Media clips
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Unionized workers are half as likely to be victims of minimum wage violations and earn 13.2 percent more than peers with similar education and qualifications in non-unionized jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Even workers who aren’t covered by a union have reaped the benefits of strong unions that haven’t been weakened by lawmakers hostile to labor. EPI found that women workers represented by unions make 9.2 percent more than women who aren’t covered by a union. Black and Hispanic workers, according to EPI data, “get a larger boost from unionization than their white counterparts.” Unionized Black construction workers in New York City, for example, make 36.1 percent more than the city’s non-unionized Black construction workers.
Rewire May 16, 2018 -
MISSOURI RIGHT-TO-WORK FALLOUT: Black workers would be most affected by right-to-work laws if they take effect in Missouri, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Nearly 14 percent of all black in-state workers are unionized, compared with 10.3 percent of white workers. Missouri lawmakers are advancing a constitutional amendment to make the state right-to-work (that is, to free union non-members of their obligation to pay fees to cover their portion of collective bargaining costs), with the measure passing the House Monday night. More here.
Politico Pro May 16, 2018 -
We have already documented the many ways the Republican tax bill is bad for working people. In short, it’s a massive giveaway to big corporations and the wealthy that throws away trillions of dollars we need to invest in America and create good jobs for working people. This week, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) organized an event to take a deeper look at how the new law will preserve and create incentives for corporations to move U.S. jobs overseas and shift corporate profits to tax havens abroad. (whole story)
AFL-CIO May 16, 2018 -
TRACKING UBER’S CUT: Roughly one-third of Uber passenger fares go to Uber in the form of commission and booking fees, according to a report released today by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. After deducting those fees, plus taxes and vehicular expenses, Uber drivers are left on average with $10.87 an hour (and that’s without enrolling in health insurance or a pension plan). The report also finds that Uber drivers account for the equivalent of only 0.07 percent of national full-time employment. More here.
Politico Pro May 15, 2018 -
Minnesota and Wisconsin have a lot in common in terms of geography, size and culture. But over the past seven years, they’ve taken drastically different political paths. A new report by the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute says Minnesota’s economic growth has far outpaced Wisconsin’s. Report author and EPI senior economic analyst David Cooper says the two states were fairly similar in politics and economics, until the last recession. Since then, Minnesota’s state government has raised taxes on the wealthy to finance investments, raised the minimum wage and accepted the Medicaid expansion. Cooper describes Wisconsin’s more conservative approach as, “Cutting taxes, weakening labor standards, not accepting the Medicaid expansion, rejecting federal funding for public investment.” Cooper says it’s possible to look at other states that have adopted similar conservative policies and have experienced similar weak growth, but there aren’t other comparisons like Wisconsin and Minnesota in which historically, the two had been so similar. (whole story)
WXPR May 15, 2018 -
The massive changes and resulting problems aren’t just the hallucinations of my bleeding heart, either. The Economic Policy Institute recently released an exhaustive study and comparison of Wisconsin’s and Minnesota’s economies, with a specific eye on working families. It’s not pretty. In Wisconsin, we’ve had seven years of conservative Republican policy initiatives, with a focus on cutting taxes, shrinking government, and weakening labor unions. On the other side of the Mississippi, Gov. Mark Dayton and the Democrats have worked on raising the minimum wage, strengthening safety net programs and labor standards, and increasing public investment in infrastructure and education — financed largely through higher taxes on the wealthy. The differences in outcomes have been stark: Minnesota has seen stronger job growth, faster wage growth, a shrinking gender wage gap, increased median household income, reductions in poverty, increased access to health insurance and stronger overall economic growth.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel May 15, 2018 -
Way back in early 2015, I suggested that a great way to demonstrate the outcomes of Republican vs Democratic policies is to compare what has happened in Wisconsin and Minnesota since 2010. The Economic Policy Institutejust updated the numbers. (includes experts of paper)
Washington Monthly May 15, 2018 -
Wisconsin and Minnesota are neighbors, but they’ve followed very different paths in recent years. In 2010, as Wisconsin notoriously elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Minnesota elected Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. While Walker immediately began waging war on his state’s workers, Minnesota increased its minimum wage and taxed the wealthy to invest in infrastructure and education, among other worker-friendly moves. The two states’ economies have also gone in different directions, a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute shows. Overall: (whole story)
Daily Kos May 14, 2018 -
This has long been bad news politically for Democrats in the white working-class regions that have been at the center of political discussion since the election, and bad news for those workers themselves economically—declining union membership is widely considered one of the culprits behind middle- and lower-class wage stagnation. According to a 2016 paper from the Economic Policy Institute, wages for nonunion men working in the private sector without high school diplomas would be 5 percent higher if union membership were at 1979 levels. They would be 8 percent higher specifically for men without a college degree.
Slate May 14, 2018 -
Certain college graduates from the Class of 2018 will start out their careers behind some of their friends, due to circumstances beyond their control. On average, black college graduates between the ages of 21 and 24 earn $3.34 less per hour than their white counterparts, a difference of about $7,000 per year, according to an analysis published this week by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. And though not quite as steep, the gulf between the wages of female and male young college graduates stands at a still large $3.15 per hour, EPI found.
Market Watch May 14, 2018