A report released this week by the Economic Policy Institute takes a look at some of those criticisms. It acknowledges that there are different ways to measure the gap in wages between men and women, ways that show the gap either growing or shrinking depending on what demographics you are looking at. However, it says it’s a mistake to look at these different ways of measuring and assume the overall data is unreliable. (whole story)
The Times-Picayune
April 11, 2018
Black women earn $0.63 for every dollar that white men earn, while white woman earn $0.79 per every dollar a white man earns. According to Voice of America, the wage gap is slightly worse this year than last year. “There are a lot of reasons why this gap remains,” noted Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, “And there is certainly room for some of that to be discrimination.”
Blavity
April 11, 2018
See how much you could be earning as a working woman in a more equal society by using the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) gender pay calculator. (calculator embedded)
Black Enterprise
April 11, 2018
1/ While the women in the US made 82 cents to every dollar men made last year, the discrepancy in pay is actually much larger for women of color. According to the Economic policy institute, black women are paid about 65% of what white men are paid and Hispanic women less than 60%. The gender wage gap is smallest between white men and Asian women, who still make $2.27 less per hour than white men.
Global Citizens
April 11, 2018
Economists: Many warn that a balanced budget amendment could foolishly limit the government’s ability to respond to economic downturns or crises. “Putting aside for a moment the chutzpah of House Republicans trying to pass a balanced budget amendment (BBA) just a few months removed from their passage of a $1.5 trillion tax cut that went largely to the richest households and big corporations, the simple fact is that the economic consequences of a balanced budget amendment range from extremely bad to catastrophic,” writes Budget Analyst Hunter Blair of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “The reason for this is that a BBA would amplify any negative economic shock to the economy and would thereby turn run-of-the-mill recessions into disasters.”
The Fiscal Times
April 11, 2018
Daily Kos
April 11, 2018
A new “economic snapshot” from experts at the Economic Policy Institute makes clear why public school teachers — especially in states like West Virginia, Oklahoma and North Carolina — are ticked off about their pay. Here is an excerpt and the graph that sums things up: (repost of the Snapshot)
The Progressive Pulse
April 10, 2018
The minimum wage in 1968, after being adjusted for inflation, would be $11.62 in today’s dollars. But today’s federal minimum wage is just $7.25. That’s losing ground. In 1968, CEOs made just 20 times the salary of their average worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Today, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, it’s over 300 times. And while the top 1% of income earners’ share of the national income has nearly doubled since 1968, the number of Americans in poverty has increased by 60%.
CNN
April 10, 2018
According to the Economic Policy Institute: “While April 10th is the overall Equal Pay Day, the gaps for women of color are even larger. As compared to white men, women of color have to work even further into 2018 to make up for the wage deficit they experienced in 2017. Black women’s equal pay day is August 7th, Native American women’s equal pay day is September 27th, and Latina equal pay day doesn’t come until November 1st, almost an entire second year of working to equal typical white male wages in 2017.” (Includes EPD graphic)
UFCW
April 10, 2018
While the gender wage gap may be smaller now than it was some 50 years ago, the numbers show we’re not seeing steady progress. According to the Economic Policy Institute, progress in closing the wage gap stalled in the mid-1990s, and there’s no reason to believe it will go away on its own.
Bustle
April 10, 2018