Having to cover every single cent of such investments either with spending cuts or new taxes is both unnecessary if they’re going to expand the economy in the long run and also almost impossible to pull off politically. Government investment in the right areas — better health care, functioning infrastructure, good education, a quality start in life for all children — is worthwhile, and pays later dividends even if it requires significant upfront outlays. As Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote, “It is terrible economics to view federal budget deficits as always and everywhere bad.”
The Huffington Post
January 23, 2019
In a new report, researcher Josh Bivens at the Economic Policy Institute explains that this muted stimulus helped lead to the drawn-out recovery from the financial crisis during which the rich have massively increased their wealth while low-income Americans continue to face low wages, increasing healthcare costs and a precarious job market.
In These Times
January 23, 2019
Mr. Trump also took another shot at the North American Free Trade Agreement that the new trade deal seeks to replace, arguing that “we lost millions of jobs” through Nafta. (The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimated that the United States lost 850,000 jobs because of Nafta. The Times was unable to find any credible estimate that supported Mr. Trump’s “millions” figure.)
The New York Times
January 23, 2019
Affected workers who work year-round will see their annual pay go up between $90 and $1,300, on average, depending on the size of the change in their state, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In New York City, for example, the minimum wage increased to $15 for all businesses with more than 10 employees. And employers like Walmart and Amazon have also raised minimum wages for their workers.
Yahoo Finance
January 4, 2019
Minimum wage workers in Ohio will see their paychecks go up this year, along with workers in 19 other states and two dozen cities and counties. That’s according to a new analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which tracks minimum wage changes across the country.
Patch
January 4, 2019
More than 100,000 workers in Missouri are expected to see a pay bump this week with the increase of the state’s minimum wage, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Missouri Business Alert
January 4, 2019
California and Washington are also raising theirs to $12. The wage hikes will increase pay for 5.3 million workers across the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The increases range from a 5-cent inflation adjustment in Alaska to a $2 per hour increase in New York City. The institute said the increases will boost wages for affected workers by about $5.4 billion.
State House News Service
January 4, 2019
Alaska is among 29 states with minimum wages above $7.25, the highest being Washington state at $12, and in July, Washington, D.C., will pay workers at least $14 per hour, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute.
Homer News
January 4, 2019
Vigdor insists that changes in hiring practices were mostly a response to the minimum-wage increases, not to the economy, since changes clearly took place just as mandated raises kicked in. But not everyone is convinced. “Workers who were working very low hours experienced a small reduction in their hours, but it was fully offset by hourly wage increases,” according to the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank, “leaving these workers with the same take-home pay from fewer hours of work.”
Governing
January 4, 2019
Despite possibility of last-minute spending, 40 percent of Americans are unable to cover a $400 emergency expense, while wages remain close to stagnant for most people, despite gains for top earners. New analysis from the Economic Policy Institute shows that labor income for the bottom 90 percent has shrunk by more than 10 percent since 1979—translating to about $10,800 of lost pay per household. With little sign of bipartisan cooperation on pro-worker policies, a tight labor market is the primary force that most workers can expect to reverse this trend in the coming year.
Center for American Progress
January 4, 2019