There is something wrong when a person working full time on minimum wage doesn’t make enough money to take care of themselves or their family. According to the Economic Policy Institute, women, full time workers, and people over age 20 would be helped most by an increase in the minimum wage. If an increase in the minimum wage is not the answer, we must work together to find an alternative to lift full-time workers out of poverty and address the disparities that exist today.
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
October 27, 2020
During the pandemic, people have had to wait much longer due to the sheer numbers of applicants. In the early months, unemployment websites crashed and people couldn’t get their calls to unemployment offices through. In April, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that millions of people weren’t able to file a UI claim at all.
Money
October 27, 2020
According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, people that start life with little or no wealth are often trapped at the bottom of wealth distribution for their entire lives. When you look at that data broken down by race, it shows more than half of white families end up with more wealth than their parents, while only 23 percent of Black families are able to do the same.
WFTV
October 27, 2020
While the total amount of assets saving in retirement plans is substantial — 401(k) assets totaled $6.3 trillion as of June, according to the Investment Company Institute — the amounts saved by individual vary dramatically. Manny high-income earners, who typically work with financial advisers, have saved hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. However, the median amount of retirement account savings held by families ages 56 to 61 was just $21,000, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Investment News
October 27, 2020
A study by the investment bank Evercore ISI found that by late August of this year, employment rates for workers earning more than $16 per hour were more or less back to pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, employment rates for workers earning less than $16 per hour remained 27% below where they were in February and were falling sharply, creating the K-shape recovery that so many feared. And this is not because the working poor have suddenly decided not to work. According to a July report by the Economic Policy Institute, nearly 12 million workers who lost their job because of the pandemic have no chance of being called back. Their jobs are gone forever.
Justia
October 27, 2020
The economic impact of COVID-19 has left 6.2 million Americans, not counting their dependents, without health coverage, according to an estimate by The Economic Policy Institute. Roughly 90% of Americans with dental insurance are a member of a group plan, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, so it is likely that many people also lost their dental coverage.
Yahoo Finance
October 27, 2020
“The enormous contraction of GDP in the second quarter means any growth in the third quarter is coming off of a significantly smaller base of GDP,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute.
So the jump we will see in Thursday’s data doesn’t mean the economy is out of the woods yet — not even close. If the forecasts are right, economic activity would be about $747 billion per year below its prior peak — meaning, the recovery is far from complete.
CNN Business
October 27, 2020
Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute takes us to school of the value of a college education.
The List TV
October 27, 2020
A May 2020 report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that 60 percent of H-1B positions certified by the DOL in fiscal year 2019 were assigned the two lowest prevailing wage levels, which were “significantly lower” than the local median salaries surveyed for occupations.
“Employers can reap significant savings by selecting the two lowest wage levels instead of the Level 3 median wage or Level 4 above-median wage,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at EPI.
Costa illustrated the following example of software developers in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area prior to the new rule being implemented: Employers hiring at Level 1 pay $75,000 versus the median wage for the job in the region—represented by Level 3 at $117,000. Those hiring at Level 2 pay $96,000.
SHRM
October 26, 2020