December 11, 2019
A new study by the Economic Policy Institute finds a rising share of U.S. workers are subject to noncompete agreements—a factor that could be holding down wages and mobility. The study, which used data from a survey of private-sector American businesses with 50 or more employees, found roughly half of businesses, or 49.4%, use noncompete agreements for at least some employees. Nearly a third, 31.8% of respondents, indicated that all their employees had noncompetes, regardless of their pay or job duties. The findings suggest noncompetes are becoming more prevalent: earlier studies have found about one in five workers were subject to noncompetes, now it’s closer to one in three. —Harriet Torry
Institutional Investor
December 11, 2019
Noncompete agreements have long been used by hedge funds and other asset management firms to keep key executives and portfolio managers from leaving and taking their best ideas elsewhere. Now these employment provisions are widespread in finance and other industries, according to a report released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute.
The Wall Street Journal
December 11, 2019
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