Media clips
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The Economic Policy Institute has estimated the new rule will cost tipped workers $5.8 billion a year. That fact rather undermines the Trump administration’s claim that its policies are good for workers.
The National Review February 2, 2018 -
The new tipping proposal would disproportionately affect women, the Economic Policy Institute said in its report. Of the $5.8 billion nationally in tips per year they estimate would be shifted from workers to employers, $4.6 billion — nearly 80 percent — would be pulled from the pockets of women working tipped jobs, the report says. These high numbers for women can be attributed to the fact that women are more likely to both be tipped and earn lower wages.
The Texas Tribune February 2, 2018 -
Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute pointed out the missing impact data back in December. She now says in a statement that: Thanks to excellent reporting, we now know that DOL did produce an estimate, which showed that the rule would be terrible for workers, shifting billions of dollars from workers to employers—so they scrubbed it. In so doing, they ensured that workers, advocates, and anyone else who wants to comment on the proposal would have to do so without key information about the impact of the rule. This shows the lengths to which the Trump administration and Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta will go to hide the fact that they are taking steps to actively make workers’ lives worse. The EPI’s estimate was that tipped workers would lose $5.8 billion to their bosses. We still don’t know exactly how much the Labor Department estimated that would be, since they haven’t released the analysis they previously denied even having done. Shierholz, as well as Christine Owens of the National Employment Law Project, is calling on the Labor Department to withdraw the tip-stealing proposal.
Daily Kos February 2, 2018 -
There’s a lot of guesswork involved in this kind of analysis, to be sure. (The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, for instance, has estimated that employers could keep “between $523 million and $13.2 billion in workers’ tips annually.”) And frankly, as far as the propriety of this rule is concerned, it doesn’t matter how much money in tips employers would keep, because the law doesn’t authorize the Labor Department to regulate the practice anyway. The rule simply eliminates a previous one that shouldn’t have been enacted to begin with, and that was being challenged in court with some success.
The National Review February 2, 2018 -
Of course, common wisdom is that the administration felt it was better off hiding that analysis, given the support it gets from wealthy restaurateurs. Think-tank reports have predicted a massive loss for tipped-wage earners — the Economic Policy Institute’s guess is that under the Trump rule, employers would pocket as much as $5.8 billion worth of workers’ tips each year. Economists have also been perplexed by the Labor Department’s alleged trouble figuring these numbers out. Agree or disagree with its number, but the Economic Policy Institute’s team says it took them about three days.
Grub Street February 2, 2018 -
In all, American workers receive about $36 billion a year in tips, the economist Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department official, told me yesterday. The typical tipped worker receives about $1,000 a year in tips. The Trump proposal would make about two-thirds of this total vulnerable to seizure by business owners. (Shierholz goes into more detail in this Q&A, and The Times’s editorial board has also explained the issue.)
The New York Times February 2, 2018 -
Each of the 20 cities left angling to be Amazon’s HQ2 are offering up some extreme incentives in hopes of attracting the tech giant to their hood. Newark’s has come to around $7 billion. Montgomery County, Maryland: $5 billion. Atlanta is at $1 billion, and likely to go higher. On a smaller, but more widespread scale, city leaders have been clamoring for Amazon Fulfillment facilities——large warehouses where Amazon Prime products are packaged and shipped. The promise Amazon makes for both types of facilities is the same: That they are going to be a boon for the local economy. A new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) fact checks that claim. In it, researchers Janelle Jones and Ben Zipperer examine the change in employment in counties where Amazon Fulfillment Centers were built. The upshot: While warehousing jobs increased in the two years after, overall employment at the county level remained roughly the same. (whole story)
CityLab February 1, 2018 -
In recent years, as Amazon has sought out cities and counties to house their fulfillment center warehouses — centers that store, pack and ship their products — the company has turned its search into a rah-rah marketing campaign. “We’re proud to be creating jobs across America — this year alone we expect to create more than 40,000 full-time jobs,” Amazon’s website states. However, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an American think-tank which examines the economic impact of policies and proposals, found in a new report published Fridaythat counties that have Amazon fulfillment centers don’t observe a boost in the local economy as promised. (whole story)
Salon February 1, 2018 -
The promised benefits of Amazon’s new fulfillment centers may not be materializing as planned. A new study of publicly available data by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that when Amazon opens a new warehouse, the county where it is located does not see an increase in employment during the following two-year period. Warehouse jobs do increase about 30%, but the county’s overall employment stays steady. Amazon has opened fulfillment centers in 25 states, often courting state or local tax incentives to build them. The study suggests that these localities are not getting a return on that investment, one of the study’s authors, Ben Zipperer, told Business Insider. (whole story)
Business Insider February 1, 2018 -
REPORT: AMAZON WAREHOUSES CREATE ZERO NET JOBS: Amazon fulfillment centers create zero net jobs in counties where they are located, according to a report set to be released Thursday by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Host counties see a 30 percent increase in warehousing and storage jobs when the company opens one of its warehouse and shipping centers, but it “does not lead to an increase in country-wide employment” two years later, the progressive think-tank says. The report comes as cities offer major tax incentives hoping that Amazon will choose to set up its second headquarters building there.
Politico February 1, 2018