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
As the coronavirus spreads in the world’s largest economy, some experts are bracing for the intersection of the deadly disease with a country that lacks the labor protections enjoyed in other wealthy countries. Unlike many other developed economies, the U.S. lacks a federal law guaranteeing paid sick time, leaving it up to employers whether to offer it. Coverage of paid sick time is “vastly unequal,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CBS News
March 6, 2020
Around 18 states also have laws barring local governments from enacting paid sick leave, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, as illustrated in its map below.
Business Insider
March 6, 2020
The spread of the coronavirus has also highlighted the divide between workers who receive paid sick leave and vacation days, and low-wage workers who don’t get paid if they have to take time off for illness. Just 47 percent of the bottom quarter of American wage-earners have access to paid sick days, compared to 90 percent of the top quarter, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. Though some cities and states have mandated that employers offer paid sick leave, which research shows can help reduce the spread of infectious disease, even workers in those places sometimes can’t make use of the benefit. That’s because they work for multiple employers, which means they can’t accrue leave from one employer. Low-wage workers without paid sick leave are often reluctant to skip work, even if they are ill, since they need the money; Four in ten workers said they could have difficulty covering a $400 emergency expense, according to a 2019 Federal Reserve survey.
Time
March 6, 2020
Lost wages from having to stay home will put a hole in most low-income families’ budgets. Two days’ worth of pay can equal one month’s worth of gas, making it harder for workers to get to their jobs, the Economic Policy Institute in Washington found here.
More than 27 million people in the United States do not have health insurance, according to U.S. Census data. Workers in that group may put off getting medical treatment because they are concerned they can’t afford the bills, said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
Reuters
March 6, 2020
Meanwhile, the illness, which has so far affected an estimated 90,000 people and claimed the lives of more than 3,100 worldwide, shows no sign of stopping its spread in the United States. And as The New York Times noted, the very nature of inequality in America means that the virus is likely to spread fastest among service-sector employees and other low-income groups, particularly those who lack access to paid sick leave or health insurance. Likewise, the Economic Policy Institute pointed out last week that the virus-prevention guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—which include staying home from work and promptly seeing a doctor if one suspects illness—aren’t really feasible for millions of workers: “The CDC recommendations all seem well and good, but how does someone with no paid sick days or insurance cope?”
The New Republic
March 6, 2020
American low-wage workers increased their earnings significantly in 2019, seeing higher wage growth than workers at the higher end of the income spectrum. And that growth was largely fueled by increases in state minimum wages, a new study from the Economic Policy Institute shows.
Axios
March 6, 2020
But a report released Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank that surveyed the available data, laid out a case for why Medicare-for-all could actually be beneficial to the American job market.
The Washington Post
March 6, 2020