Media clips
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A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics finds that the gap between teacher’s weekly wages and comparably educated and experienced workers is wider than ever, growing to 18.7 percent in 2017. (whole story)
The Scope Weekly September 11, 2018 -
The teacher pay penalty has hit a new high, Economic Policy Institute
“The erosion of teacher pay relative to that of comparable workers in the last couple of years — and in fact since 2008 — reflects state policy decisions rather than the result of revenue challenges brought on by the Great Recession. A recent study found that most of the 25 states that were still spending less for K–12 education in 2016 than 3 before the recession had also enacted tax cuts between 2008 and 2016. In fact, eight of the 10 states with the largest reductions in education funding since 2008 were states that had reduced their overall ‘tax effort’ — meaning through tax cuts or other measures they were collecting less in taxes relative to their capacity to generate tax revenue. These eight states were Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia.”
Tampa Bay Times September 11, 2018 -
That’s a drop for teachers now vs. teachers just over a decade ago. There’s an even bigger problem when you compare teachers with other college graduates, as Economic Policy Institute researchers Sylvia Allegretto and Lawrence Mishel did. Looking at the period from 1996 to 2017, they find a slight drop in teacher pay while wages for other college graduates rose by more than $100 per week.
Daily Kos September 11, 2018 -
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