Media clips
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There’s another possibility as well, which is that politicians are increasingly seeing a gridlocked Congress as a dead end when it comes to getting things done. At the municipal level, left-leaning district attorneys like Larry Krasner have been able to immediately and substantively change harsh policies that put poor people of color in jail at disproportionate rates. At the state level, attorneys general similarly wield major influence over policy. They’re often the surest safeguards for labor rights, as the Economic Policy Institute noted in a May report. They can place some buffers between immigrants and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and shore up state anti-discrimination law. When Ellison tweeted that he intends to be “the People’s Lawyer,” he may well have had these facts in mind.
The New Republic June 6, 2018 -
As corporate media outlets predictably trumpeted the right-wing narrative that Social Security is in dire financial straits after the Social Security Trustees’ annual report was released on Tuesday, advocacy groups and experts were quick to denounce the fearmongering and correct the record, arguing that the new analysis shows the program is “stronger than ever.” “Each year, the release of the trustees report provides an occasion for Social Security scaremongering by those wanting to shrink our social insurance system,” Monique Morrissey, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, noted in a blog post on Tuesday. “But not only can we afford current benefits, we can afford to expand them.”
Common Dreams June 6, 2018 -
May’s jobs report showed that, on average, black college graduates between the ages of 21 and 24 earn $3.34 less per hour than their white counterparts. Over the course of a year this amounts to a difference of about $7,000. Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank, also reveal that the gulf between the wages of female and male young college graduates stands at $3.15 per hour. Despite the large pay gaps, these workers earned similar credentials and have had similar levels of experience. Elise Gould, a senior economist at the EPI and one of the authors of the report, said: (quote Elise’s Tweet)
Indy 100 June 6, 2018 -
According to Celine McNichols, director of labor law and policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the majority ruling, which takes an extremely pro-business reading of employment law, is “striking at the heart of workers’ ability to act collectively, which makes it all the more difficult for them to access not only wage-and-hour protections but, obviously, discrimination protections across the board.”
The Nation June 5, 2018 -
Mandatory arbitration and non-disclosure agreements are an increasingly common feature of private employment contracts. According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, fully 55 percent of all workers have forfeited their right to sue their employers as a condition of employment. Last month the Supreme Court affirmed the legality of a common type of mandatory arbitration in which workers forfeit their right to participate in class action lawsuits against their employer.
Politico June 5, 2018 -
A new report finds that by “virtually every metric,” Minnesota’s economy has performed far better than Wisconsin’s in the last seven years. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group based in Washington, D.C., says it’s the result of two states’ vastly different economic policy agendas. “Policymakers in Wisconsin have pursued a highly conservative agenda centered on cutting taxes for the rich, shrinking government, and weakening unions,” analyst David Cooper said in a statement. “In contrast, Minnesota has enacted a slate of progressive priorities like raising the minimum wage, strengthening labor standards, and boosting public investments in infrastructure and education, financed through progressive taxes. The results could not be more clear: workers and families in Minnesota have done far better over the past seven years than their counterparts in Wisconsin.”
Southwest Minneapolis Patch June 5, 2018 -
“In April, the unemployment rate dropped below 4.0 percent for the first time since 2000, but for the ‘wrong’ reasons — because people left the labor force, not because they found work,” wrote researchers at the Economic Policy Institute. “Meanwhile, in May, more people found jobs at the same time that the labor force participation rate ticked down slightly. About two-thirds of the drop in the unemployment rate in May was because workers found jobs, while about one-third of the drop was from people leaving the labor force.” … In the Economic Policy Institute’s comprehensive analysis of the reality of poverty in America, onthe 50th anniversary of the Poor People’s Campaign, the non-profit found that, among adults 18 to 64 years old, poverty rose from 9.0 percent in 1968 to 11.6 percent in 2016. EPI notes that 63 percent of this cohort is “working and 45.5 percent are working full time;” and that their data makes “it clear that millions of people who are active participants in the labor market are unable to make ends meet, either due to insufficient hours or low wages.”
Salon June 5, 2018 -
President Trump was so delighted by the May jobs report that he tipped off investors by tweeting while the information was still embargoed. The news — more than 220,000 new jobs, unemployment down to 3.8 percent, the lowest in 18 years — was undoubtedly strong. The Economic Policy Institute hailed “the economy’s steady march towards full employment,” noting that most of the drop in unemployment came from workers finding new jobs and only about one-third from workers leaving the workforce. Wages are finally beginning to budge, though the growth rates still don’t keep up with the rising cost of basics such as health care and education. The last time the U.S. economy enjoyed across the board wage growth was in 2000, when the economy also neared full employment levels.
The Washington Post June 5, 2018 -
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute: “In a full employment economy, we would see wages rising much faster—closer to 3.5 percent and above—to claw back the losses to labor share in the aftermath of the Great Recession. While economists and commentators have myriad explanations for why wage growth is so sluggish, it seems obvious that, with many workers still unemployed or sitting on the sidelines, employers just don’t have any incentive to raise wages.”
U.S. News June 5, 2018 -
It’s normal for black unemployment rates to bounce around month-to-month owing to the sheer difference in working populations between whites and blacks, said Janelle Jones, an economic analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. There are 121 million white workers and 19 million black workers, according to the data. “That’s why it’s so important to disaggregate by race. There are significantly less black workers than white workers,” Jones said. Still, Jones said May’s numbers aren’t just statistical fluff. The black unemployment rate has been steadily dropping since 2010, when at one point the unemployment rates for black men were in the double digits in every age category. Today, Jones said, black workers are still recovering. “Historically disadvantaged workers are left at the mercy of the labor market,” she said. “When things take a downturn, it’s worse for black workers, and when things start to pick up, it takes longer for black workers to really feel that recovery.”
NPR June 4, 2018