Congress hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage since 2009, when it was set at $7.25 an hour. A study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that low income workers have lost $3,000 a year ever since, when rising costs of living are taken into account. Other studies have shown that there has been no meaningful rise in wages for most American workers since the 1970s when inflation is accounted for.
Splinter News
July 3, 2019
If that federal rate seems a bit low, it might be because it hasn’t been raised for the past decade. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “the last time Congress passed an increase was more than 12 years ago–in May 2007. That’s when legislation was passed to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. (This took effect two years later, in July 2009).
Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council
July 3, 2019
Another meta-analysis comes in a new research paper by economists at the University of Massachusetts, University College London, and the Economic Policy Institute. They studied data from 138 cities and states that raised the minimum pay between 1979 and 2016. The conclusion is that low-wage workers received a 7 percent pay bump after a minimum wage law went into effect, but there was little or no change in employment.
The current $7.25 minimum hourly rate was set in 2009, right in the middle of the Great Recession. Since then, America’s lowest-paid workers have lost about $3,000 a year when you consider the rising cost of living, according to calculations from the Economic Policy Institute.
VOX
July 3, 2019
A 2015 survey by The Washington Post found that more than 75 percent of mothers report having passed up work opportunities or quit their jobs in order to tend for their children, where they did not, in some cases, because they opted to do that out of choice, and in some cases, because they did not have access to affordable childcare. And here, the Economic Policy Institute found that childcare costs are one of the most significant expenses in a family budget. In 33 states, infant care is more expensive than college. So again, looking at what can the United States do?
Council on Foreign Relations
July 3, 2019
And they make very little. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average Uber driver makes $10.87 per hour after accounting for expenses like gas and car maintenance.
SF Gate
July 2, 2019
Nearly every driver who spoke at the committee hearing on Friday said they wanted California to pass AB 5 and they wanted San Francisco to support the bill. Many cited a May study by the Economic Policy Institute that says the average wage for a US ride-hail driver is $9.21 per hour after deducting expenses, such as gas and maintenance.
CNET
July 2, 2019
And not to go all progressive liberal on you, but it is important to note — and predictable — that the biggest wage gains since the recession went to the top 1-percent of pay levels. According to the Economic Policy Institute, between 2009-13, the average income of the top 1 percent grew by 17.4 percent, while the bottom 99 percent saw wage growth of 0.7 percent.
Lompoc Record
July 2, 2019
CNBC said in a March report, “For the first time during the recovery, lower-end earners are getting more of the benefit, according to a Goldman Sachs report.” And the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that advocates for low- and middle-income earners, said in a 2019 report: “From 2017 to 2018, relatively fast growth continued at the top (2.7% at the 95th percentile), but the 20th and 30th percentiles saw the strongest growth at 4.8% and 3.7%, respectively.”
FactCheck.org
July 2, 2019
The loss of traditional manufacturing jobs has contributed to income inequality and declining union membership. According to a report by the Washington-based think tank the Economic Policy Institute, if unions had the same presence in the private sector today as in 1979, both union members and non-members would be making about $2,500 more each year.
Wicked Local
July 2, 2019
Tax extenders have come under fire from an unusually broad array of groups. AFP and other conservative organizations such as Heritage Action and Freedom Partners joined with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and U.S. PIRG to call for an end to the package last year.
CNBC
July 2, 2019