Media clips
-
In a surprise twist, it turns out Clackamas County is the priciest place to live in Oregon, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The organization recently released its 2018 family budget calculator that estimates how costly it is to live in each of America’s 3,142 counties and 611 metro areas.
The group estimates a family of two adults and two children in Clackamas County would need to earn a combined $100,909 per year — or $8,409 per month — to live comfortably. Washington, Crook, and Multnomah counties followed up as the second, third, and fourth most expensive counties to live in. (whole story)
Oregon City Patch March 26, 2018 -
The recent annual update to the Economic Policy Institute’s 2018 Family Budget Calculator says that a Manatee County family of four needs $77,800 a year just to maintain an “adequate yet modest standard of living.” Meanwhile, the median household income in Manatee County is only $50,835. The difficulty facing young adults, seniors and the disabled is demonstrated by an annual living cost of just over $36,000 for a single individual with no dependents. The median individual wage in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan area is only $41,870. (whole story)
The Bradenton Times March 26, 2018 -
A new calculator shows how much families need to make to be able to afford the cost of living in San Diego. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a family of four (two adults and two children) would need to make an average of just over $97,000 per year to be able to afford to live in San Diego County. (whole story)
KGTV March 26, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute has gathered info on the cost of living across the country and have put it all together in a handy calculator that will tell you the average cost of living for your family. The calculator isn’t exact but it takes into account where you live and your family size. After entering my information (2 adults, 1 child, living in Wyoming, MI) the calculator determined that my family pays $5,162 monthly and $61,945 annually to live comfortably. The calculation takes into consideration the following costs: (whole story)
Mix 95.7 March 26, 2018 -
A trade war is an escalation of tit-for-tat trade restrictions imposed by two or more countries on one another’s exports. Trump has argued that trade wars are “good, and easy to win,” especially since the United States imports a lot more from many of its trading partners than it exports to them. Some analysts, such as Robert E. Scott of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, argue that other countries won’t even dare engage in a trade war with America. This past week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asserted that “the United States is the largest trading market,” implying that it has more leverage than other countries.
The Washington Post March 23, 2018 -
Research shows that illegal wage theft exceeds $15 billion every year. “It seems obvious that when employers can legally pocket the tips earned by their employees, many will do so,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). If tipping wages were legal, the number of stolen tips would increase exponentially, she argued. The Labor Department itself found that the tip-pooling rule could allow employers to keep $640 million in tips every year. This figure pales in comparison to EPI estimates of $5.8 billion.
Yahoo Finance March 23, 2018 -
Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that was highly critical of the original proposal, said the deal reached Wednesday is “not perfect,” as it could still lead to some servers’ earnings being shifted to other workers. But with the added protections, “It is clearly better for workers than if the Department of Labor’s proposed rule had been finalized. There’s no question,” she said.
The Huffington Post March 23, 2018 -
The provision, which HuffPost’s Dave Jamieson reported on earlier Thursday, is designed to head off problems that likely would have arisen thanks to a rule proposed by the Department of Labor in December. The change, widely condemned by labor groups, would once again let restaurants force their front-of-the-house staff to pool the tips they earn and share them with kitchen workers as long as they were paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. (The Obama administration banned that practice by regulatory fiat in 2011.) Critics of the move argued that it would essentially legalize tip theft because, as written, the rule did not require mangers or owners to actually redistribute gratuities among their workers once they were pooled. Instead, they could just pocket the money. The left-wing Economic Policy Institute estimated that the loophole would have cost workers $5.8 billion in lost tips annually.
Slate March 23, 2018 -
Had the change passed, restaurant owners could have pocketed between $523 million and $14.2 billion in additional tips, a study from the progressive Economic Policy Institute think tank found. Nearly 80% of the tips that would be taken from employees would come out of the pockets of female tipped workers, according to the EPI. An economic analysis showing these negative implications was allegedly scrubbed by the Department of Labor, a report from the Economic Policy Institute found. (The Department of Labor did not respond to request for comment.) Now that this change has been stopped, the next fight for these organizations is raising wages for tipped workers, said Jayaraman.
Market Watch March 23, 2018 -
Last year, the Trump administration unveiled a proposal to undo Obama-era safeguards, which required employers who pooled tips and gratuities to distribute them back to waitstaff. Under the new plan, employers could “use workers’ tips for essentially any purpose, as long as the workers were directly paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.” Among the possible outcomes: employers could legally put some of the pooled tips in their own pocket. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that workers would stand to lose roughly $5.8 billion a year.
MSNBC March 23, 2018