Media clips
-
Back in the day, teachers earned more than other comparable workers, but now shrinking education budgets and subsequent cuts in teacher pay place them behind their peers. According to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute, teachers now earn 11.1 percent less than other professionals in comparable fields. Teacher pay has been on the decline for decades, and teacher compensation has gotten so bad that current teacher pay is almost 2 percent less than it was in 1999, according to the Department of Education. It’s no wonder we’ve seen a rise in teacher strikes across the country. According to the EPI study: (whole story)
Daily Kos September 11, 2018 -
The average CEO of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. received $18.9 million in compensation in 2017, a 17.6 percent increase over 2016.cIf the subject of high CEO pay sounds familiar, it should – it’s been going on for decades. While the average worker’s compensation remained flat, rising a mere 0.3 percent last year, the 2017 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 312-1. That’s far greater than the 20-1 ratio in 1965 and more than five times the 58-1 ratio in 1989, although lower than the peak 344-1 ratio in 2000. “Why it matters:” said researchers Lawrence Mishel and Jessica Schieder. “Regardless of how it is measured, CEO pay continues to be very, very high and has grown far faster in recent decades than typical worker pay. Higher CEO pay does not reflect correspondingly higher output or better firm performance. Exorbitant CEO pay, therefore, means that the fruits of economic growth are not going to ordinary workers.” (whole post)
The Building Tradesman Newspaper September 11, 2018 -
For the lowest-paid one-fifth of the workforce, wages rose 2.3 percent in 2017, adjusted for inflation, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. That topped the average for middle-income workers, whose pay gains inched up just 0.2 percent. In 2017, the chief executives of the 350 largest publicly traded U.S. companies reported, on average, an increase in compensation of nearly 18 percent, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. That compares with a puny raise of just 0.3 percent for all other workers in the same industries. Both figures are adjusted for inflation. (Larry and CEO pay report cited throughout)
The Associated Press September 7, 2018 -
The overdue national attention on the erosion of teacher salaries across the nation couldn’t come at a more urgent time. According to a new paper by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the teacher pay penalty – the percent by which public school educators are paid less than comparable workers – has reached an all-time high. When adjusting only for inflation, the researchers found that teachers, compared to other college graduates, are paid nearly $350 less per week in salary in 2017, or 23 percent less. (whole story)
NEA Today September 7, 2018 -
The compensation gap between public school teachers and other college graduates is wider now than it was 20 years ago. A report released Wednesday from the Economic Policy Institute shows average weekly wages of public school teachers fell $27 from 1996 to 2017. The same figure for other college graduates went up $137. The wages were adjusted for inflation. (whole story)
WYFF September 7, 2018 -
The trade war has escalated in recent months, with a number of separate announcements of tariffs on various goods. However, the tariffs imposed so far affect only a “narrow sliver” of the U.S. economy, according to Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute. They affect only 0.1 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and the effect may rise to 0.8 percent at most, if all proposed tariffs are implemented, Lee said in her testimony. “Tariffs, used strategically, can be an important and useful tool,” she argued, adding that steel tariffs are useful in addressing a problem of global excess capacity.
The Epoch Times September 7, 2018 -
Are teachers in the U.S. paid enough? It sure doesn’t look that way: They’re crowdfunding and panhandling to fund school supplies, going on strike in state after state, and leaving the profession entirely (not one state had enough teachers to serve all its students at the start of the 2017-2018 school year). But critics of efforts to boost teacher wages often point out that educators enjoy benefits that should balance out their lower take-home pay. Teachers, after all, enjoy hefty retirement plans, health and life insurance, and payroll taxes. (And they take three months off each summer!) But according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, teacher pay is indeed lower than ever, and boosted benefits aren’t enough to balance out ebbing salaries. In many cases, stable or slightly improved benefits are being offered instead of raises—“making benefits a larger share of the overall compensation package for teachers than for other professionals,” the report reads, but in the process driving down wages even more. (whole story)
CityLab September 6, 2018 -
The wage gap between teachers and comparable professionals has grown over time, with teachers now earning 18.7 percent less than other college-educated workers, according to a new analysis. A new paper published by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank supported by labor unions, found that the “teacher wage penalty” has increased significantly—teachers earned just 1.8 percent less than comparable workers in 1994. And although teachers do receive better benefits packages than their college-educated peers, those benefits only mitigate part of the gap: Including benefits, teachers face an 11 percent compensation penalty. (whole story)
Education Week September 6, 2018 -
Teachers are making less today than they did more than 20 years ago and their wages have fallen relative to comparable workers, according to a new research paper by the labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute. When adjusting for inflation, teacher pay has decreased by $27 a week since 1996, falling from $1,164 weekly to $1,137 in 2017. Meanwhile, the study found, other college graduates’ average weekly wages have increased from $1,339 to $1,476 over the same time period. (whole story)
The Houston Chronicle September 6, 2018 -
When researchers at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) looked deeper at these trends, they found that female, senior teachers had been most affected by declining wages. In 1996, teachers in this group earned 8% more than similarly qualified females in other professions. By 2015, that had become a wage penalty, as female, senior teachers earned 14% less than their peers in other jobs. The institute flags this as a particular concern given that these employees are “some of the most experienced in the profession” and are having to delay retirement as a result of falling wages. (EPI research/charts cited throughout)
The Guardian September 6, 2018