Other researchers have narrowed their focus to online gigs such as driving for Uber or Lyft. Economist Larry Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute recently published research showing that about 1% of American workers were engaged in online hustles such as Uber or TaskRabbit. Few are getting rich off their gigs. Mishel found that Uber drivers made $11.77 per hour on average after deducting their overhead and marginal costs but before paying payroll and income taxes. Most work less than 20 hours a week, and turnover is very high.
MarketWatch
June 1, 2018
As Andrew Cuomo, Cynthia Nixon and Marc Molinaro argue over who’s a real progressive, who’s a faux progressive and who’s a conservative, a new study indicates it’s more than just a campaign debate. The answer could shape the state’s economic destiny. The study from the Economic Policy Institute compared the economic performances of Wisconsin and Minnesota since 2010 to determine which state yielded the best results for working people. The neighboring states were chosen not only because of their proximity, but also because they are similar in terms of demographics, population and industries. That makes comparing their performance since the recession “a useful natural experiment for assessing how state policy is affecting economic outcomes and residents’ welfare,” according to the study by EPI senior economic analyst David Cooper. Where the two states differ is in terms of policy after each elected their governor in 2010. (whole column)
Buffalo News
May 31, 2018
The revived series also played to a viewership that has witnessed myriad cultural and political changes in the past few decades. “Many of these communities have been in a major period of transition both economically and demographically,” said Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute.
Market Watch
May 30, 2018
The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon in the Janus v. AFSCME, which could severely curtail unions’ ability to collectively bargain for workers. Here, too, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is poised to deal another powerful blow against working Americans. Here, too, big money is calling the shots. As a study from the Economic Policy Institute reveals, the litigation in that case is being financed by billionaires and right-wing foundations that are closely tied to corporate lobbies.
Common Dreams
May 30, 2018
Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute, said their analysis found black Missourians would be disproportionately impacted by the law.
Missouri News Service
May 29, 2018
When the Economic Policy Institute looked at 10 major cities — including Chicago, Tampa, Detroit, Kansas City, and San Francisco — the costs of child care were over 10 percent of median family income in every single one. The Department of Health and Human Services identifies 10 percent as the cutoff for affordability.
The Week
May 29, 2018
“His trade policy is erratic, ham-handed and ego-driven,” said Thea Lee, the president of the Economic Policy Institute and the former chief economist for the AFL-CIO. “He cannot articulate, let alone implement, a coherent strategy.” But Lee warns, “What we shouldn’t do is fall into the trap of saying, ‘Because Trump’s a jerk … and he hates trade, therefore trade must be good and we can go back to our kind of comfort blanket of saying, therefore let’s just rally around [the Trans-Pacific Partnership] or NAFTA and try to recreate that failed trade consensus around the old trade policy.’ That won’t work.” Labor leaders agree with Trump that the U.S. economic relationship with China is enormously lopsided – a $375 billion trade deficit – and that currency misalignment and predatory pricing policies only inflame the wealth gap at home. But they also admire his willingness to pick a fight. “The other thing that Trump’s right about is that leverage works,” Lee said. “You see that now that the Chinese did come to the table. Now they walked away from the table because Trump got bored and got bribed. … I dunno, he lost interest in the deal halfway through. But what he did show is what we’ve been saying for a long time, what we in labor have been saying: … We have leverage in that relationship, we need to use it.”
U.S. News and World Report
May 25, 2018
About 60 million workers in this country, according to a study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, are subject to mandatory arbitration agreements with their employers, which require employees to agree to pursue their claims in private arbitration rather than through the courts. The court’s decision this week means employees who sign those agreements must fight alleged violations individually, rather than as a group. The ruling was in response to three consolidated cases about wage issues, but comes amid increasing claims of sexual harassment during the #MeToo era.
The Washington Post
May 25, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that some 60 million non-unionized workers in the private sector are working – whether they realize it or not – under fine-print agreements that waive their constitutional right to a jury trial should they end up being the victims of workplace abuse.
THE SACRAMENTO BEE
May 25, 2018
New unemployment numbers from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), based on Black unemployment data available for 22 states, show that states like South Carolina and Maryland have an especially large gap between unemployment rates among Black and white workers, while Washington, D.C., has the largest Black-white unemployment ratio of 8.5-to-1. Black unemployment in the first quarter of 2018 was at or below pre-recession levels in 17 states, according to EPI. But in all but three of those states, “black labor force participation rates … were lower in the first quarter of 2018 than at the end of 2007, indicating that the return to pre-recession levels of unemployment in these states was not a full recovery for African American workers because not all discouraged job seekers have returned to the market,” EPI reports. (whole story, Janelle quoted)
Rewire
May 25, 2018