Sanders, a progressive senator from Vermont who is currently a close second to former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic frontrunner, has long advocated for a universal or single-payer health care system. Critics argue that such a policy would lead to mass job loss and be an economic drain on the country, but the new analysis published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) suggests the opposite would happen.
Josh Bivens, EPI’s director who conducted the study, wrote in the report that Medicare for All “would be unambiguously positive” for the labor market in the U.S., leading to a “boost in wages and salaries” as well as an “increase in job quality, while producing “a net increase in jobs.”
Newsweek
March 6, 2020
That trend of wage increases shows “some weakness after accelerating through early 2019,” according to Elise Gould, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., in a statement.
“Relatively strong employment growth and slower wage growth than expected in an economy that has had historically low unemployment suggests that slack remains in the labor market. Workers are continuing to get pulled off the sidelines, but employers aren’t feeling much pressure to raise wages to attract and retain the workers they want.”
Multibrief: Exclusives
March 6, 2020
“Obama/Biden didn’t push for card check in the first two years,” tweeted Dan Costa, a labor and immigration expert for the Economic Policy Institute. “To add insult to injury, they were ignoring and chastising the ‘sanctimonious’ and ‘professional’ left as early as 2010.”
Washington Examiner
March 6, 2020
The impact of minimum wage increases is one of the most closely studied topics in economics, said Ben Zipperer, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute. Not only do they increase wages for those making the least, but they can eventually lead to wage increases for workers making just above minimum wage.
“While it makes it more expensive to hire workers, it’s also easier to recruit and retain workers,” Zipperer said. “Those two forces balance out so that there’s not really not much of an effect on employment.”
The minimum wage is only one way to help low-wage workers, Zipperer said. The Economic Policy Institute has published papers advocating for a host of other policies, including tax strategies to tighten the labor market and strengthened rules for labor union bargaining.
“We actually need a lot of arrows in our quiver to attack low wages and low incomes,” Zipperer said.
MPR News
March 6, 2020
Clauses like these affect more than 60 million workers nationwide from pursuing legal action in court, according to the Economic Policy Institute. These contracts are known for silencing victims of sexual harassment, discrimination and oppression in the workplace by preventing an employee from pursuing legal action, according to the EPI.
Minnesota Daily
March 6, 2020
Last week in Washington, three members of the Prospect staff—executive editor David Dayen, editor at large Harold Meyerson, and co-founder Robert Kuttner—gathered to discuss the book We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism—American Style. All three have chapters in the anthology, which attempts to take the concepts of democratic socialism and offer a path to putting them into practice. They were joined by Michael Kazin, co-editor of the book and a history professor at Georgetown University. Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, moderated the discussion.
The American Prospect
March 6, 2020
The Rebuild America’s Schools Act, provides $100 billion to help repair and improve the physical and digital infrastructure of public schools across the nation. Specifically, the bill would:
- Leverage federal, state, and local resources to create over 1.9 million jobs, based on an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Insider NJ
March 6, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, those who work in child care are among the lowest paid workers in the country, and they rarely receive the benefits (i.e. health insurance) afforded to many other occupations.
The study also found the following:
- There are currently 1.2 million child care workers in the U.S., including nannies as well as those who work in day care centers, religious organizations, and preschools.
- Most child care workers are female, and the majority are non-white.
- They make an average hourly wage of $10.31, which is nearly 40 percent less than the overall median hourly wage ($17), and 23 percent below what workers make in similar occupations.
- Only 15 percent of workers receive health insurance, and less than 10 percent are eligible for a pension.
- One in seven workers in the child care industry lives in a family with an income below the official poverty line, and struggles to make ends meet.
- Many cannot afford to pay for care for their own kids, because between half and all of their annual salary would have to go toward paying for it!
Parents Magazine
March 6, 2020
However, hierarchical workplace structures do little to achieve this dream. Pay inequality between CEOs and laborers is at an all time high in the United States. Last year, a study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute found “the CEO to (average) worker compensation ratio rose to 221 to 1 in 2018,” and “CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978.”
The Guardsman
March 6, 2020