See how much you could be earning as a working woman in a more equal society by using the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) gender pay calculator. (calculator embedded)
Black Enterprise | April 11, 2018
1/ While the women in the US made 82 cents to every dollar men made last year, the discrepancy in pay is actually much larger for women of color. According to the Economic policy institute, black women are paid about 65% of what white men are paid and Hispanic women less than 60%. The gender wage gap is smallest between white men and Asian women, who still make $2.27 less per hour than white men.
Global Citizens | April 11, 2018
Economists: Many warn that a balanced budget amendment could foolishly limit the government’s ability to respond to economic downturns or crises. “Putting aside for a moment the chutzpah of House Republicans trying to pass a balanced budget amendment (BBA) just a few months removed from their passage of a $1.5 trillion tax cut that went largely to the richest households and big corporations, the simple fact is that the economic consequences of a balanced budget amendment range from extremely bad to catastrophic,” writes Budget Analyst Hunter Blair of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “The reason for this is that a BBA would amplify any negative economic shock to the economy and would thereby turn run-of-the-mill recessions into disasters.”
The Fiscal Times | April 11, 2018
Daily Kos | April 11, 2018
A new “economic snapshot” from experts at the Economic Policy Institute makes clear why public school teachers — especially in states like West Virginia, Oklahoma and North Carolina — are ticked off about their pay. Here is an excerpt and the graph that sums things up: (repost of the Snapshot)
The Progressive Pulse | April 10, 2018
The minimum wage in 1968, after being adjusted for inflation, would be $11.62 in today’s dollars. But today’s federal minimum wage is just $7.25. That’s losing ground. In 1968, CEOs made just 20 times the salary of their average worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Today, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, it’s over 300 times. And while the top 1% of income earners’ share of the national income has nearly doubled since 1968, the number of Americans in poverty has increased by 60%.
CNN | April 10, 2018
According to the Economic Policy Institute: “While April 10th is the overall Equal Pay Day, the gaps for women of color are even larger. As compared to white men, women of color have to work even further into 2018 to make up for the wage deficit they experienced in 2017. Black women’s equal pay day is August 7th, Native American women’s equal pay day is September 27th, and Latina equal pay day doesn’t come until November 1st, almost an entire second year of working to equal typical white male wages in 2017.” (Includes EPD graphic)
UFCW | April 10, 2018
While the gender wage gap may be smaller now than it was some 50 years ago, the numbers show we’re not seeing steady progress. According to the Economic Policy Institute, progress in closing the wage gap stalled in the mid-1990s, and there’s no reason to believe it will go away on its own.
Bustle | April 10, 2018
At this point, we still don’t know for sure how much, cautions Jessica Schieder, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute. We know it plays some role in women’s pay disparity, but it’s far from the only factor. In order to reach pay equality, we are going to have to also eradicate (conscious and unconscious) gender bias, make family leave fair and accessible, and fix the unequal division of labor at home. But even if sexual harassment is just one cause of the larger issue of gender inequality reflected by the magic mirror that is the wage gap, it’s nonetheless one we must contend with. At the end of the day, if you have a bedbug problem, you have to move past just lamenting the bites — you’ve got to get rid of every last one of the bugs.
Refinery29 | April 10, 2018
Separate research by the Economic Policy Institute found that on average last year, women were paid 22 percent less than men, after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age and location. The institute’s researchers argue the gaps can’t be explained away by saying women choose to work in low-paying jobs or that they need to pursue more advanced eduction. Women are paid less than male counterparts in almost every job category, even occupations traditionally held by women, according to the institute. The institute’s research also showed women losing ground on pay parity in Maryland. Its analysis of median wages showed women earned 87.6 percent of men’s wages in 2016 but only 84.2 percent last year. “You see a divergence,” which on the state level can result from local economic effects or shifts in job sectors, said Jessica Schieder, a research assistant. Nationally, she said, “we have continued to see some progress, including over the last year.”
