At least 36 million private-sector U.S. workers are bound by agreements not to compete with their employers if they leave, a significant increase from five years ago, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said on Tuesday.
EPI in a report said that nearly 28% of all private-sector workers are required to sign such an agreement, up from about 18% in 2014.
Reuters
December 11, 2019
According to the Economic Policy Institute, if the minimum wage were raised to $15 by 2024, 55 percent of workers in Florida’s retail industry would economically benefit.
The Florida Times-Union
December 9, 2019
Second, the minimum wage is not remotely livable. Earning $7.25 per hour on a full-time basis is equivalent to just over $15,000 annually, well below self-sufficiency earnings. For a single-parent with one child, monthly expenses for housing, food and child care exceed the earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker of $1,300 per month. Moreover, the purchasing power of our current minimum wage has declined 17% since the last increase in 2009 and is 31% less than the value in 1968 when it was equivalent to $10.54 in today’s dollars. Restoring the value of the minimum wage would have wide-ranging effects. According to the Economic Policy Institute, raising the minimum wage to $12 per hour would increase the wages of 35 million workers nationwide and result in $17 billion in savings to government assistance programs. In Oklahoma, such an increase would affect 414,000 people, equivalent to 27% of our workforce. Ninety percent of those affected are over the age of 20, living independently and would be more able to cover basic living expenses, avoid hunger and eviction and potentially save for the future. Oklahoma is in the minority of states that sticks with the federal standard of $7.25 per hour. If our Legislature fails to act yet again in 2020, they should at least rescind pre-emption, which prevents communities from raising minimum pay locally. If they are unable to take this modest step, then we should follow our neighbors in Arkansas and Missouri who responded favorably to a statewide ballot initiative last year and voted overwhelmingly to raise minimum pay to $11-$12 per hour.
Tulsa World
December 9, 2019
The Economic Policy Institute did a deep dive on why some counties like Teton have so many of the rich and famous calling it home. It’s pretty simple really. Wyoming has no income tax and it’s beautiful near the Tetons. It’s also not hard to find privacy in real estate that is off-the-beaten path.
KGAB
December 9, 2019
According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, the teacher shortage was at 110,000 in 2018, and could reach 200,000 by 2025. Decatur’s concerns with shortages have been documented for years. Substitutes sometimes work on an almost full-time basis, retired teachers are begged to return, classes get larger, and the schools end up forced to deal with far too many additional issues on top of education.
Herald Review
December 9, 2019
“Over the last three months, payroll employment growth has averaged 205,000 new jobs, more than enough to keep up with population growth and pull in thousands of workers off the sidelines each month,” according to Elise Gould, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., in a statement.
MultiBriefs: Exclusive
December 9, 2019
“From late 2017 through late 2018, it looked like wage growth was picking up. That ended. Wage growth has been backsliding this year,” tweeted economist Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
December 9, 2019
However, camouflaged in the good news was some not-so-good news, economists said. Despite the latest gaudy unemployment numbers, an apparent lack of so-called “good jobs” has resulted in a surge of hiring to fill low-wage positions. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) responded to the November jobs report with a somber reality check for those celebrating the low levels of unemployment.
News One
December 9, 2019
“It doesn’t make sense. We would expect in a tightening labor market to see stronger wage growth,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “Instead, wage growth has been backsliding this year.”
The Washington Post
December 9, 2019
“There was a lot of talk about a recession potentially coming 4-6 months ago. Part of it was rational. There was a pronounced slowdown in the growth rate from 2018-2019. I think people were wondering were we going to head all the way to zero growth which is essentially a recession,” said Josh Bivens, the director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, during a recent interview.
WJLA
December 9, 2019