Media clips
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The Economic Policy Institute says today that “African Americans are better off in many ways” compared to 1968, but: With respect to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African Americans over the last five decades. In these areas, their situation has either failed to improve relative to whites or has worsened. In 2017 the black unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 1968, and is still roughly twice the white unemployment rate. In 2015, the black homeownership rate was just over 40 percent, virtually unchanged since 1968, and trailing a full 30 points behind the white homeownership rate, which saw modest gains over the same period. And the share of African Americans in prison or jail almost tripled between 1968 and 2016 and is currently more than six times the white incarceration rate.
Mother Jones February 27, 2018 -
BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT PERSISTS: Fifty years ago the Kerner Commission on Civil Disorders said “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white–separate and unequal.” The report noted “Pervasive discrimination and segregation in employment, education and housing, which have resulted in the continuing exclusion of great numbers of Negroes from the benefits of economic progress.” A half-century later, African Americans have made some progress in educational attainment and wages, but “black workers still make only 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by white workers” and “the median white family has almost 10 times as much wealth as the median black family,” according to a report released Monday by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. In the areas of homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, things have either remained the same for African Americans or gotten worse. The Washington Post’s Tracy Jan pulls a key stat: “7.5 percent of African Americans were unemployed in 2017, compared to 6.7 percent in 1968 — still roughly twice the white unemployment rate.” But wait. In his State of the Union address last month, didn’t President Trump tout black unemployment as “the lowest rate ever recorded”? Trump was referring to December’s black unemployment figure of 6.8 percent , which was indeed low relative to previous unemployment figures for African Americans (though not relative to unemployment for white Americans). Trump called 6.8 percent “the lowest” because it was the lowest black unemployment rate in the current BLS data series, which goes back to 1972. But 6.8 percent black unemployment was still higher than 1968’s 6.7 percent black unemployment — which the Kerner Commission, 50 years ago, judged a disgrace. (Incidentally, you probably haven’t heard the president mention that in January unemployment for African Americans jumped back up to 7.7 percent.) Read more from the Post here, read the EPI report here, and read a 1968 summary of the Kerner Commission report here.
Politico February 27, 2018 -
“A weaker union is going to be less able to protect its workers, and the people who basically need the most protection are those who are usually discriminated against,” Janelle Jones, an analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, tells Marketplace. Unionizing particularly tends to benefit minority workers, especially women of color. Earlier this month, Jones and EPI labor counsel Celine McNicholas released a brief showing that black women could be especially harmed by the case, due to their high levels of participation in public-sector union jobs, including in the education system. Black women and men in public sector unions also experience a smaller gap in pay when compared to the same groups in nonunion jobs, according to data from the EPI. The National Women’s Law Center notes similar findings, adding that Hispanic women also see pay and health care benefits better than their nonunion peers.
VOX February 27, 2018 -
Research from the Economic Policy Institute (link is external)(EPI) echoes the perspective of “Public Sector Union Alliance.” To figure out who these wealthy individuals are EPI reviewed over 1,000 financial transactions. EPI’s research indicates that, “The fair share cases are being financed by a small group of foundations with ties to the largest and most powerful corporate lobbies. These organizations and the policymakers they support have succeeded in advancing a policy agenda that weakens the bargaining power of workers. In Janus, these interests have focused their attack on public-sector workers—the workforce with the highest union density.” EPI created this chart based on the financial transactions they scoured. (table included)
Workday Minnesota February 27, 2018 -
Labor unions and their supporters have also argued that the state workers are being used in a corporate scheme to undermine worker rights. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a progressive research nonprofit, tackled the issue Feb. 21 in a paper that allegedly found the case is a coordinated effort financed by wealthy donors.
Inside Sources February 27, 2018 -
For example, a 2011 study by the Economic Policy Institute, which is partially funded by unions, found that right-to-work laws depress overall wages by 3.2% on average, and reduce employer-sponsored healthcare coverage by 2.6%. A 2017 study by University of Illinois professor Robert Bruno found that the passage of right-to-work laws in Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin lowered real hourly wages by 2.6% on average.
CNN Money February 27, 2018 -
The labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute and Mary Bottari of In These Times have documented that the anti-Abood coalition includes right-wing groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, and the State Policy Network. They and other sponsors of these legal cases and related legislative initiatives are affiliated with the Koch brothers, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Mercer Family Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.
Los Angeles Times February 26, 2018 -
I’m not ready yet to hold a funeral for working people and the right to organize in this country,” says Celine McNicholas, labor counsel for the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. EPI weighed in on the case, filing a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of AFSCME. “This is a challenge but it’s also a wake-up call” to overhaul how unions interact with their membership, McNichols says. The labor movement, she says, “will rise to the challenge as we always have” to negotiate with management on behalf of, in this case, public-sector employees. Exactly what the new model of workplace representation looks like, however, “is a really good question,” she says. (Celine quoted throughout)
U.S. News and World Report February 26, 2018 -
Work hours in America are oddly distributed. Speaking very broadly, white people work longer than people of color, men work longer than women, and people with advanced educations work longer than those without. That’s led to a lot of commonly peddled narratives about the overworked professional class, or insufficient work ethic among lower classes. This is mostly nonsense. And a new study shows us exactly why. Valerie Wilson and Janelle Jones of the Economic Policy Institute just released a big new dive into work hours. They focused on Americans in their prime work years, ages 25 to 54. They sliced the data by race, gender, and education, as well as by hours worked per week and weeks worked per year. (whole story)
The Week February 26, 2018 -
Las mejoras en los ingresos de muchos trabajdores de bajos recursos en EEUU ha llegado en los últimos dos años de la mano de la subida de los salarios mínimos en muchos estados y el hecho de que algunas grandes empresas de adaptarse a estos. Pero también porque están trabajando más horas. Según ha verificado el Economic Policy Institute (EPI), entre 1979 y 2016 los ingresos anuales medios de los trabajadores (entre 25 y 45 años) crecieron un 30.2%. Pero eso es una media que enmascara la realidad de unos aumentos que han sido muy diferentes para distintos tipos de trabajadores. Los ingresos pueden subir porque suba la compensación por horas, porque se trabajen más o por una combinación de ambas cosas. (whole story)
El Diario February 26, 2018