Media clips

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• Statistic of the Day: Teachers spend $459 on school supplies (I suspect that’s a low figure)

  It’s the beginning of the school year and teachers are once again opening up their wallets to buy school supplies is from the Economic Policy Institute. Their article is particularly interesting because they show the average amount spent in each state.

  Edublogs September 6, 2019
• Illinois teachers spent this much of their own money on supplies

  ILLINOIS — Teachers in Illinois are digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies, spending an average of $439 over the school year to subsidize local budgets, according to new inflation-adjusted data from the Economic Policy Institute.

  Patch September 6, 2019
• U.S. inequality, wage stagnation tied to falling union membership in the private sector

  The Hamilton study says employers have inherent advantages over workers in terms of information and power in the labor market, findings corroborated by a long history of research at the Economic Policy Institute, where I work.

  Forbes September 6, 2019
• Suburban growth, government policies, racism led to ‘white flight’ in Newark

  What is clear, though, is that whites went to the suburbs because they could. Richard Rothstein, distinguished fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and author of a book about the federal government’s role in residential segregation titled “The Color of Law,” spoke last year at a forum in Newark about the how Federal Housing Administration policy kept blacks out of the suburbs.

  NJTV News September 6, 2019
• Will you have enough money to retire?

  For many people, just getting back to where they started is a tough challenge. Median wage growth averaged just 0.3 percent a year between 2007 and 2018, according to the Economic Policy Institute. And yet other essential costs have skyrocketed. Average family healthcare premiums, for example, have climbed 55 percent since 2008, rising twice as fast as workers’ wages.

  Consumer Reports September 6, 2019
• The Fight For $15: How a 200-person protest turned into a national labor movement

  Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage has been stagnant at $7.25 since 2009. Additionally, minimum wage increases occurring between 1968 and 2009 have been too small to offset inflation, explains David Cooper, deputy director of EARN and senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. Today, $7.25 is worth 14.8 percent less than in 2009 after adjusting for inflation, Cooper notes.

  Union Track September 6, 2019
• ‘The weirdest place in the world’: What the Fed missed in Jackson Hole

  The Jackson Hole valley is home to the most unequal metropolitan area in the United States. As measured by the Economic Policy Institute in 2015, the top 1% of residents earned an average of $16.2 million, more than 132 times the average income of the bottom 99% of families.

  Yahoo Finance September 6, 2019
• Will a new tax stop Connecticut’s brain drain?

  Despite having one of the highest median household incomes in the country, inequality in Connecticut is among the worst in the country. The top 1% earn more than 37 times more than the rest of the population, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  U.S. News September 6, 2019
• County update: Commissioner Fast says collaboration is key to increasing housing options

  Housing affordability is a critical issue in Johnson County and in larger metropolitan areas across the nation. Johnson County’s cost of living has grown by double digits across all household sizes since 2014 according to the Economic Policy Institute. Housing costs is a key component of this increase.

  Shawnee Mission Post September 6, 2019
• Teacher supply warehouse eases out-of-pocket expenses

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, North Carolina teachers spend on average $400 of their own money on school supplies each year. But for Coke, as a special education teacher, that number is closer to $1,500.

  88.5 WFDD September 6, 2019