To be clear, the federal government does have an important role to play in
- enforcing civil rights and pressing for desegregation. (Lately it has more often been on the wrong side here, undermining promising local initiatives.)
- ensuring protections for English Language Learners and students with special needs
- equalizing funding. (As Richard Rothstein at the Economic Policy Institute points out, poor states spend much less per pupil than rich states, even adjusting for regional variation in spending power, whereas they ought to be spending more because they have more children living in poverty. But Washington exacerbates this inequality because ESEA aid is proportional to states’ own spending. The states that need the most get the least.)
The Washington Post
October 31, 2019
“That’s pretty disturbing,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think-tank in Washington. “In a labor market with unemployment rates this low, we should see much stronger wage gains.”
Bloomberg
October 31, 2019
Josh Bivens, research director at the Economic Policy Institute, agrees that Trump’s trade war with China “is dumb and destructive,” but cautions that the data linking market uncertainty to slow growth is spotty.
Shareblue Media
October 31, 2019
Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRA) would fill the gap by ensuring that all workers and employers contribute to a plan. When the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) introduced economist Teresa Ghilarducci’s GRA plan in 2008, it was outside the policy mainstream (Ghilarducci, 2008). At the time, even AARP would not support a plan that mandated contributions.
American Society on Aging
October 31, 2019
The Economic Policy Institute found in a March 2018 paper that the pay premium in manufacturing – defined as the extra compensation earned by a worker in that sector as compared to workers in other fields – had shrunk 3.9% from what it had been in the 1980s.
Lancaster Eagle Gazette
October 30, 2019
Ironically, BIDs are incorporated as nonprofits yet still exemplify the income inequality that is endemic to capitalism. Nationwide, income inequality has reached its highest level in 50 years. The Economic Policy Institute found that the average CEO pay is 271 times the average pay of their workers. To a lesser but still troubling extent, this can be found within BIDs as well. For example, in 2014, the executive director of the Southwest BID, Steve Moore, was paid $85,000, as reported on the organization’s 1099 tax form. He then received a 350% increase so that his 2015 salary was $300,584 — giving him the third-highest executive salary among the 10 BIDs in DC and about $100,000 more than the mayor’s salary. The following year, Moore’s base salary decreased to $237,255, but with retirement, other deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits, his total income was $278,935, keeping him in the top 5% of earners in the city. Meanwhile, members of the Southwest BID landscaping and cleanup crews earn $15 an hour, and “ambassadors” make $18 an hour. These wages are insufficient for the workers to live comfortably anywhere in DC, let alone the new buildings their employers cater to.
The DC Line
October 30, 2019
The city council in Los Angeles is considering a measure that would require Uber and Lyft to pay their drivers at least $30 per hour. Under the proposal, roughly 250,000 drivers would earn $15 in minimum hourly wage and $15 to cover expenses like gas and insurance. According to a study done last year by the Economic Policy Institute, driver’s make an average of $9.21 per hour after expenses. The new measure is being proposed by Council President Herb Wesson, who said that ride-share companies “may be creating safer mobility options for residents, but their business model is subverting city policies put in place to protect the most vulnerable members of our community and weakening our social safety net.” He is now asking for an independent study of average driver wages before the council votes, a move opposed by Uber. “[The study would be] based on potentially false assumptions that will fundamentally bias its conclusions, and ultimately will lead to higher costs for riders and fewer rides for drivers,” a company spokesperson said. But James Hicks, a member of Rideshare Drivers United, said that the study should proceed. “These companies are able to do basically whatever it is they want. They can make us accept fees of 60 cents per mile, and if we don’t accept that ultimatum, then we’re basically fired from the platform. There’s no regulation, and that needs to change,” he said. A spokesperson for Lyft said that a city-level policy would be difficult for the company to manage, and that “a statewide approach is most appropriate.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed into law a bill that requires companies like Uber and Lyft to reclassify their drivers as employees instead of independent contractors, which would allow gig workers protections such as a minimum wage. Lyft and Uber are now pushing for a ballot initiative to overturn the new law. Given the uncertainty of that law’s status in a few years, city councilmembers say that Los Angeles must take action now. “The city isn’t taking any chances when it comes to protecting our rideshare drivers,” said Michael Tonetti, a spokesperson for Wesson. [CBS Los Angeles; LAist; Los Angeles Daily News]
Route Fifty
October 30, 2019
A 2018 study by the Economic Policy Institute cited by the Times concluded that Uber drivers nationwide make $11.77 an hour after deducting vehicle expenses and Uber fees. That wage decreases to $9.21 after payroll taxes and benefits.
Fox News
October 30, 2019
Robert Scott with the Economic Policy Institute says farmers like Rutledge shouldn’t be so optimistic. He says the President’s preliminary trade deal with China won’t bring farmers more business in the long run.
Gray DC
October 30, 2019
- Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens, “The Zombie Robot Argument Lurches On,” Economic Policy Institute Report, May 24, 2017, at 9. Available at: https://www.epi.org/publication/the-zombie-robot-argument-lurches-on-there-is-no-evidence-that-automation-leads-to-joblessness-or-inequality/.
Public Citizen
October 30, 2019