The Baltimore Sun | April 10, 2018
VII. Dramatically expand Social Security (Valerie Wilson, Economic Policy Institute);
The Washington Post | April 9, 2018
In return for subsidies, local governments are promised an increase in jobs and economic prosperity. But that doesn’t always happen. A 2018 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that the overall employment rates don’t change when Amazon opens a new warehouse in a city. Amazon, which has opened fulfillment centers in 25 states, disputes the group’s findings.
Business Insider | April 9, 2018
Images of Oklahoma teachers in the streets demanding pay raises and education funding, and of hotel workers and Hollywood celebrities fighting sexual harassment in the workplace may have cheered labor advocates. But a new study, released today by the Economic Policy Institute, offers a sobering reminder of the eroding bargaining power of U.S. workers. (whole story)
LA Progressive | April 9, 2018
Employees in low-wage workplaces, women and African-Americans are more likely to be subject to mandatory arbitration agreements in employment contracts than other groups, potentially limiting their access to the court system, a study released Friday by the Economic Policy Institute found. (Appears to be whole story)
Corporate Counsel | April 9, 2018
We’re confident King would have endorsed a push to build minority wealth in Kansas City, not just one-time cash grants and contracts.
▪ Jail reform. According to analysis from Economic Policy Institute, the share of African Americans nationally in prison or jail almost tripled between 1968 and 2016.
In 1968, African Americans were about 5.4 times as likely as whites to be in prison or jail. Today, African Americans are 6.4 times as likely as whites to be incarcerated.
The Kansas City Star | April 9, 2018
Elise Gould, economista con el Economic Policy Institute explicaba que buena parte de estas subidas y bajadas tiene que ver con el clima en gran parte del país que ha sido mucho más frío de lo normal para las fechas. “Febrero estuvo posiblemente animado por un clima relativamente bueno”, explicaba en una nota, “mientras que marzo ha sido más duro”. Gould señala que en el sector de la construcción, muy marcado por las temperaturas, en febrero hubo 60,000 contrataciones pero un mes más tarde apenas 15,000.
La Opinion | April 9, 2018
Elise Gould, a senior economist for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, noted that wage growth for non-supervisory workers was even weaker, rising just 2.4 percent over last year. “The gap between the two series reflects the continual growth of inequality in the economy today as supervisory workers continue to pull away from the vast majority of the workforce,” Gould said in a written statement.
Politico Pro | April 9, 2018
“February’s number was likely boosted by relatively mild weather, while the March number was likely depressed by relatively harsh weather,” Elise Gould, senior economist at Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a statement. Other economists pointed to a Labor Department data set that tracks people with a job who weren’t working because of the weather in any given month, which declined by about 100,000 people in March from February. This is “similar to the [106,000] median decline in the past 10 March reports,” according to Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. Still, the number isn’t adjusted for seasonality.
The Wall Street Journal | April 9, 2018
REPORT: MANDATORY ARBITRATION ON THE RISE: American employers are increasingly imposing mandatory arbitration agreements to resolve workplace disputes, according to a report published by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The share of workers who’ve signed mandatory arbitration clauses has more than doubled since the early 2000s, encompassing more than half of all non-unionized workers in the private sector. “Research has found that employees are less likely to win arbitration cases and they recover lower damages in mandatory employment arbitration than in the courts,” writes Cornell Professor Alexander J.S. Colvin. Read the report here.
Politico Pro | April 6, 2018
This bill is a response to the overwhelming prevalence of mandatory arbitration agreements in the American private sector. As the Economic Policy Institute explains, under mandatory arbitration agreements “workers whose rights are violated can’t pursue their claims in court but must submit to arbitration procedures that research shows overwhelmingly favor employers.”
Quartz | April 6, 2018
While the divides in median income and homeownership mirror similar disparities in other American cities, particularly as they apply to black males, the gaps between blacks and whites in Sacramento County exist in stark contrast to California’s image as a liberal nirvana in which ethnic populations have equal access to the ladder of upward economic mobility. Employment numbers are another key metric of a population’s overall health, and black Californians consistently lag behind whites and, increasingly, behind Hispanics, as well: In the third quarter of 2017, black unemployment in California was 7.9 percent, outpacing the rate for Hispanics (5.6 percent), whites (4.4 percent) and Asian residents (3.9 percent), according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The New York Times | April 6, 2018
According to Bloomberg News and independent analysis, the steel and aluminum tariffs have the potential to add 19,000 new jobs to the U.S. economy. Furthermore, the Economic Policy Institute – a well-respected think tank in Washington – also concluded that the estimates of jobs lost and harm espoused by some due to the steel and aluminum tariffs are “wildly exaggerated.”
