More than 75 percent of new union members last year were young workers, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis released today. Unions added 256,000 new members in 2017, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Of those 198,000 were under 35. Meanwhile, unions lost 75,000 middle-aged workers between 45 and 54 years old. Still, the vast majority of young workers are not members of a union. In 2017, 7.7 percent of workers younger than 35 belonged to a union, compared to 12.6 percent of older workers.
Politico Pro
January 26, 2018
But a recent analysis performed by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) raises concerns over whether employers will actually do this and suggests that the new rule will result in workers losing $5.8 billion in tips, as tips are shifted from workers to employers. The EPI analysis also suggests that women will bear the brunt of this rule change.
Quartz
January 25, 2018
The percentage of nonunion, private-sector employees covered by the mandatory-arbitration clauses has more than doubled since the early 2000s, according to a 2017 study by a Cornell University professor and sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C.
The Wall Street Journal
January 25, 2018
That said, not all pundits accept the idea that Mr. Trump’s policies depart widely from those gathered in Davos. Progressive economist Jeff Faux of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute contends that the president’s economic agenda is in line with the political and corporate honchos gathered in the Swiss Alps. “Perhaps a bit less refined and more obviously ego-saturated than that of your average European CEO, but Trump’s vision of the world is quite in sync with the Davos crowd: The world economy is a neoliberal dog-eat-dog jungle, where government’s role is to help the rich get richer,” Faux wrote in a blog post Tuesday.
CBS Moneywatch
January 24, 2018
How hard? Tipped workers will lose $119.7 million a year in New Jersey – and $5.8 billion nationally – according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. And women will be hit especially hard, as they represent 80 percent of that work group.
New Jersey Star-Ledger
January 24, 2018
The proposal — a win for the powerful National Restaurant Association — has outraged critics, and a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found it would transfer $5.8 billion per year from workers to employers, with nearly 80% of these tips taken from female workers.
Business Insider
January 23, 2018
According to an investigation of the 10 most populous states by the Economic Policy Institute, 2.4 million workers lose $8 billion annually (approximately $3,300 per year for year-round workers) to minimum-wage violations.
Dallas Observer
January 23, 2018
One complaint critics have against the program is that foreign employees allegedly work for less pay, pulling down American wages. That may be true in some instances—the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, says it has anecdotal evidence of this—but when they apply for the visas, employers agree to pay foreign employees the same wage as other workers with similar qualifications or the prevailing wage for the occupation, whichever is higher.
The Wall Street Journal
January 22, 2018
The Trump Labor Department has proposed a rule that would allow restaurants to share waiters’ tips with employees such as cooks and dishwashers. But nothing in the proposed rule would prevent restaurants from keeping the tips themselves, Shierholz says. An Obama-era rule had clarified that waiters can keep their tips. “In each of these cases, it’s about wresting leverage from workers and transferring it to employers,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
USA Today
January 22, 2018
“During the EFCA fight, I think there was a lot more energy on the business side, it felt like there were more people being brought in to canvass against it than there was union rank-and-file being brought to pressure Congress,” reflected Lawrence Mishel, who led the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank in D.C., for decades until his retirement in December. (Larry quoted throughout)
The Intercept
January 22, 2018
