But June 17 marked the longest period of stagnation in the history of the federal minimum wage. It hasn’t been raised since 2009 — and that neglect has created real economic hardship for low-wage workers. When the minimum wage doesn’t keep pace with inflation, the purchasing power of that wage shrinks; by failing to act, the federal government has essentially cut real wages for these workers. In February, economist Ben Zipperer of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute testified before Congress that workers who make “the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour are, after adjusting for inflation, paid 29 percent less than their counterparts 50 years ago.” For workers, then, wage hikes aren’t about moral posturing but about the living more dignified lives, and now they have even more proof that an increase in the minimum wage makes them materially more secure. On Tuesday, economists at the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment released a new study that directly undercuts common conservative arguments against a higher minimum wage: Policies that raise minimum wages don’t appear to cause significant job loss. In fact, they reduce poverty.
NY Mag
July 2, 2019
Last week, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), speaking at an event on income inequality hosted by the Economic Policy Institute, spoke in favor of making the tax code much more progressive. Arguing against a “dynastic economy based on existing wealth,” he promised to introduce a surtax bill later this summer.
Tax Foundation
July 2, 2019
But that tells only part of the story. Teachers’ salaries in the United States vary greatly from state to state, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. In 2017, the blended national average of elementary and secondary teacher salaries was $58,950, but as high as $79,637 in New York and as low as $42,668 in South Dakota and $42,925 in Mississippi. The Economic Policy Institute noted that professionals with comparable education and skills earn 19 percent more than do the country’s educators. The result of relatively poor pay is declining enrollment in teachers’ colleges, and a high turnover among those employed, both of which are, in turn, creating worrisome teacher shortages in poor areas.
Otras Voces en Educación
July 2, 2019
Because of racial residential segregation, low-income African Americans are much less likely to be afforded the opportunity to attend socioeconomically integrated schools—where low-income students perform as much as two grade levels higher than low-income students in high-poverty schools. According to a 2017 analysis by Emma García of the Economic Policy Institute, less than one in five poor black children had access to a predominantly middle-class school, compared to almost half of poor white children.
The American Prospect
July 2, 2019
The Economic Policy Institute think tank reports that teachers make 19% less than people with similar educations. When benefits are included, the figure is 11%. The authors of the study, EPI Distinguished Fellow Lawrence Mishel and UC Berkeley Economist and EPI Research Associate Sylvia Allegretto, looked at the potential crisis of the pay gap as its effects the ability to build a solid teacher workforce. They were quoted as saying, “Deteriorating teacher pay is not just a fairness issue. Eliminating the teacher pay penalty is crucial to building the teacher workforce we need. In order to recruit and retain talented teachers, school districts need to address the inadequacy of teacher pay.”
24/7 Wall St.
July 2, 2019
The Economic Policy Institute, in its research, found that as many as 1 in 10 African-American students has an incarcerated parent. One in four has a parent who is or has been incarcerated. The discriminatory incarceration of African American parents is an important cause of their children’s lowered performance.
The Philly Tribune
July 2, 2019
Robert Scott, the director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, has even been cited by Trump while making the case that imbalanced trade with China has hurt the workforce in the US.
“Currency manipulation acts like an artificial subsidy to the host country’s exports and as a tax on all US exports.”
Robert Scott, Economic Policy Institute
Al Jazeera
July 2, 2019
“We have an issue with wage inequality, income inequality and wealth inequality where most of the growth is going to the top,” said Valerie Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity and the economy. “Those people are less likely to be women, and much less likely to be women of color.”
“There is still room for employment-population ratios to grow: These are largely untapped segments of the labor force,” said Ms. Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute. “Since there are more black and brown people in the population, in the labor force, it’s reasonable to think that these are the groups in which you’ll see the growth.”
The New York Times
July 2, 2019
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, most Uber drivers earn less than $10 an hour after their driving costs are subtracted. Ejaz Butt, an Uber driver who was one of the workers behind the move to unionize, said the drivers wants to receive a guaranteed minimum wage of $15 per hour, as well as sick days, vacation days and breaks. He also said drivers are often in the car for several hours without breaks to eat and use the restroom.
Benefits Canada
July 1, 2019
Oxfam estimates that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would result in pay increases for nearly half a million Mississippi workers, 396,000 of which Oxfam estimates will still earn under $15-an-hour in 2024 if the wage is not increased. The Oxfam report used data supplied from the Economic Policy Institute, a D.C.-based think-tank with labor union backing, and its Minimum Wage Simulation Model based on data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Congressional Budget Office.
SunHerald
July 1, 2019