Media clips

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• Fast Facts: Economic security for women and families in Connecticut

  Economic Policy Institute, “State tables on $15 minimum wage impact” (Washington: 2017), available at https://www.epi.org/files/2017/MW-State-Tables.pdf; David Cooper, “Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift wages for 41 million American workers” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2017), available at https://www.epi.org/publication/15-by-2024-would-lift-wages-for-41-million/.

  Center for American Progress August 9, 2019
• Fast Facts: Economic security for women and families in California

  Julia Wolfe, Janelle Jones, and David Cooper, “‘Fair workweek’ laws help more than 1.8 million workers” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2018), available at https://www.epi.org/publication/fair-workweek-laws-help-more-than-1-8-million-workers/.

  Center for American Progress August 9, 2019
• Fast Facts: Economic security for women and families in Alabama

  Economic Policy Institute, “State tables on $15 minimum wage impact” (Washington: 2017), available at https://www.epi.org/files/2017/MW-State-Tables.pdf; David Cooper, “Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift wages for 41 million American workers” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2017), available at https://www.epi.org/publication/15-by-2024-would-lift-wages-for-41-million/.

  Center for American Progress August 9, 2019
• What makes a class action waiver invalid?

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than half of private-sector employers enforce mandatory arbitration contracts—about 40 percent of which include class action waivers. In other words, approximately 24.7 million Americans have agreed not to file class action lawsuits against their employers.

  ClassAction.org August 9, 2019
• Forced arbitration is becoming a popular new trend for employers

  More than 60 million workers, or 55% of the workforce, have waived their right to sue their employer in public court if they get terminated or face on-the-job harassment because they signed a forced arbitration agreement, according to the Economic Policy Institute.  By 2024, the institute predicts that more than four in every five workers will do just this.

  Legal Reader August 9, 2019
• Teachers in the US are spending $500 of their own money on school supplies like crayons and chalk, and now they’re turning to a viral hashtag to ask strangers for help

  Pay for educators has also decreased. Teachers make less on average in inflation-adjusted dollars than they did in 1990, TIME Magazine reported using Department of Education data. Teachers make 19% less than other professions that require a bachelor’s degree, according to the Economic Policy Institute think tank.

  Business Insider August 9, 2019
• Morning Education: Some districts, states scrambling to find teachers amid shortage

  How acute nationally is the problem this school year? It’s hard to say with certainty. Earlier this year, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said in a report that the shortage is “real, large and growing, and worse than we thought.” “When indicators of teacher quality (certification, relevant training, experience, etc.) are taken into account, the shortage is even more acute than currently estimated, with high-poverty schools suffering the most from the shortage of credentialed teachers,” the report said.

  Politico August 9, 2019
• Study: DC charters leave transfer enrollments to traditional public schools

  Charter schools have also long come under scrutiny for perpetuating inequities in education, including school segregation. A 2016 Economic Policy Institute study on charter schools in urban areas, for example, found charter school expansion led to lower enrollment and less funding for traditional public schools. In many cases, districts had to reduce spending in ways that had the potential to hurt student performance.

  Education Dive August 9, 2019
• Deferred dreams: How student loan debt disproportionately affects entrepreneurs of color

  The main factors stopping young people from becoming entrepreneurs — access to startup capital and a lack of financial stability to weather the first few years of entrepreneurship — are intensified for millennials of color. Black students carry more student loan debt than any other racial group, a fact compounded by the racial wealth gap. In the U.S., the average white family has seven times more wealth than Black families and five times more wealth than Latinx families. While Latinx students carry less debt, they are more likely to drop out because of financial barriers; have lower wages post-graduation; and are thus, more likely to default on their student loans. And the idea that a college education is a surefire route toward economic prosperity for Black and brown students must be reconsidered. The Economic Policy Institute reports that a college degree or more will not reduce the Black-white wage gap.

  MTV August 9, 2019
• Child care providers push California to boost pay for early education teachers

  Preschool teachers are six times more likely to live in poverty than K-12 teachers, according to a recent report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley and the Economic Policy Institute. While Gov. Gavin Newsom has committed to expanding and improving early childhood education in California, a plan to increase pay for early-education teachers is missing from the 2019-20 budget.

  EdSource August 9, 2019