“The state of the labor market is an F,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. “We have fewer jobs than we had at any time during the Great Recession. There is no way you could give this economy a passing grade.”
CBS Moneywatch
September 8, 2020
What most people don’t know is that after that century-long decline, the annual hours we work have risen considerably since the 70s. Data from the Economic Policy Institute show that work hours rose 13% from 1975 to 2016. Though the workweek remained relatively stable over this time, this change reflects an increase of about five additional weeks per year.
In These Times
September 8, 2020
And now, decades later, the United States has lost almost 90,000 factories, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute, nearly 5 million manufacturing jobs, and a wide array of essential supply chains.
Dallas Morning News
September 8, 2020
The U.S. House has passed a bill to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by the end of 2024, which, according to the Economic Policy Institute, would increase wages for 38.6 million adults, 23.8 million full-time workers, 23 million women, and 11.2 million parents and 5.4 million single parents who care for 14.4 million children.
Wilkes Barre Citizens' Voice
September 8, 2020
While the lowest-paid and most vulnerable workers have faced untold challenges during the health and economic crisis, many companies have tried to shield their top executives from paycuts even though CEO pay rose 14% last year, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute. The average CEO now earns 320 times as much as a typical worker, according to the analysis.
Salon
September 8, 2020
Attorney General Dana Nessel is one of the leading state AGs in protecting workers’ rights, according to a new report published by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI) prior to Labor Day.
The economic justice think tank details the more prominent role state attorneys general have taken in labor rights issues since mid-2018 and lists specific ways each has advanced workers’ protections, both on the state and federal level.
Michigan Advance
September 8, 2020
One basic function of government is keeping people safe. Another is enforcing the law. Unfortunately, President Trump’s labor team has barely lifted a finger to help workers.
Enter state attorneys general. In recent years, a number of them have been increasingly involved in workers’ rights, as documented in an Economic Policy Institute and Harvard Labor and Worklife Program report issued last month.
The American Prospect
September 8, 2020
The unemployment rate for Black, Hispanic and Asian workers in New Jersey was well above 15% for the second quarter of 2020, while the rate for white workers was 13%, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Wall Street Journal
September 8, 2020
Building back better starts with one word: unions. According to the Economic Policy Institute, workers earn 11.2% more income when they are represented by a union, compared to their non-unionized peers in the same industries. That wage benefit is even more significant for workers of color. Black union members are paid almost 14% more, and Latinos are paid 20% more, than equivalent workers who don’t have the benefit of a union fighting for them.
Detroit News
September 8, 2020
Suddenly, the people who literally built this country were recast as overpaid and entitled, nevermind that the average CEO-to-employee pay ratio has leaped 940% over the last 40 years, according to a report published by the Economic Policy Institute.
The report also states that CEOs in the country’s top companies make an average of $17.2 million a year, including stock options, for a pay ratio of 278-to-1.
CantonRep.com
September 8, 2020