Media clips
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Larry Mishel, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, calculated the growth of teacher wages compared to wages overall in the state. “Teacher salaries grew by just 3.8 percent while the average job’s compensation grew 23.6 percent (between 1990 and 2015-16), Mishel said, calling the lack of growth “dramatic.” “Oklahoma doesn’t have the lowest per capita income among its neighbors (New Mexico and Arkansas are far lower), but it has, by far, the lowest teacher salaries,” he said. (Larry quoted throughout)
Tulsa World March 19, 2018 -
In the Economic Policy Institute’s report entitled “Unfulfilled Promises,” EPI economist Ben Zipperer and economic analyst Janelle Jones concluded that on average, “Amazon’s fulfillment centers are ineffective at providing net job growth.” “When Amazon opens a new fulfillment center, the host county gains roughly 30 percent more warehousing and storage jobs but no new net jobs overall, as the jobs created in warehousing and storage are likely offset by job losses in other industries,” the report states. Zipperer told The Bee that while Amazon certainly generates job growth within the warehousing industry sector when it opens one of its massive order-filling centers in a community, it does not appear to translate into employment gains across the entire local economy. “It seems to be shifting the composition of employment in some places,” Zipperer said. “You do see more warehousing workers. They are definitely hiring.” (whole story)
The Fresno Bee March 19, 2018 -
Si el cheque no te alcanza para fin de mes, no eres el único. Si crees que es caro vivir en el condado de Los Ángeles, estas en lo correcto. La última calculadora de presupuesto familiar del Economic Policy Institute (EPI) muestra que una familia de dos adultos y dos niños en el condado necesita ganar 7,691 dólares al mes, o 92,295 dólares al año, para cubrir todos sus gastos. Eso supera el ingreso familiar promedio del condado de Los Ángeles de 66,203 dólares por año, según la Encuesta de la Comunidad Americana de la Oficina del Censo de Estados Unidos. (whole story)
La Opinion March 19, 2018 -
Albright tries to get by on $31,000 a year. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank created to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions, a mother of two children like Albright would have to make $61,725 a year to have an adequate standard of living in Somerset County. For an adult with no children, that figure is $33,522. The Institute’s Family Budget Calculator takes into account geographic differences in cost of living and factors in a range of expenses, including housing, food, transportation, child care, health care and other basic necessities.
Daily American March 19, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., looked at data on the cost of living for 10 family types in all 3,142 counties and 611 metro areas to determine where areas fall in terms of affordability. Greater Baltimore was found to have the 35th highest cost of living, and 15th highest median family income. Of course, that’s under EPI’s standards, which measures only what’s required for families to have an adequate standard of living and does not include extra expenses such as paying off student loans or saving for college or retirement. Using the data they collected, EPI created its “Family Budget Caculator,” which allows the user to compare the monthly and annual cost of living for families of various sizes. It also shows how much those famililes spends on housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, taxes and other necessities. (whole story)
Baltimore Business Journal March 19, 2018 -
A recently released study questions whether workers hired through temp-for-hire and staffing agencies is shrinking that premium. According to the study by the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, since 1990 real wages for production workers have risen by only 0.1 percent annually. The research points to government data that estimates there are about 1.2 million temporary workers in manufacturing. And nearly one-third of all manufacturing production workers rely on food stamps or other government help “to make ends meet,” the paper says.
Dayton Daily News March 19, 2018 -
“Kudlow is obviously coming in knowing there is a president who will make very sudden moves on things like tariff policies,” said Heidi Shierholz, the Economic Policy Institute’s senior economist, and a former chief economist at the Labor Department under President Obama. “So he knows what he’s walking into.”
PBS News Hour March 16, 2018 -
The cost of raising a family looks very different depending on where you are. It will cost you about $58,906 a year to raise a four-person family in Brownsville, Texas, for example, but if you move to San Francisco, California, that expense more that doubles, to $148,439. That’s according to the Economic Policy Institute’s newly updated family budget calculator. The calculator shows the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living across the U.S. In other words, it measures “what families need to get by,” says EPI Senior Economist Elise Gould. (whole story)
CNBC March 16, 2018 -
Did you know that a family of two adults and two children living in L.A. County needs to earn $7,691 a month, or just over $92K a year to meet all of its living expenses? Elise Gould is a Senior Economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “When you look at what it really costs to get by in Southern California, it takes a lot of money.” The Family Budget Calculator breaks the $92k down this way: A family of four will pay $1,663 a month for housing, $830 for food, $1,223 for child care, $1,159 for transportation, $795 for health care, $1,006 for other necessities and $1,016 for taxes. That’s a lot more than L.A. County’s median family income, which is just $66,203 per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. (whole story)
KABC March 16, 2018 -
Deeply disturbing is the reality that 50 years later, Black people still suffer the brunt of systemic racism and inequality. When we look at data provided by the Kerner Commission report and compare it to today’s reality, it is shocking how far we haven’t come. In a must-read follow-up briefing by the Economic Policy Institute titled 50 years after the Kerner Commission, researchers Valerie Wilson, Janelle Jones (who appeared on WURD to discuss it) and John Schmitt observed that: (key findings listed)
Philadelphia Citizen March 16, 2018