If the 1965 Civil Rights Act, passed the year after three civil rights workers were killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, “leveled the playing field” in America, descendants of enslaved Africans have lived “free” in America for about 54 years. Of course, that 54 years has been characterized by the Republican-inspired war on drugs, the Democratic 1994 crime bill, and a report from the Economic Policy Institute last year that identified “no progress” since 1968 in closing gaps between whites and Blacks in home ownership, employment, or incarceration. In this world, freedom does start to sound like “nothing left to lose.”
Milwaukee Independent
June 24, 2019
Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., said the FLSA was meant to exempt only “a limited number of well-paid, bona fide managers, executives or highly trained professionals, since these workers command enough bargaining power and enough control over their own work and schedules that they don’t actually need the protections.”
SHRM
June 24, 2019
In testimony for state committees, David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute regularly documents how current minimum wage rates have not “kept up” with average wages or economy-wide productivity levels and that minimum wages currently provide incomes for full-time workers below various poverty thresholds.8
CATO Institute
June 24, 2019
But how do we maximize those job-generating benefits? Tougher Buy America (not to be confused with Buy American) provisions in infrastructure spending legislation, which likely voters from both parties strongly support, are one way. A more permanent, systemic solution—coupled with Buy America provisions—is slashing the manufacturing trade deficit by two-thirds, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
United Steelworkers
June 24, 2019
Referencing, Ian Millhiser’s article, Chase Just Tried to Screw Its Credit Card Holders. Here’s How You Can Fight Back, the Economic Policy Institute’s Ross Eisenbrey explains, “individual workers forced into arbitration are less likely to prevail before an arbitrator than they are before a real judge. And when they do prevail, they typically receive far less money.” This statement pertains to employment arbitration, not consumer arbitration. However, let’s assume the data is similar in consumer. Obviously, this is a strike against opting on. At the same time, the data is limited as the number of arbitrations filed and the results, especially if the claims end in a settlement, are difficult to come by.
Doctor of Credit
June 24, 2019
This March, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris of California announced a plan to increase teacher salaries, which have not kept pace with the cost of living. Teachers’ pay is also out of line with that of other professionals. Teachers earn 11.1% less than other workers with comparable education and experience, according to the nonprofit think tank the Economic Policy Institute. Harris’ proposal would raise teachers’ salaries over the next decade to help close gaps between what teachers earn and the cost of living.
Brookings Institution
June 24, 2019
The Economic Policy Institute found in 2018, teachers across the country earned 13-percent less than private-sector workers with similar levels of education.
ABC 7 News
June 24, 2019
The Republican tax cuts for the rich came with promises of big bonuses for workers. This was the cover that corporations provided the GOP for the program, and it was as genuine as any other Donald Trump promise. Most of the bonuses were a long time coming and had already been negotiated long before the Republican tax cuts came into being. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its latest Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Listing, which the Economic Policy Institute analyzed. Guess what? That’s right:
An examination of overall wage and compensation growth does not provide much in the way of bragging rights for tax cutters, especially given the expectation of rising wages and compensation amidst low unemployment. Private sector compensation and W-2 wages both fell by 0.9 percent over the last year (March 2019 versus March 2018) and were lower in March 2019 than the average for 2017, the year before the tax bill passed. W-2 wages in March 2019, $27.44, were lower than in December 2017, $27.79, a drop of $0.35 or 1.2 percent.
Daily Kos
June 24, 2019
According to the Economic Policy Institute, fifty years after the Kerner Commission, Black workers still make only 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by white workers, and African Americans are 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites. A recent study found that the median White family now has 41 times more wealth than the median Black family and 22 times more wealth than the median Latinx family. Incarceration of African Americans tripled after 1980 and is currently more than six times the white incarceration rate.
Countercurrents.org
June 24, 2019
The unemployment rate for blacks was twice as high as whites: 6.5 percent to 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a research group focusing on on low- and middle-income workers.
NJ.com
June 24, 2019