In contrast, the average for all working-age families is shockingly low. Their median nest egg was a paltry $5,000 as of 2013, the latest year for which the Economic Policy Institute has data. That’s because many working-age families had little or zero savings.
American News Group
February 4, 2020
In addition, the Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on the 2017 Tax Law and Who It Left Behind on March 27, 2019. Witnesses included Nancy Abromowitz of the American University Washington College of Law, Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute, Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum, Jason Oh of the University of California Los Angeles, and Christopher Shelton of the Communications Workers of America.
Insurance News Net
February 4, 2020
The minimum wage—an important mechanism for increasing worker wages—has also failed to keep up with rising costs of living. Today’s federal minimum wage of $7.25 offers far less buying power than in the past, in large part because it is not indexed to inflation.20 In 2019, the federal minimum wage was worth 31 percent less than in 1968, when its inflation-adjusted value peaked, and 17 percent less than in 2009, when the federal minimum wage was last raised.21 If the minimum wage had risen at the rate of productivity, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that today’s minimum wage would be more than $20 per hour, using 2018 dollars.22 Evidence suggests that raising the minimum wage promotes overall economic growth, and research has shown that wage growth for low-income workers has been fastest in states that increased their minimum wage.23
- Economic Policy Institute, “The Productivity-Pay Gap,” available at https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/(last accessed November 2019). ↩
- David Cooper, “Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift pay for nearly 40 million workers” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2019), available at https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2024-would-lift-pay-for-nearly-40-million-workers/. ↩
- David Cooper, Elise Gould, and Ben Zipperer, “Low-wage workers are suffering from a decline in the real value of the federal minimum wage” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2019), available at https://www.epi.org/publication/labor-day-2019-minimum-wage/. ↩
- Matthew A. Winkler, “State With High Minimum Wages Are Doing Just Fine,” Bloomberg, July 26, 2019, available at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-26/minimum-wage-hikes-don-t-stifle-state-economic-booms; Elise Gould, “Wage growth for low-wage workers has been strongest in states with minimum wage increases,” Economic Policy Institute, March 5, 2019, available https://www.epi.org/publication/wage-growth-for-low-wage-workers-has-been-strongest-in-states-with-minimum-wage-increases/. ↩
- Economic Policy Institute, “Minimum Wage Tracker,” available at https://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-tracker/#/min_wage(last accessed October 2019). ↩
Idaho State Journal
February 4, 2020
Another CBO study from 2014 showed that a $10.10 federal minimum wage would cause businesses to spend $15 billion more in salaries, but this would be only .003 percent of the wages they paid in 2012. That same raise, according to the Economic Policy Institute, would “reduce government expenditures on current income-support programs by at least $7.6 billion.”
Idaho State Journal
February 4, 2020
It’s been 10 years since the federal government raised minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25, the Economic Policy Institute said. Clearly the minimum wage must increase to keep pace with inflation and to prevent inflation from cutting into employee paychecks. Yet, this is not the case since wage gains have kept pace with inflation, according to The Wall Street Journal. Therefore, increasing the Federal minimum wage to $15 will have unnecessary winners and losers.
The Appalachian
February 4, 2020
Advanced manufacturing and especially aerospace remain a pillar of Connecticut economic development. By one measure from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank and advocacy group in Washington, D.C., precision manufacturing jobs create 7.4 positions in a regional economy for every new job.
West Hartford News
February 4, 2020
Know there’s a paywall but this is what my preview says: “That’s about double the next highest state loss, Texas’ 334,800 jobs, according to a report released Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute”
Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2020
Despite pleas from big business that H-2–visa hikes are necessary to offset an acute labor shortage, and even avoid bankruptcy, numerous nonpartisan studies find no evidence of scarcity. Among other respected bipartisan organizations, the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal, pro-immigration, Washington, D.C.-based research firm found “no evidence at all of labor shortages in the labor market.”
Post Independent
February 4, 2020
McClellan cited statistics from the Economic Policy Institute that say 17% of domestic workers live in poverty. In Virginia, personal care aides make an average of $21,240 a year, while home health aides earn an average of $23,440 per year, according to the same data.
Fauquier Times
February 4, 2020
Domestic workers are mostly female immigrants, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute.
Sequim Gazette
February 4, 2020