The record number of pay hikes will benefit about 6.8 million workers, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. EPI estimates the range of pay gains starting at $150 and as high as $1,700 for full-time, year-round workers, depending on the wage hikes in their regions.
CBS News
January 8, 2020
The value of the federal minimum wage has steadily declined since it was raised that year. And that value, adjusted for inflation, is sharply down from its peak in 1968, when workers earned the equivalent of $10.15 an hour in 2018 dollars, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Newsweek
January 8, 2020
Another CBO study from 2014 showed that a $10.10 federal minimum wage would cause businesses to spend $15 billion more in salaries, but this would be only .003 percent of the wages they paid in 2012. That same raise, according to the Economic Policy Institute, would “reduce government expenditures on current income-support programs by at least $7.6 billion.”
Moscow-Pullman Daily News
January 8, 2020
But the most striking development is the growth in the number of jurisdictions headed to a $15 pay floor. A couple of years ago, it was just California and New York. Now, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut are also on their way to $15. Nearly a third of the U.S. workforce lives in states climbing to $15 over the next few years, says David Cooper, senior economic analyst for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
USA Today
January 8, 2020
As of Jan. 1, Arizona’s minimum wage will tie the state with Colorado and Maine at $12 an hour, according to a scorecard compiled by the Economic Policy Institute. The District of Columbia has the highest minimum at $14 an hour, followed by Washington, California and Massachusetts.
Arizona Central
January 8, 2020
Finally, a number of states, cities, and counties are increasing their minimum wage, most of which went into effect on Jan. 1. Notably, over 20 states will boost their minimum wage, a move that the Economic Policy Institute estimates will benefit almost seven million workers.
Mashable
January 8, 2020
Twenty-six cities and counties have also elected to raise it locally. That means 7 million Americans will earn more in 2020, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Woodworking Network
January 8, 2020
Today, Uber and Postmates filed a suit to overturn AB 5, the new law requiring companies that misclassify their workers as independent contractors when they’re actually employees to treat them as employees—and, as such, covered by minimum-wage laws, state-mandated benefits, workers’ comp, the works. And yesterday, a federal judge stayed AB 51—another law set to take effect tomorrow, this one banning employers from requiring new hires, as a condition of their employment, to waive their right to sue for grievances and to submit instead to forced arbitration. District Judge Kimberly Mueller, responding to a suit from both the U.S. and California Chambers of Commerce, along with other business groups, set January 10 for a hearing to determine whether to make that stay permanent (though, of course, appealable). According to a 2018 report from the Economic Policy Institute, two-thirds of California workplaces have such clauses in their employment contracts.
The American Prospect
January 8, 2020
Use of mandatory arbitration contracts has exploded over the last two decades. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 53% of nonunion private-sector employers have mandatory arbitration procedures.
Courthouse News Service
January 8, 2020
About two-thirds of California’s nonunion, private-sector workplaces have mandatory arbitration policies, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
January 8, 2020