But the main causes are not immigration. The growing gap is driven by the increasing share of income that goes toward owners of capital, and by the explosion in executive pay even as worker pay stays flat. From 1978 to 2016, average, non-managerial worker pay at firms with 1,000 employees or more rose just 11.2 percent, compared with 937 percent growth in CEO pay, according to a July study by the progressive Economic Policy Institute. In 2016, CEOs of those firms made 271 times what their non-managerial workers made, on average, EPI found. … Meanwhile, in the 1950s, about 1 private sector worker in 3 belonged to a union, compared to about 1 in 5 today, according to EPI, which receives some of its funding from labor unions. A 2012 chart created by EPI shows that the rise in the share of income going to the top 10 percent tracks almost perfectly with the decline of union membership.
The Huffington Post
August 4, 2017
The Economic Policy Institute analyzed the real unemployment rate — people who have given up looking for a job, or are working part-time, but in need of full-time employment — for recent high school graduates between the ages of 17 and 20 and found extraordinarily high unemployment rates. Over 28% of young whites, nearly 30% of young Latinos and more than 42% of young African-Americans are unemployed. These outrageously high rates of youth unemployment are not only unacceptable: They are having a tragic impact on our society.
Mic
August 2, 2017
Black women have to work seven months into 2017 to be paid the same amount of money white men took home in 2016, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. Valerie Wilson, director of the institute, notes black women face both racial and gender pay gaps, and says because the U.S. economy depends on consumer spending the impacts are far reaching. “When we have a significant portion of our population and our workforce being under-compensated, that has a direct effect on the growth of our economy,” she explains. (whole story)
Public News Service
August 2, 2017
“Despite the large gender disadvantage faced by all women, black women were near parity with white women in 1979,” the Economic Policy Institute said. “However in 2016, white women’s wages grew to 76% of white men’s, compared to 67% for black women relative to white men – a racial difference of nine percentage points. The trend is going the wrong way – progress is slowing for black women.”
The Guardian
August 2, 2017
Josh Bivens, research director at the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute in Washington, said low-income workers who receive pay increases are likely to spend that extra income, stimulating economic growth, an effect called “middle-out economics.” “Wage increases at the middle and bottom are recycled back into the economy as spending on restaurants, clothes, cars — all things that support employment in other sectors of the economy,” Mr. Bivens said.
The New York Times
August 1, 2017
While the statistic that the “typical woman” only makes around 79 cents for every dollarearned by men is one that is frequently quoted (and, ignorantly, frequently denied…Yes, I’m talking to you, MRAs) this statistic does not encompass black women and therefore cannot adequately capture the struggle for equality of ALL women. Black women only make 67 cents to every dollar made by a white man. 67 f*cking cents. This unsettling fact is independent of education (black women are now the most educated group in America), occupation, and even accounts for the fact that black women actually work more hours than white women, according to the Economic Policy Institute. So while the “79 cents” statistic is so catchy that even Obama used it during his speeches, it leaves women of color behind in the fight for equality, once again. (EPI cited and charts used throughout)
The Huffington Post
August 1, 2017
Monday is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, the day that marks when black women are paid the same wages as their white male peers were paid last year. Black women are paid only 67 cents on the dollar relative to non-Hispanic white men, according to analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. Black women could lose $840,040 over a 40-year career compared to non-Hispanic white men, according to the National Women’s Law Center, and in some states, that wage gap could lead to a loss over $1 million. According to EPI, the wage gap for black women has only grown worse and black women are working more hours. Looking at the lowest wage workers, the annual hours black women work grew 30.5 percent between 1979 and 2015 compared to a 3.2 percent increase for white men. (EPI cited throughout)
Think Progress
August 1, 2017
For example, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) smacked down three mistruths about why Black women fall behind. First, Black women aren’t lazy and don’t need to just work more — they already do. “Married black women with children worked over 200 hours more per year than married white or Hispanic women with children, and 339 hours more than black single mothers,” write Valerie Wilson, Janelle Jones, Kayla Blado, and Elise Gould at EPI.
Black women don’t need to just get more education either, since that’s not an automatic problem solver. (And, again, they already are.) (whole story)
Refinery29
August 1, 2017
In the US, the gender pay gap is narrowing. But progress on equal pay is not itself equal. To earn the same amount as white men in 2016, black women will have had to keep working until around today, July 31, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). On average, black women are paid only 67 cents on the dollar relative to white non-Hispanic men, even after accounting for education, work experience, and location. They also earn less than white non-Hispanic women, as EPI analysts wrote in a recent blog post: (whole story)
Quartz
August 1, 2017
That’s because for one, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown over the past several years and African-American women make up only a small share of top wage earners, said Valerie Wilson, the director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank focused on labor issues. In addition, persistent racial and gender pay gaps also plague African-American women. That all means that at the current rate it will take until 2124 for black women to earn the same on average as white men, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “African-American women get hit three times,” Wilson said, referring to the triple burden of race, gender and general income inequality that saps black women’s earning power.
MarketWatch
August 1, 2017