Though some states have laws making employers provide paid sick and family leave, FFCRA is the first-ever federal mandate. However, it leaves out a large portion of the workforce — the law doesn’t cover about 6.8 million workers at large firms who don’t get paid leave, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of DOL data.
Law360
May 26, 2020
The Trump administration has rhetorically followed this perspective (see U.S. trade rep Robert Lighthizer declaring that the era of offshoring is over), and in some cases acting, signing a four-year agreement to source a generic pharmaceutical producer stateside. But more can be done, as the Economic Policy Institute outlines: ending the gaming of Buy America, for example, or leveraging federal contracts, or addressing currency manipulation, or reversing tax incentives for offshoring.
The American Prospect
May 26, 2020
The Trump administration has rhetorically followed this perspective (see U.S. trade rep Robert Lighthizer declaring that the era of offshoring is over), and in some cases acting, signing a four-year agreement to source a generic pharmaceutical producer stateside. But more can be done, as the Economic Policy Institute outlines: ending the gaming of Buy America, for example, or leveraging federal contracts, or addressing currency manipulation, or reversing tax incentives for offshoring.
The American Prospect
May 26, 2020
The workers faring best during the pandemic are those with high wages, access to healthcare, paid sick leave and the ability to work from home. But those benefits are exceedingly rare for much of the workforce, says Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-oriented think tank. The coronavirus crisis has “uncovered the weakness in our social safety net,” she says. More than 40% of workers are employed in low-wage jobs and some 28 million non-elderly adults lack health insurance. Moreover, federal data suggests only about 30% of workers have the ability to work from home—and the rate is even lower for black and Latino workers.
In These Times
May 22, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified economic hardship in our community. Even prior to the health crisis and perhaps more today, the U.S. Economic Policy Institute named Teton County Idaho and Wyoming as the region with the largest economic inequality in the nation. With rising costs of living and over 40 percent of Teton County, Idaho working households living with less than the necessary income required to fund the five basic household necessities (housing, child care, food, transportation and health care), our local Extension office and Master Gardeners are working with nonprofit partners to tackle the issue of food access and hunger.
Teton Valley News
May 22, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute predicted in March that by summer, almost three million jobs would be wiped out from the U.S. economy. By May, though, CNN reported that over 20 million American jobs were lost in April alone.
The Oracle
May 22, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, noted that the number of new claims filed last week is likely closer to 3.3 million, based on how DOL now separates its data.
Politico
May 22, 2020
One indicator that racial discrimination increased over the last four decades is that average hourly wage growth of black men and women lagged behind the wage growth of non-Hispanic white men and women. In an influential Economic Policy Institute paper, Valerie Wilson and William Rodgers found a 9 percentage point decline in the relative earnings of black men and a 14 percentage point decline among black women between 1979 and 2015. The widening disparity suggests that the civil rights movement did not crystallize its gains from the 1960s and structural racism resulted in lower earnings. But using a different earnings measure – median annual earnings of full-time/full-year workers (FTFY) – and adjusting for intensity of labor force attachment over a 15-year period – leads us to a more nuanced assessment that can help us understand what factors are driving the earnings gap.
Economics 21
May 22, 2020
How bad the economic crisis could get is made starkly clear in an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Explaining that state and local governments are nearly all constrained in their ability to borrow money to meet expenses, including public services, the EPI analysis said that failure by Congress and the president to help states, cities and towns would undoubtedly lead to a depression.
AFSCME
May 22, 2020
Congressional Research Service reported July 23, 2019, that cumulative percent change during 1979-2018 in real wages for households in the top 10% of the income distribution was 37.6%, while for the middle- and low-income households it was 1.6% and 6.1%, respectively. Men in the middle and low income lost and women gained real wages. Household income for the top 1% increased 229% while the bottom 90% gained only 46% for the years 1979-2015 (Economic Policy Institute (EPI), March 27, 2019). Wage inequality is the driving force for income inequality. Using census data, Utah Workforce Services reports that Utah’s income inequality index (Gini coefficient) declined during 2014-2017 but has increased since 2017.
Standard Examiner
May 22, 2020