But a report by the Economic Policy Institute found earlier this year that the economic boom a city expects from Amazon warehouses–job growth and more consumer spending–don’t seem to pay off. “What we found is that it is true that Amazon create warehousing jobs. But that doesn’t translate into a net addition or total number of jobs added to the economy,” Ben Zipperer, co-author of the February 2018 EPI report entitled “Unfulfilled Promises.” (Ben quoted throughout)
Bakersfield Now
August 28, 2018
Average compensation for top U.S. executives exploded to nearly $19 million in 2017, up almost 18 percent from 2016, a new report says. If you don’t remember getting an 18 percent raise last year, it’s because you probably didn’t. The report by the liberal Economic Policy Institute shows typical wages remained virtually unchanged during that time. This has driven the pay difference between people at the top and those who work for them to its widest gap in a decade. (Whole editorial)
St. Louis Post Dispatch
August 27, 2018
California, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania have passed legislation that puts them on a path to reach a $15 minimum wage for state employees, but none have reached that goal yet. The North Carolina decision is “unexpected,” says David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute and an expert on minimum wage issues. “You don’t expect to hear about minimum wage increases happening in conservative places.” (Dave quoted throughout)
Governing
August 27, 2018
Meanwhile, the average CEO pay among America’s 350 largest publicly-held companies jumped to $19 million in 2017, an 18 percent raise over 2016, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The S&P 500 only went up 14.5 percent during the same period, while the average America saw a 2 percent raise. (CEO pay data cited throughout)
The Houston Chronicle
August 27, 2018
Labor law in the U.S. has been broken down over the past several decades until you might think it nearly nonexistent. And yet a new wave of worker resistance and political interest in labor makes it a good time to push for a reimagining and rebuilding of the laws that govern the workplace. The Economic Policy Institute has just published a new agenda for doing just that—called “First Day Fairness.” I talked with Celine McNicholas, one of the authors of the report, about the movement that will be necessary to rewrite the rules to give workers an equal chance.
The Progressive
August 27, 2018
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that compensation for chief executive officers at the top 350 publicly traded companies in the U.S. soared last year by 17.6 percent to almost $19 million a year. That’s 312 times what the average worker at those companies made in 2017. If you’re wondering, the compensation of rank-and-file worker rose only 0.3 percent at these firms.
Teamsters
August 27, 2018
The Washington Post
August 27, 2018
Today we bring you a conversation with Celine McNicholas, the director of labor law and policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). In this interview, McNicholas discusses EPI’s latest report, which provides a blueprint for protecting all workers, whose rights are being attacked at every opportunity.
Truthout
August 27, 2018
Economic Policy Institute promotes First Day Fairness project:
First Day Fairness is the right of all workers to a fair system of work from their first day on the job. U.S. workers are essential contributors to economic growth in the U.S. and they deserve a fair share of that growth and a fair say in their working conditions. First Day Fairness requires a rebalancing of our current system to ensure that workers’ interests and concerns are served.
Daily Kos
August 27, 2018
Earlier today, the inestimable Meteor Blades gave a shout-out to the Economic Policy Institute’s new “First Day Fairness” project.
It’s a project we should all get behind, in my opinion. By that, I mean: all Daily Kos readers, all elected Democrats, and all soon-to-be elected Democrats. (Can’t wait for November 6!)
If you haven’t had time to read or glance through the detailed proposal, here’s a summary of the main points. Celine McNicholas, Samantha Sanders, and Heidi Shierholz, the authors of the report, argue that if we want to effectively counter our decades-long national slide into worsening inequality and “the erosion of workers’ bargaining power,” we will have to address each of the following problems:
Daily Kos
August 27, 2018