Meanwhile, the pay gap between teachers and other comparably educated professionals is now the largest on record. In 1994, public-school teachers in the U.S. earned 1.8% less per week than comparable workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. By last year, they made 18.7% less. The situation is particularly grim in states such as Oklahoma, where teachers’ inflation-adjusted salaries actually decreased by about $8,000 in the last decade, to an average of $45,245 in 2016, according to DOE data. In Arizona, teachers’ average inflation-adjusted annual wages are down $5,000.
Time
August 23, 2019
Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute is cited in The Atlantic article by Hanauer. In it, Mishel chastises conservatives for failing to address inequality. He states they focus instead on what they call “the opportunity gap.”
TheChattanoogan.com
August 23, 2019
WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the Economic Policy Institute published a report showing teachers spend an average of $459 on school supplies out of their own pockets:
“There is no other profession I can think of where workers, as a matter of culture and practice, are relied upon to subsidize an employer’s costs just so they can do their jobs. But teachers want what kids need, so each year they buy hundreds of dollars’ worth of supplies for their students without a second thought—even though they are paid over 20 percent less than similarly skilled professionals.
AFT
August 23, 2019
Others will be watching for how companies deal with their employees, given the statement’s commitment to compensating and supporting workers. Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said he would be looking for a shift in how big corporate CEOs are willing to engage with unions and work with employees toward a new system of collective bargaining.
“What would be really my most hopeful moment would be if these CEOs expressed a recognition of the importance of worker voice and their own workers to be able to bargain collectively,” Mishel said.
The Washington Post
August 22, 2019
Pointing to research from the think tank Economic Policy Institute which shows that “since the 1970s, declining unionization has fueled rising inequality and stalled economic progress for the broad American middle class,” Sanders aims to reverse that national trend with a new plan that builds on legislation the Independent senator from Vermont initially introduced in 1992.
Common Dreams
August 22, 2019
Unionized workers are afforded around a 22% wage premium compared to non-union workers. A 2003 paper published by the Economic Policy Institute found even non-unionized workers benefited from wage increases based on the percentage of unionization within their industry.
The Guardian
August 22, 2019
The national Economic Policy Institute estimated in July that 652,000 Kentuckians — 35% of the workforce — would benefit from raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025, as proposed in the federal Raise the Wage Act.
Pugel said such an increase would most benefit women and minorities statewide, as well as workers in Eastern Kentucky. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that about 40% of workers in that region would receive a salary increase.
Courier Journal
August 22, 2019
The serving workforce remains a microcosm of pay disparities in the broader economy. According to 2011–2013 data from the Economic Policy Institute, people of color make up nearly 40% of the workforce that falls under federal tipped-minimum-wage rules, which includes nail-salon workers and car-wash attendants. The flexibility of restaurant work is in part why more than a million single mothers are on the job. After eight years working at the 24-hour diner, Munce, 32, mostly gets the shifts that she wants–working breakfast and lunch and leaving by 3 p.m. when her daughter gets out of school–so for that, she’s grateful. When her daughter got bullied at school and Munce had to pick her up, Munce was able to get other waitresses to cover for her without getting in trouble for calling off work–though of course this also meant she didn’t get paid. When her daughter was younger and Munce couldn’t find anyone to watch her, she’d bring her daughter to the diner and have her sit quietly in a booth with crayons.
Time
August 22, 2019
While gig workers make up one-fifth of the workplace (or more) at a number of companies polled in a recent survey, some research has suggested that the gig economy is contracting rather than expanding. Workers were more likely to be in standard jobs in 2017 than in 2005, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). In 2005, 10.9% of workers were in nonstandard jobs, compared to 10.1% in 2017, EPI concluded.
HR Dive
August 22, 2019
For instance, 185 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four is $47,638, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However $96,047 per year is the estimated wage a family of two adults and two children would need to make to afford a modest two bedroom apartment, childcare, and other costs in the Portland metro area, according to the family budget calculator of Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank addressing the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions.
The Portland Observer
August 22, 2019