Media clips
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The Economic Policy Institute researched the impact of RTW across the nation and compared the quality of life in non-RTW states. The report highlights the differences in wages and quality of life based on race and gender. Black workers, already suffering in low-wage jobs, should expect no breaks. The only breaks will be those for the rich and greedy.
The St. Louis American July 20, 2018 -
MIXED REVIEWS FOR WORKFORCE PLEDGES: President Donald Trump gathered business executives at the White House Thursday to sign workforce training pledges. At the same session, Trump inked an executive order to create a new workforce task force. The East Room event took on the format of a fundraising dinner, with Trump walking around the room and soliciting training pledges from executives at companies such as FedEx, General Motors, IBM and Microsoft (“Give my regards,” Trump said to Home Depot CEO Craig Menear, without mentioning anyone in particular). Amid the handshakes, Trump’s comments 11 months ago about “both sides” sharing the blame for a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville — and the corporate exodus from the president’s business councils that followed — seemed a distant memory. Trump secured guarantees from nearly two dozen businesses and trade groups to train a collective 3.8 million workers, according to the White House. Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the initiative would “help close the skills gap and build a workforce that supports our robust economy.” But responses from other business groups were more subdued. Robert Crestani, president of the International Franchise Association, said that by focusing on higher-level skills, the White House’s plan misses the point that even the most basic skills, such as operating a cash register, need to be taught. (IFA didn’t participate in Thursday’s pledge.) Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the White House’s efforts will do little to increase stagnant wages for workers, a problem that has baffled economic experts. “If they are trying to do this as a response to the weak wage growth, they are totally just trying to solve a very real problem … by addressing something that’s not part of the problem at all,” Shierholz said. Read Trump’s executive order here.
Politico Pro July 20, 2018 -
One of the most punishing ramifications of the gig economy is the outsourcing of typical benefits on the grounds that gig workers are not true employees — a significant financial toll for those contractors that is not immediately apparent from the start of the gig. Though Uber drivers nationwide earn $11.77 per hour, accounting for outside costs like health insurance drops that wage to $9.21 per hour, according to a May 2018 report from the Economic Policy Institute — below the minimum wage in 29 U.S. states.
The Outline July 20, 2018 -
The top 1 percent in Rhode Island earn 18.2 times more than the bottom 99 percent and have seen dramatic increase in their share of income growth in recent decades compared to earlier periods In The New Gilded Age: Income Inequality in the United States by State, Metropolitan Area, and County, a new paper published by the Washington DC based Economic Policy Institute for the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN), Mark Price, an economist at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Estelle Sommeiller, a socio-economist at France’s Institute for Research in Economic and Social Sciences, detail the incomes of the top 1 percent and the bottom 99 percent by state, metropolitan area, and county. (whole story)
Uprise Rhode Island July 20, 2018 -
The United States has entered a new Gilded Age. And, according to the leftist Economic Policy Institute (EPI), income inequality is so bad that we might return to the days when the Vanderbilts were building the Breakers and the Biltmore while shoeless children swept chimneys and toiled on the slag heap. “There has been vast and widespread growth in income inequality in every corner of the country,” EPI reported. “Overall, the growth in incomes of the bottom 99 percent has improved since our last report, in step with a strengthening economy, but the gap between the top 1 percent and everyone else still grew in the majority of states we examine here.” (whole story)
The New American July 20, 2018 -
According to a paper released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the wealth gap in West Virginia is fourth smallest, by ratio, in the U.S. behind Alaska, Hawaii and Iowa. While that may seem like a good figure to have, that number is largely based on the fact that both the top 1 percent of earners in the state and the bottom 99 percent of earners in the state are both the poorest in their respective category. The paper, “The new gilded age: Income inequality in the U.S. by state, metropolitan area, and county,” written by Estelle Sommeiller, a socio-economist at the Institute for Research in Economic and Social Sciences in France, and Mark Price, an economist at the Keystone Research Center in Pennsylvania, found that the wealth gap, a measure between the top one percent of earners and the bottom 99 percent of earners, has grown in every state since the 1970s. (whole story)
The Register-Herald July 20, 2018 -
The national nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute ranks Indiana 39th among states for income inequality. The institute reports the average top 1 percent in Indiana earns 17.3 times more than the average income of the rest of the state. “What’s really significant about that is that it reflects not just a disparity between what the average Hoosier household is taking home, but it is also reflecting policy changes that’s widening that gap,” says Indiana Institute for Working Families senior policy analyst Andrew Bradley.
Indian Public Media July 20, 2018 -
A new study shows inequality of personal income in the United States is approaching levels last seen 90 years ago, on the eve of the Great Depression.
Leading the nation with the greatest divide between the wealthiest 1 percent of residents and the other 99 percent was New York state, according to the report by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C. (whole story)
The Daily Gazette July 20, 2018 -
Are we reliving the “Great Gatsby” era? A new study cites five states where the top 1 percent have exceeded 1928’s 23.9 percent share of income: According to an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study of the new “gilded age,” these are the top states with the widest income disparities: (whole story)
Also in the Daily Voice of Peekskill , New Rochelle, Somers , Tarrytown, North Salem, Port Chester, Pound Ridge, Putnam, Rivertowns, Ossining, Scarsdale, Rye, Armonk, Bedford, Chappaqua, Darien, Eastchester, East Dutchess, Fairfield, Greenwich, Lewisboro, Mount Vernon, Mt. Pleasant, Northwest Dutchess, Newtown, Orangetown, North Rockland, Rampo, Shelton, Stratford, Trumbull-Monroe, Bronxville, Bridgeport, Briarcliff, Brookfield, Clarkstown, Cortlandt, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Mt. Kisco, New Canaan, Yorktown, Yonkers, Westport Weston, White Plains, Southwest Dutchess, Pleasantville, Pelham, and Norwalk.
Greenburg Daily Voice July 20, 2018 -
Whole blog post.
Capitol Fax Blog July 20, 2018
