According to the Economic Policy Institute, “The substantial progress in educational attainment of African Americans has been accompanied by significant absolute improvement in wages, incomes, wealth, and health since 1968. But black workers still make only 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by white workers, African Americans are 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites, and the median white family has almost 10 times as much wealth as the median black family.” When it comes to home ownership — a well proven method of attaining and passing down generational wealth — the news is even more dire. With EPI also finding that in terms of family wealth, “One of the most important forms of wealth for working and middle-class families is home equity. Yet, the share of black households that owned their own home remained virtually unchanged between 1968 (41.1 percent) and today (41.2 percent). Over the same period, homeownership for white households increased 5.2 percentage points to 71.1 percent, about 30 percentage points higher than the ownership rate for black households.”
Atlanta Black Star
March 16, 2018
Wages have increased relative to where they were during the Great Recession, but the gaps between rich and poor, and between black and white, have widened. To put that into context, wage gains since the financial crisis indicate that most workers are merely catching up, not getting ahead, according to a report released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Bankrate
March 16, 2018
Aside from debt, the other primary culprit Americans say keeping them from saving is stagnant income. “A big reason why so few Americans save for an adequate retirement is too-low pay,” said Josh Bivens, research director at the Economic Policy Institute, pointing out that median wages for most workers have barely budged. “Those are totally linked.” … “I worry about 2019 — lots of people not getting refunds or even owing money. I think that is a potential problem,” Bivens said, and a Bankrate survey from last year illustrates why this could be a problem: Nearly one-third of respondents — a record high — said they would spend their refund on necessities like gas and groceries. “I’m a little worried that the IRS is being encouraged to be really aggressive… to make the tax cuts seem really impactful for political reasons,” Bivens said.
NBC News
March 15, 2018
The Economic Roundtable, whose “mission is to conduct research and implement programs that contribute to the sustainability of individuals and communities,” was blasted by Disney executives. Disney said the research “is inaccurate because it was answered by only a limited number of union workers. The company also said that the average hourly resort worker earns $37,000 a year, which works out to nearly $18 per hour.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, the cost of living for a family of four in Orange County, California, where Disneyland is located is over $100,000; for the areas surrounding Walt Disney World in Florida, a family of four needs more than $75,000 a year to live.
Nonprofit Quarterly
March 15, 2018
No doubt this comes as little surprise, but it really does cost a lot to live in the Bradenton-Sarasota area. How much, you might ask? A family of four spends almost $80,000 per year to live in the Manatee-Sarasota statistical area, according to the Family Budget Calculator released by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive Washington-based think tank. At $79,230 per year, that makes the two-county area one of the least-affordable regions in Florida. (whole story)
The Bradenton Herald
March 15, 2018
Late last year, “The Washington Post” wrote that African Americans were the only group that showed no economic improvement since 2000. They based their conclusions on Census data. This year, there was even more sobering news in a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The new study issued found “no progress” for African Americans on homeownership, unemployment and incarceration in 50 years. Much of what was included in the EPI study was stunning data on African American economic progress. Fifty years after the famous and controversial Kerner Commission Report that identified “white racism” as the driver of “pervasive discrimination in employment and education” for African Americans, EPI concluded that not much has changed. The EPI study stated the obvious and pointed to glaring statistics.
NNPA Newswire
March 15, 2018
Further, as reported by Smithsonian.com, the Economic Policy Institute, which released its own study on the 50th anniversary of Kerner Commission’s findings, reported that in 2017 black unemployment was higher than it was in 1968, and it remained around twice the rate of white unemployment.
The Washington Informer
March 15, 2018
About 60 million people—more than half of the non-union private sector workforce—are covered by mandatory arbitration agreements, according to an Economic Policy Institute study. These agreements require employees to resolve disputes through private arbitrators chosen by employers, rather than go through the courts.
Fast Company
March 14, 2018
About 60.1 million workers in the U.S. are beholden to mandatory arbitration clauses, according to a study released last year by the progressive Economic Policy Institute. Many of them have no idea; you can agree to give up your right to file a lawsuit simply by accepting an employee handbook. Employees win in arbitration only 21 percent of the time, according to an earlier paper from EPI ― a much lower rate than you’d find in state or federal court. And if they win, monetary damages are far lower as well ― less than half of what a victim would be awarded in court. If a victim loses, many companies will require her to pay arbitration fees.
The Huffington Post
March 14, 2018