Fox News | April 6, 2018
Are teachers underpaid? Teacher pay has been in the news recently as a wave of teacher walkouts and strikes has hit red states like West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and a recent CBS News poll found that most people say yes. Overall, 68 percent of people said teachers were underpaid, but there were striking regional differences, with just 60 percent of people in the northeast agreeing while 76 percent in the south said so. Turns out, whatever state you live in, if you think your state’s teachers are underpaid, you’re right. An Economic Policy Institute analysis shows that: (snapshot figure included)
Daily Kos | April 6, 2018
I, then, discuss with EPI’s John Bivens how unemployment is tied to a too-secret search for the new head of the Federal Reserve Board of New York, one of the most powerful jobs in the system. (Josh’s interview ~21:00 mark)
Working Life | April 5, 2018
Our schools are more racially divided than before the Brown decision in1954. The Economic Policy Institute shows a vast gap between black and white earnings and wealth. Our public schools and teachers are funded less today than in the 1980s, with many new teachers unable to afford a home.
PennLive | April 5, 2018
According to the Economic Policy Institute’s recent report, “With respect to homeownership, unemployment and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African-Americans over the last five decades. In these areas, their situation either has failed to improve relative to whites or has worsened. In 2017, the black unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 1968, and is still roughly twice the white unemployment rate. In 2015, the black homeownership rate was just over 40 percent, virtually unchanged since 1968, and trailing a full 30 points behind the white homeownership rate, which saw modest gains over the same period. And the share of African-Americans in prison or jail almost tripled between 1968 and 2016 and is currently more than six times the white incarceration rate.”
The Hill | April 5, 2018
From the Economic Policy Institute: 50 years after the Kerner Commission, black Americans are not economically equal “Black Americans have clearly put a tremendous amount of personal effort into improving their social and economic standing, but that effort only goes so far when you’re working within structures that were never intended to give equal outcomes,” said economist Valerie Rawlston Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy.
The Washington Post | April 5, 2018
Yet 50 years after the Kerner Commission delivered a report to President Lyndon Johnson on the unrest in African American communities, recent data show much of what King fought to dismantle remains in place. An Economic Policy Institute report released in February found: “With respect to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African Americans over the last five decades. In these areas, their situation has either failed to improve relative to whites or has worsened. In 2017 the black unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 1968, and is still roughly twice the white unemployment rate. In 2015, the black homeownership rate was just over 40 percent, virtually unchanged since 1968, and trailing a full 30 points behind the white homeownership rate, which saw modest gains over the same period. And the share of African Americans in prison or jail almost tripled between 1968 and 2016 and is currently more than six times the white incarceration rate.” Another report from the EPI showed the wage gap between blacks and whites is the worst it has been in nearly four decades.
The Washington Post | April 5, 2018
“The NY Fed should go back to the drawing board and draw from the deep, diverse, and highly qualified list of candidates provided to it by the Fed Up coalition (as well as surveying the views of other public interest groups),” the Economic Policy Institute’s Josh Bivens said in a recent statement. “This is too important a decision to make on institutional autopilot.”
CNBC | April 5, 2018
The exile of overt white-supremacist sentiment to the margins of American society is no insignificant achievement (a reality that many progressives have come to appreciate as such sentiment has begun creeping back toward the American mainstream over the past two years). The retreat of that rancid ideology — formally declared through the passage of anti-discrimination laws — cleared the way for African-Americans to make profound material and cultural gains. Since 1968, black Americans’ life expectancy has increased by 11.5 years, their infant mortality rate has fallen by roughly two-thirds, while their likelihood of attaining a college diploma has more than doubled, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute. While these developments are the result of myriad factors, the end of de jure discrimination in public education, employment, and accommodations was surely a critical one.
New York Magazine | April 5, 2018