Two factors likely are driving workers to stage walkouts en masse, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank whose research focuses on trends involving working people. Employees are well aware that if they lose their jobs for striking they’re likely to find another quickly. And employees aren’t getting the wage gains that a tight labor market normally brings.
“[It’s] people kind of looking around and saying, ‘Oh my God, we’re 10 years into this recovery. The unemployment rate is 3.6%. Why am I not seeing decent wage increases?'” said Heidi Shierholz, one of the authors of EPI’s analysis and a former Department of Labor chief economist in the Obama administration.
CNN
February 28, 2020
Unemployment is the lowest for half a century, and wages have been picking up steam across the board –- but the biggest rewards from a strong economy are still skewed toward white people, men and high earners, according to an annual study by the Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg
February 28, 2020
A report released Thursday by the think tank the Economic Policy Institute takes a deep look at wages across America. The overall picture it paints is not so great.
According to the report, there has been wage growth, but it’s slow and unequal. High earners are experiencing bigger gains.
“Why is it that typical workers are not seeing faster growth, even as they are more productive?” said Elise Gould, report author. “I think that’s because they just have less bargaining power.”
Marketplace
February 28, 2020
A report released Thursday by the think tank the Economic Policy Institute takes a deep look at wages across America. The overall picture it paints is not so great.
According to the report, there has been wage growth, but it’s slow and unequal. High earners are experiencing bigger gains.
“Why is it that typical workers are not seeing faster growth, even as they are more productive?” said Elise Gould, report author. “I think that’s because they just have less bargaining power.”
Marketplace
February 28, 2020
New York (CNN Business)Income inequality in the United States worsened in 2019. Earners at the top of the income ladder received the largest increase in their paychecks, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Wages at the 95th percentile grew by 4.5% last year, while the median increase was just 1%.
That’s nothing new: The median hourly wage climbed about 15% between 1979 and 2019, but pay for workers in the 95th percentile grew more than 63% over the past 40 years.
“Wage growth for low- and middle-wage workers continues to be slower than would be expected in an economy with relatively low unemployment,” said EPI Senior Economist Elise Gould.
CNN
February 28, 2020
Huerta, along with nearly all of the people who died in construction-related accidents last year were Latino, according to data from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and the Department of Buildings. Construction workforces as a whole are also growing increasingly more Hispanic and Latino, according to Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. These groups likely account for over half construction workers on all non-union sites in the city.
Documented
February 24, 2020
Here’s the reality: despite all the rosy promises of flexible, rewarding work, most gig workers don’t actually make good wages. Often their take-home pay is well below a living wage, sometimes even less than legally mandated minimum wage rates. A report by the Economic Policy Institute found ride-hail drivers in the US earn about $12 per hour after deducting car expenses and gasoline. These numbers are much lower than what many platform companies often advertise their workers – or “partners” – will make.
Forbes
February 24, 2020
According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, the United States is short about 110,000 teachers, and that number is expected to double by 2025.
13 News Now
February 24, 2020