The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit think tank, announced Thursday that it planned to move its annual Economic Analysis and Research Network conference from the Kimpton Hotel Allegro to “stand in solidarity” with the striking hotel workers. The conference, scheduled for Oct. 3-5, involved nearly 300 hotel nights, the nonprofit said.
Chicago Tribune
September 24, 2018
In the United States, the pay-rise gap was wider still. The average chief executive of the 350 largest firms received an eye-watering $18.9 million, a 17.6 per cent increase on 2016, while the typical workers’ salary barely shifted, increasing just 0.3 per cent, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) think tank.
Raconteur
September 24, 2018
The other Florida: Forty-four percent of households can’t afford basic needs such as food, housing, childcare, health care, and transportation, according to a United Way study. Florida is second only to New York in economic inequality; The average income of the top 1 percent earner in Florida is 40 times higher than the average income of the remaining 99 percent, the liberal Economic Policy Institute found.
Tampa Bay Times
September 24, 2018
But there is more data from the Economic Policy Institute for a shorter time period (2010 to 2015) due to data availability at the county level that shows that income growth for the top 1 percent maps to geographic inequities in North Carolina. In the state’s urban counties, the top 1 percent have incomes that are 23 times that of the bottom 99 percent, whereas in the state’s rural counties that ratio is 14 times. (Whole story)
The Progressive Pulse
September 24, 2018
Americans without a four-year college degree now earn less than they did in 1979, according to research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. College-educated workers, meanwhile, enjoyed wage gains of about 16 percent over that time. Americans with graduate degrees saw their income rise 30 percent.
CBS Moneywatch
September 20, 2018
Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute who formerly worked for several labor unions, said the bonus and benefit growth are more reflective of a several years of falling unemployment than of recent tax cuts. “Overall wage and compensation growth does not provide much in the way of bragging rights for tax cutters,” he said. “Especially given the expectation of rising wages and compensation amidst low unemployment.”
The Wall Street Journal
September 19, 2018
Already, California and Washington state have passed almost identical “One Fair Wage” policies, and a recent study out of the Economic Policy Institute suggests tipped workers in San Francisco and Seattle, which are also phasing in a $15 minimum wage, earn more than their D.C. counterparts. … The Economic Policy Institute’s study on One Fair Wage cities was questioned by many anti-77 speakers, but David Cooper, who wrote the paper, testified to reiterate his findings: Seattle tipped workers make 7 percent more in median hourly wages than those in D.C. and San Francisco tipped workers make 21 percent more. The study also complicates the assertion that jobs will be lost—in both Seattle and San Francisco, “tipped workers make up a larger share of the overall workforce” than in D.C. Still, opponents insisted that D.C. is unique, with fewer chains and more locally-owned restaurants than other cities; and that comparing it with other One Fair Wage cities is unhelpful.
City Lab
September 19, 2018
Colorado has the fourth worst teacher pay gap in the country. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute found Colorado teachers make 35.1 percent less that other workers living in similar parts of the state with similar education. The paper tracks teacher pay since 1979, when they made about 5.5 percent less than comparable workers nationally. By 2017 that gap had grown to 18.7 percent. (whole story)
KUNC
September 19, 2018
An analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, a union-backed think tank, is scheduled to testify on his recent paper that shows mostly positive effects from “one fair wage” policies in California and Washington State. But economists are mixed on the issue: The business-backed D.C. Policy Institute rebutted the EPI study today, saying it “fails to meet standard tests of reliability.”
WAMU
September 19, 2018
D.C. TIP TROUBLES: The D.C. Council met late into last night to hear testimony about rescinding Initiative 77, a ballot measure approved by D.C. voters earlier this year that extended to tipped workers D.C.’s standard hourly minimum ($13.25 now; set to rise to $15 in 2020) rather than the $3.89 “tipped” minimum. Labor advocates contend that a tipped minimum perpetuates gender and racial bias and encourages wage and hour violations. But many workers think they do better when they earn the bulk of their money from tips, because when they’re paid standard minimum, restaurant prices go up, prompting customers to tip less. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released a study last week disputing that conclusion. It found that tipped workers in Seattle and San Francisco who were paid a $15 minimum earned more per hour than tipped workers in D.C. (Twenty-one percent more in San Francisco and 7 percent more in Seattle.) Read the EPI study here.
Politico Pro
September 19, 2018