The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, projects that in four years, almost 83% of private-sector workers will be subject to mandatory arbitration. It estimated 56% of workers had mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts. The EPI says mandatory arbitration does not give workers a fair hearing, or the resources of the American legal system — like a jury by one’s peers.
MarketWatch
January 8, 2020
The Public Assets Institute (PAI), a Montpelier-based economic analysis nonprofit, released State of Working Vermont 2019 last month. PAI compiles the annual report in conjunction with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., a non-profit think tank that studies the economy and effects of economic policy.
The Commons
January 8, 2020
A US study in 2018 by the Economic Policy Institute found Uber drivers only earn an income of $9.21 an hour after costs, below California’s minimum wage of $12 an hour for a company of Uber’s size (26 employees or more). That’s a pay gap of 31.5% between Uber drivers and regular minimum wage earners. The impact to platform labor organizations that depend on contractors could be enormous, which is why some of these companies have banded together to overturn the law in a referendum. Lyft, Uber, Postmates and some other gig worker companies have also refused to comply with the law. Court battles have already been launched.
Talent Management & HR
January 8, 2020
“They are explicit that they are only working with people who are going to be congenial,” said Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, a union-affiliated thinktank based in Washington DC. “I’ve had that conversation with them.”
The World University Ranking
January 8, 2020
Plus, most Americans are facing a retirement shortfall. Progressive think tank the Economic Policy Institute found that Americans 56 to 61 had a median balance of $21,000 in their 401(k) accounts in 2016, which is the most up-to-date data on file. That total reflects almost 30 years of savings.
CNBC
January 8, 2020
I would love to help more people achieve their financial goals — whether that’s living their retirement dreams, sending their kids to college, or buying a home. Doing that requires bringing transparency to financial services and changing the way the industry works. According to the Economic Policy Institute, retirement savers lose $17 billion annually acting on advice from financial advisers who have conflicts of interest — this simply can’t stand.
Medium
January 8, 2020
DENVER — Nearly half of U.S. families have zero retirement savings, according to a recent Economic Policy Institute report, and Colorado is taking steps to help workers avoid working late into their sunset years.
Public News Service
January 8, 2020
Older workers and those over 50 are more likely to work as independent contractors, separate research from the progressive Economic Policy Institute, a labor policy think tank, concluded. The share of people working as independent contractors, freelancers and other categories of on-call workers who were ages 55 to 64 increased to 22.9% in 2017 from 18.8% in 2005. For people aged 65 and older, the figure rose to 14.1% from 8.5%.
MarketWatch
January 8, 2020
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute in collaboration with the Center for Popular Democracy exposes the fraud: Despite the Trump administration’s claims of success, the TCJA:
- Did NOT increase wages for working people. Real (inflation-adjusted) wage growth accelerated in 2018 relative to 2017, similar one-year accelerations have been seen in recent years. Further, wage growth in 2019 has decisively decelerated. Other influences pushing up wage growth in 2018—tight labor markets and higher state-level minimum wages—can fully explain the mild pickup in wage growth for that year.
- Failed to spur business investment. There was no uptick in business investment in 2018 and significant declines in the six months of available data in 2019 when investment absolutely cratered, with out-right declines in the last nine months of available data.
- Corporate tax revenues have plummeted. Estimates show that corporate tax revenue has declined more than originally anticipated. The statutory corporate income tax rate was decreased from 35 to 21 percent. Loopholes and widespread evasion led to U.S. corporations facing an effective tax rate much lower than 35 percent even before the TCJA was passed. By slashing the statutory rate and doing little to close loopholes (while in fact introducing new ones), the TCJA has cut the effective rate faced by U.S. corporations almost in half.
- Boosted stock buybacks. Stock buybacks rose more than 50 percent to $560 billion in 2018—and look on-pace to hit $500 billion again in 2019. Most corporations have passed TCJA tax savings on to their wealthy shareholders instead of investing in the workers who are increasing the companies’ bottom lines.
- Redesigned International Tax Rules. U.S. corporations are no longer required to pay U.S. taxes on income earned in other countries, unless this income exceeds a global benchmark rate of profit. The TCJA allows companies to use foreign tax credits to offset the taxes they may owe if their income exceeds this global benchmark.
Repealed the Corporate Minimum Tax. Previously, there was a 20 percent corporate alternative minimum tax. This tax required profitable corporations to pay at least some share of taxes on their profits in a given year, but was repealed in the TCJA.
Southern Illinois Labor Tribune
January 8, 2020
After the law’s passage, companies announced worker bonuses with much fanfare. But those one-time bonuses amounted to only two cents per hour on average, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and did not provide lasting employee benefits. “Businesses have been electing to give workers short-term payouts for retention and morale, rather than longer-term wage increases the economy had experienced in previous decades,” according to a June 2018 article in the Wall Street Journal.
Capital & Main
January 8, 2020