June 16th marks the longest period in history without an increase in the federal minimum wage. The last time Congress passed an increase was in May 2007, when it legislated that the minimum wage be raised to $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009. Since it was first established in 1938, Congress has never let the minimum wage go unchanged for so long.
People’s World
June 18, 2019
Economists too have been weighing in on how big employers like AT&T are using their increased profits from the tax windfall: “The strongest claim made by proponents of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was that it would trickle down to aid working families by boosting wages,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “This was never a convincing claim and we can see now just how cynical it was all along: after lobbying fiercely for a corporate tax cut that put literally billions in their coffers, AT&T is fighting tooth and nail to make sure that they don’t have to share any of this new profitability with their workers by committing to invest in good jobs.”
Value Walk
June 18, 2019
“The workers that come in need to be paid fairly and they need to have equal rights and protections,” says Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank with ties to the U.S. labor movement. “Unfortunately, the H-2B program doesn’t have that.”
We Love Foreign Workers
June 18, 2019
Studies show that wage theft is a pernicious problem, depriving low-wage workers—most often women, immigrants, and people of color—of as much as $50 billion a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Just one kind of wage theft—minimum wage violations—cheated North Carolina workers out of $316 million in 2015, according to an EPI report.
Indy Week
June 18, 2019
ARBITRATION VS. CLASS ACTION — Economic Policy Institute has a new paper out looking at awards in class action cases against banks versus arbitration.
Politico
June 18, 2019
Low teacher pay has attracted much attention over the last year in the wave of teacher unrest, even gathering attention among Democratic presidential candidates. A recent report from The Economic Policy Institute shows teachers were paid lower than other college graduates in all states, and the teacher pay penalty in the U.S. is also large by international standards.
The Brookings Institution
June 18, 2019
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit think tank, the cost of infant care annually can range from $4,822 (Mississippi, where the median family income is $44,717) to $22,631 (Washington, D.C., where the median family income is $63,587).
Fox Business
June 18, 2019
- The Economic Policy Institute found that more than one in four black households have zero or negative net worth, compared to less than one in ten white families without wealth.
Bloomberg Tax
June 17, 2019
Meanwhile, drivers don’t just need to worry about ratings, because tips must also be considered. The Economic Policy Institute reported last month that Uber drivers earn $9.21 an hour after expenses (ridesharing blog Ridester’ssurvey placed this at a more generous $13.70) — hence the growing number of strikes and protests. Tips supplement this pay, and many drivers try to create the most advantageous environments possible for this, offering bottled water, USB chargers, and even snacks. The right selection of music also factors in.
OneZero
June 17, 2019