The top 1 per cent – it is a phrase you hear a lot, especially since politicians like Bernie Sanders began repeating it at rallies. But what does being in the exclusive club actually look like? Researchers from the Economic Policy Institute found out the minimum a person would have to earn to count themselves among the top percent in each state, and uncovered a discrepancy even among the very richest. Mississippi is where the bar to entry drops lowest, with someone having to earn just over $250,000 per year to qualify as among the most valuable in the state. (whole story)
The Daily Mail
September 4, 2018
With Democrats looking primed to retake the House, there could be a new—and rare—opportunity to rethink labor laws in the next session of Congress. Numerous policy proposals are already making the rounds, but as progressive Democrats shop around for new labor reforms, where will they turn? Last week, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a 15-point policy agenda to reverse the decades-long erosion of workers’ rights in the U.S. Celine McNicholas, director of labor law and policy at EPI and one of the coauthors of the agenda, says that instead of the “magic bullet” reform that lawmakers might be searching for, there is no quick-fix solution. Getting decent wages back into the pockets of workers and giving workers more power at the bargaining table will take a comprehensive reform package, she says. (whole story)
The American Prospect
August 31, 2018
“There are a lot of people who have been working very hard on the renegotiation of Nafta,” said Robert Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think-tank that draws some of its funding from labor unions. “But I don’t think that’s going to bring jobs home in vast numbers. I just don’t see it.”
Bloomberg
August 29, 2018
Such agreements have all come under harsher scrutiny in recent years amid the rise of the #MeToo movement and the sluggishness of wage growth. Last week, the Economic Policy Institute, whose board is chaired by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, released a proposed workplace reform agendafor Congress that includes banning forced arbitration, as well as almost all non-competes.
Bloomberg
August 29, 2018
Overall, a separate study from the Economic Policy Institute found that in 2017 “average compensation for CEOs of the top 350 publicly traded firms increased 17.6 percent to $18.9 million” and that for those firms, “the ratio of CEO-to-worker compensation rose to 312-to-1—far greater than the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and more than five times greater than the 58-to-1 ratio in 1989.”
Capital & Main
August 29, 2018
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan Washington think-tank, states that the heads of the 350 largest U.S. Corporations had a raise in salary of 17.6 percent in 2017 which resulted in an average of $18.9 million in take-home pay. The average worker’s salary barely moved last year with an average increase of just 0.3 percent. This means that the big boss to worker compensation ratio in that country is 312 to 1, which is 5 times higher than the 58 to 1 ratio of 1989. Executive pay packets in the United States have grown almost 72 percent since 2009. Executive pay is rising faster than stock prices or corporative profits, having increased by 1,070 percent between 1978 and 2017, compared to a 637 percent hike in the S & P Index.
Cumberland News Now
August 29, 2018
Income creates a disparity in every U.S. city, but the gap is markedly bigger in some areas versus others. A 2018 study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently identified U.S. states, cities and counties most divided by wealth. The principal factors among many the were average income of the top 1%, the average income of the bottom 99% and the ratio of the top’s income to the bottom’s. Of the more than 900 metro areas in the EPI study, we narrowed the list down to only those with populations greater than 100,000. There are definitely some noticeable patterns. Of the top 13 metropolitan areas on the list, six of them are in Florida. Another three of the 13 are located in California. Two are located in the greater New York City metro area. And the last two don’t fall into a bucket: Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.-Mo. And Las Vegas. No cities have the exact same income discrepancy — aka top-to-bottom ratio — but the underlying problem is apparent in every one: a withering middle class. (whole story)
Forbes
August 29, 2018
Whether this will be enough to satisfy longtime critics of the trade pact remains to be seen. Longtime NAFTA skeptic Robert Scott of the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute told me there was little sign Trump’s team had made progress on key issues: “It’s a press release in search of a real deal.” To sell it, Trump stuck mostly to bluster and hyperbole during his brief talk. The president got things started by announcing that it was a “big day” for trade, then puzzlingly suggested that NAFTA was ready for a name change. “They used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States–Mexico Trade Agreement,” he said. “We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt badly by NAFTA for many years. And now it’s a very good deal for both countries.”
Slate
August 28, 2018
But critics of the deal suggest it has led to significant job losses within the US market, with companies shifting operations to Mexico due to lower production costs. According to the US-based Economic Policy Institute, about 700,000 jobs have been lost nationwide due to growing trade deficits with Mexico caused by NAFTA.
Al Jazeera
August 28, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute reported earlier this month that the average CEO of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. pocketed $18.9 million in 2017, a 17.6 percent pay increase over 2016. At the same time, typical worker compensation remained flat, rising merely 0.3 percent. If you do some quick math, dividing 17.6 percent by 0.3 percent, you might conclude that CEO pay in 2017 increased about 60 times faster than worker pay. (whole story)
Inequality.org
August 28, 2018