Richard Rothstein, Distinguished Fellow, Economic Policy Institute; Senior Fellow, emeritus, Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and of the Haas Institute at the University of California, Berkeley
Center for American Progress
December 11, 2019
A workers’ board complements a minimum wage floor. Raising the statutory minimum wage is a crucial policy for increasing wages at the bottom end of the wage spectrum. The real value of the federal minimum wage has eroded by 31 percent since its peak in 1968 and by 17 percent in the past decade alone.7 The Economic Policy Institute estimates that nearly 40 million workers would directly or indirectly benefit by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.8 A workers’ board increases compensation for low-income workers as well as those with more middle-class incomes, therefore working in tandem with increases in the minimum wage. Indeed, when the economist Arindrajit Dube simulated the effects of wage boards, he found that “wage boards are much better positioned to deliver gains to middle-wage jobs than a single minimum pay standard.”9 Workers’ boards can also set additional standards such as for fair schedules and paid leave.
Center for American Progress
December 11, 2019
In 2019, the federal minimum wage was $7.25 an hour, though some cities gave their employees a little bit more. We looked at data from the Economic Policy Institute to see which cities gave the biggest boosts to minimum wage workers.
MSN
December 11, 2019
“People are constantly trying to curry favor” with the deals, says Robert Scott, a senior economist at the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute. “They bring [Trump] favors and they know he likes press releases.”
Forbes
December 11, 2019
Over 40,000 Arizona jobs would be lost if Republicans’ lawsuit to strike down pre-existing condition coverage protections is successful, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Insurance News Net
December 11, 2019
Millona and others who closely follow H-1B visas say the program has been purposefully hampered by the President Donald Trump Administration, which wants to ensure Americans have the first crack at jobs over immigrants. Critics of the program like the Washington D.C. think tank Economic Policy Institute argue major H-1B employers use the program for cheaper labor for outsourcing work.
Grant Welker
December 11, 2019
Many of those visa holders perform jobs that Americans would eagerly do in landscaping, forestry, recreation, construction and hospitality. The number of guest workers, or temporary labor migration program (TLMP) participants, in the U.S. is estimated at about 500,000 annually, according to the Economic Policy Institute. What is clear is that TLMPs displace U.S. workers. Because employers control their workers’ visa status and often abuse that responsibility, the practice has been criticized as the new American slavery.
Daily News
December 11, 2019
KQED News
December 11, 2019
Here to help us sort through both the economic and adjacent existential questions — and maybe even figure out some better numbers to “do” — is Josh Bivens with the Economic Policy Institute.
Marketplace
December 11, 2019
Unfortunately, child care is anything but low cost nowadays. The Center for American Progress reports that a low-income family pulling in a yearly income of less than $50,000 in 2014 will have spent one third of that income covering child care costs. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers child care to be “affordable” if it totals no more than 7% of a family’s yearly income. By that definition, The Center for American Progress says that all but the highest income families find themselves without access to affordable child care.
Romper
December 11, 2019