Two Colorado counties are among those with the 10 highest top-to-bottom income ratio, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute.
The report analyzes income inequality across 3,061 U.S. counties, 916 metropolitan areas and all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. The report examines how the top 1 percent of people and the remaining 99 percent fared during 2015, the latest data available. (whole story)
9News
August 8, 2018
Economic inequality in the Berkshires is growing. According to a new report of the Economic Policy Institute, the wealth gap in the Berkshires is larger than the gap in the western Massachusetts’ three other counties. Studies by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation confirm the EPI findings. Peter Taylor, President of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, joined Carrie Saldo to shed light on both reports.
WGBY
August 8, 2018
Liberals and union groups view Tuesday’s vote in Missouri as an opportunity to begin reversing the momentum that has weakened unions to their low point in several decades. About 226,000 workers in Missouri are members of unions, or about 9 percent of the workforce, according to federal statistics. “We are seeing an attack on unions being sustained all over the place — the courts, private employers, the administration,” said Janelle Jones, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. “This vote could represent the pendulum swinging back to workers and away from corporate interests.”
The Washington Post
August 7, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, estimates that there would be 60,000 fewer union members in the Missouri private sector if the state’s right-to-work law takes effect. According to the same analysis, the worker in a right-to-work state earns roughly 3.1 percent less in hourly wages than a similar worker in a state without such a law.
The Huffington Post
August 7, 2018
A no vote on Tuesday would repeal the right-to-work law. A yes vote would make Missouri a right-to-work state, which would be a costly mistake. Wages in right-to-work states are 3.1 percent lower than those in non-right-to-work states, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. As a result a full-time, full-year worker in a right-to-work state will earn about $1,558 less annually.
August 7, 2018
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that income inequality continues to grow in the United States, including in two metro regions on the Treasure Coast. The report, which used the latest available data to analyze how the top 1 percent and everyone else across the U.S. have fared between 1917 and 2015, found the top 1 percent in Jackson, Wyoming, earns a whopping 132 times more than everyone else. However, that doesn’t mean the bottom 99 percent there are not faring well. Their average income is $122,447, which is more than double the average income — $50,107 — of the bottom 99 percent nationwide. (whole story)
Treasure Coast Palm
August 7, 2018
These revelations are included in “The New Gilded Age,” from the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. Authors Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price reveal that income inequality has gone up in all fifty states since the 1970s, and that process has accelerated almost everywhere since the 2009 period associated with what’s commonly called the Great Recession. In 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, an American family in the top 1 percent received in excess of 26 times more income as one in the bottom 99 percent. (whole story)
Westworld
August 7, 2018
“Clearly, employers are still not feeling pressure from a tightening labor market to increase wages,” wrote Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, in a blog post. “As the economy continues to advance towards full employment we should start seeing stronger wage growth across the economy, but given the lack of such growth, the low unemployment rate looks to be overstating the strength of the labor market.” Despite the modest wage numbers, most economists expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates twice more this year in a move to control inflation.
CBS Moneywatch
August 6, 2018
The sluggish wage growth “is an obvious sign that the economy is not at full employment, and there are no indications that wage growth is accelerating,” the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said in a statement.
Politico
August 6, 2018
“This continued slow wage growth is an obvious sign that the economy is not at full employment,” according to Valerie Wilson and Jessica Schieder, economists at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington D.C.
MultiBriefs
August 6, 2018