institute.
Huffpost
January 24, 2024
These are just a few of Robb’s greatest hits—see this report from the Economic Policy Institute for a full accounting of the disastrous policies pursued under his leadership.
The New Republic
January 24, 2024
“Workers want unions, but a broken system is undermining their efforts to organize at every turn,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “Employers have exploited weaknesses in U.S. labor law, and federal and state policymakers have failed to prevent this from happening.”
…
EPI’s Shierholz said the smaller premium may also owe something to “spillover effects” when wider pay standards set by unions help boost non-union pay. It’s a phenomenon she said played out “in real time” recently in the pay increases for non-unionized autoworkers after strikes by the United Auto Workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis resulted in substantial union pay hikes.
“So the union premium is reduced by the spillover effect, but that’s all good as far as workers are concerned,” Shierholz said.
Reuters
January 24, 2024
The gains in private sector union membership came courtesy of younger workers and people of color, according to an analysis of the BLS data by the Economic Policy Institute.
Huffpost
January 24, 2024
These are just a few of Robb’s greatest hits—see this report from the Economic Policy Institute for a full accounting of the disastrous policies pursued under his leadership.
The New Republic
January 24, 2024
“Workers want unions, but a broken system is undermining their efforts to organize at every turn,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “Employers have exploited weaknesses in U.S. labor law, and federal and state policymakers have failed to prevent this from happening.”
…
EPI’s Shierholz said the smaller premium may also owe something to “spillover effects” when wider pay standards set by unions help boost non-union pay. It’s a phenomenon she said played out “in real time” recently in the pay increases for non-unionized autoworkers after strikes by the United Auto Workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis resulted in substantial union pay hikes.
“So the union premium is reduced by the spillover effect, but that’s all good as far as workers are concerned,” Shierholz said.
Reuters
January 24, 2024
“Misclassification is a problem that affects many low-paid industries like construction, transportation, home health care,” says Sally Dworak-Fisher, senior staff attorney at NELP. But “people in every occupation at all types of pay levels” can be vulnerable to it, says Samantha Sanders, director of government affairs and advocacy at the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
January 23, 2024
Jennifer Sherer, a director at the Economic Policy Institute, sees a silver lining in the data: People ages 16 to 45 are driving union membership growth and have decades of employment ahead of them.
“That’s not just polling and survey data, but that’s young people going through the very challenging and courageous process of organizing new unions even against the odds,” she said.
KCUR public radio (Kansas City)
January 23, 2024
The gains in union membership in 2023 were driven entirely by workers under the age of 45, says Heidi Shierholz, president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“I think that does point to a shift that may be a more lasting shift… in interest and popularity of unions,” says Shierholz.
…
Shierholz says weaknesses in labor law are responsible for the significant gap between the number of workers who are represented by unions and those who want to be represented by unions but aren’t.
“That gap is labor law not truly protecting workers’ right to organize,” she says, noting that employers face little more than a slap on the wrist for violating that right.
NPR
January 23, 2024
Because of the lack of benefits and overtime pay, independent contractors are often compensated less for doing the same jobs. A typical person working in construction as an independent contractor would make as much as $16,729 less per year in income and benefits compared to what they would as an employee, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, estimated.
Investopedia
January 22, 2024
Separate legislation (HB 49) that would extend the number of hours older teens are allowed to work during the school year, meanwhile, has similarly been backed by lobbying groups like the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, representing industries that “routinely” violate federal labor standards according to policy analyst Nina Mast, who’s tracking proposed child-labor law rollbacks for the Economic Policy Institute.
Orlando Weekly
January 19, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute highlighted common misclassified workers, estimating…[paywall].
Business Insider
January 19, 2024
Cites EPI’s CEO pay data. [Paywall].
Business Insider
January 19, 2024
The national bus driver shortage has improved slightly since the start of the pandemic, but staffing levels have not returned to what they were before. Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows that in September 2023, there were about 192,400 bus drivers working in K–12 schools, about 15 percent less than in September 2019.
PBS Newshour
January 19, 2024
According to a 2019 study from the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute, employers are charged with doing so in more than 40% of all union election campaigns.
The Cap Times
January 19, 2024
In light of existing job opportunities for youth in Florida, critics have questioned the real motives behind the proposed child labor rollback. Florida is one of 19 states that has passed or introduced legislation over the last couple of years seeking to weaken regulations. Most have been backed by trade groups representing industries that “routinely” violate child labor law and other labor standards, said Nina Mast, an analyst for the Economic Policy Institute who’s been tracking child-labor law rollbacks across the country.
Orlando Weekly
January 19, 2024
In his tax letter, Driscoll cited a report from the Economic Policy Institute that CEOs made 399 times as much as a typical worker.
Business Insider
January 19, 2024
Income thresholds in the U.S. for the top 10%, 5% and 1% of earners in 2023 reveal a surprising reality. Entering these high-earning brackets may be more achievable than many assume based on data from an Economic Policy Institute 2021 study.
Benzinga (via Yahoo! Finance)
January 19, 2024
Opinion piece authored by Elise Gould and Josh Bivens.
CNN
January 19, 2024
Features interview with Dave Cooper.
Gray TV
January 19, 2024
Child labor laws vary across states, and recent findings from the Economic Policy Institute reveal alarming trends: violations of child labor laws have surged by 37% in the past year, and proposals to weaken child labor protections are on the rise in multiple states.
Quality Assurance Magazine
January 19, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute’s study of “youth subminimum wages” showed 34 states and DC engaged in practices that paid young workers less than minimum wage and also kept them from protections inherent in minimum wage.
The EPI even found that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act “discriminates against young workers based on their age, student status or occupation.”
Ohio Capital Journal
January 19, 2024
In 2022, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a report on the practice, analyzing 11 often-misclassified jobs. Per the report, if classified incorrectly, “a typical construction worker, as an independent contractor, would lose out on as much as $16,729 per year in income and job benefits compared with what they would have earned as an employee.”
Truthout
January 19, 2024
However, an analysis last year from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute concluded that if the merger proceeds, more than 700,000 grocery workers in 50 U.S. cities would see lower pay, with a collective loss totaling over $330 million.
Fortune
January 19, 2024
CEO compensation levels, the Economic Policy Institute has detailed, have “skyrocketed” some 1,460 percent since 1978.
Inequality.org
January 19, 2024
Richard Rothstein, distinguished fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and a senior fellow (emeritus) at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the author of many books including The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (Liveright, 2017) and co-author of Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law (Liveright, 2023), and Leah Rothstein, community organizer and co-author of Just Action, talk about their books on segregation, and reflect on Dr. King’s legacy.
WNYC Brian Lehrer Show
January 19, 2024
The situation is even worse for nannies, home health aides and other domestic workers: In 2018, only 19% had employer-provided health insurance benefits, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Think Advisor
January 19, 2024
A study from the Economic Policy Institute released in 2022 found that gig workers “often are paid low wages, in some instances less than the minimum wage; they face economic insecurity at high rates; and they routinely report losing earnings because of technical difficulties with digital platforms.”
GeekWire
January 19, 2024