Since then, the broad topic of employers’ ability to set wages, often at rates below a worker’s worth, has continued to draw attention from policymakers and economists, who have, in recent papers, primarily focused on the effects of employer market concentration on wages and inequality. But in a new report, economists Josh Bivensand Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, caution against an exclusive focus on market concentration. Market concentration is a source of employer power, they argue, but it’s far from the only one. (whole story)
Pacific Standard
December 14, 2018
A new rule proposed by the Trump administration in an attempt to weaken the power of labor unions could cost American workers $1.3 billion in lost wages annually, a new study by the Economic Policy Institute has found. The rule proposal would limit the joint employment standard under the National Labor Relations Act.
Newsweek
December 14, 2018
A workers’ rights group on Monday said the National Labor Relations Board’s proposal to narrow the circumstances in which companies are held liable for labor law violations by their contractors and franchisees and must bargain with their employees could deprive many workers of the benefits of unionizing. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in comments submitted to the board said unionized employees who work for contractors and temporary staffing agencies alone would lose at least $1.3 billion in wages annually if the NLRB’s September proposal on so-called “joint employment” is adopted.
Reuters
December 14, 2018
The National Labor Relations Board’s proposed regulation tightening its standard for finding businesses jointly employ the same group of employees will cost workers $1.3 billion a year by making it harder…The NLRB is proposing to require evidence of “direct control” of work conditions before it labels a business a joint employer, which the Economic Policy Institute …
Law360
December 14, 2018
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute calculates that the joint employer rule would cost workers a “conservatively” estimated $1.3 billion in wages annually. In Dec. 9 comments, EPI Director of Policy Heidi Shierholz and Director of Government Affairs Celine McNicholas argued that the narrower definition of joint employment would make collective bargaining among subcontracted and temporary workers “nearly impossible.” Read a press release here and EPI’s comment here.
Politico Pro
December 11, 2018
The Detroit News
December 4, 2018
A report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found temporary staffing lowered wages by 4 percent. The share of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector has also increased–accounting for 11.3 percent of all manufacturing workers in 2015, up from 2.3 percent in 1989.
PBS Newshour
November 19, 2018
Seattle has been a big test case in the push to increase the minimum wage around the country, and Arkansas is likely to draw that kind of attention soon. Researchers at the University of Washington found in a recent study that the city’s higher wages have lifted pay, but worker hours have been cut as a result. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute criticized the study, arguing the job losses were negligible and probably caused by the rapid rise in pay in the city because of Seattle’s economic and tech boom. … The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour hasn’t increased since 2009 and is worth substantially less than the minimum wage was in the 1960s once adjusted for inflation, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
November 9, 2018
Marketplace
November 9, 2018
The federal minimum wage hasn’t seen an increase since 2009, when it rose from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. Yet costs for essentials such as health care and housing have surged since then, with inflation reducing its spending power by more than 12 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. Pay for the top 1 percent of American workers has soared, however. In 20017, annual wages for top earners rose 3.7 percent, but the bottom 90 percent of workers saw wage gains of 1 percent, EPI found. The difference is even more striking when examining pay growth since the late 1970s: The top 1 percent’s income has surged more than 157 percent, or about 7 times more than that of the bottom 90 percent. Because the federal minimum wage doesn’t appear likely to receive a boost under the Trump administration, state and municipal lawmakers are enacting local laws to push up the baseline pay rate. Currently, 29 states and Washington, D.C., have higher minimum wages than the federal rate, according to EPI. The bulk of those increases have come within the last four years, with 23 states pushing up their minimum wage laws since 2014.
CBS Moneywatch
November 8, 2018