Hundreds of thousands of people in Illinois live in poverty, and new research suggests that number would be lower if some workers weren’t being cheated out of pay they have earned. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) examined reports of minimum wage theft in the 10 most populous states, including Illinois. Among those states, the report found each year 2.4 million workers are being paid less than minimum wage, amounting to more than $8 billion in lost wages annually. (whole story)
Illinois News Service
May 23, 2017
The share of Americans in the workforce is also shrinking – particularly among those with lower levels of education, said Valerie Wilson, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “The workers we would expect to have the strongest labour attachments have actually been becoming less attached,” she said. Among survey respondents who did not attend college, nearly 40% said it was too expensive or that they needed to earn money. Their status was also closely tied to whether their parents had attended college.
BBC News
May 23, 2017
Young men falling to the bottom of the income ladder
The Boston Globe/Katie Johnson
“This has an effect on their entire lives,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who recently coauthored a report on new high school and college graduates. “Those first jobs are going to set you up for your lifetime of earnings.” … “This has an effect on their entire lives,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who recently coauthored a report on new high school and college graduates. “Those first jobs are going to set you up for your lifetime of earnings.”
The Boston Globe
May 22, 2017
A bedrock principle of private property is that stealing is wrong. Yet the problem of employers refusing to pay their workers the wages they’ve earned—or wage theft—is pervasive and growing in North Carolina. That’s the message of Employers steal billions from workers’ paychecks each year, a report recently released by The Economic Policy Institute.This report looks specifically at employers’ failure to pay the minimum wage to their employees at in the 10 most populous states, including North Carolina, and reveals the magnitude of the impact of wage theft on the low income workers who are least able to withstand it. While other types of wage theft are also harmful – non-payment of overtime wages and illegal deductions, for example – minimum wage violations are a direct hit to low income workers who rely on their wages to meet basic needs. (whole story)
The Progressive Pulse
May 22, 2017
Martin Carnoy wrote for the left-leaning Economic Policy institute in February: “Extensive research on educational vouchers in the United States over the past 25 years shows that gains in student achievement are at best small.” (Martin cited throughout)
NPR
May 21, 2017
“We are looking at a rosier picture today for college grads,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. “Things have definitely been improving. … As we add more jobs, jobs are being offered to people across the spectrum.” (Elise quoted/EPI cited throughout)
Baltimore Sun
May 21, 2017
More than 13 percent of Pennsylvanians lived in poverty in 2015 – and new research suggests that number would be lower if some workers weren’t being cheated out of pay they have earned. The Economic Policy Institute examined reports of minimum-wage theft in the 10 most populous states, including Pennsylvania. Among those states, the report found each year that 2.4 million workers are being paid less than minimum wage, amounting to more than $8 billion in lost wages annually. A senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute and the report’s co-author, David Cooper, says nearly one in five of these workers lives in poverty. (whole story)
Public News Service
May 20, 2017
Hundreds of thousands of people in Michigan live in poverty, and new research suggests that number would be lower if some workers weren’t being cheated out of pay they have earned. The Economic Policy Institute examined reports of minimum-wage theft in the 10 most populous states, including Michigan. Among those states, the report found each year that 2.4 million workers are being paid less than minimum wage, amounting to more than $8 billion in lost wages annually. (whole story)
Michigan Public Radio
May 20, 2017
It’s Time for the Government to Give Everyone A Job
The National/David Dayen
Darity estimated that the 4.4 million job target was about 2 or 3 times less than what’s needed for a real job guarantee, and Tcherneva put it closer to 4 or 5 times less. For their part, Ross Eisenbrey and Larry Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute were more comfortable with CAP’s scope, but questioned the political overlay. “I’m not sure this responds to Trump voters, who are looking for middle-class jobs,” said Eisenbrey. “They’re not desperate for $15/hour.” One familiar complaint with the job guarantee concept in general is that making essential services like health care and education reliant on available dislocated workers is dangerous, because the availability of those services would expand and contract based on the state of the labor market. “We think we need universal child care, we don’t want child care work subject to this accordion,” said Mishel.
The Nation
May 19, 2017
Do fewer regulations translate to more growth?
Marketplace/Kimberly Adams
“As a blanket statement, the idea that deregulation helps growth — I think that’s just totally false,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “There is no consensus about the generalized impact of deregulation on growth, because regulations are incredibly, you know, heterogeneous group of stuff.”
Marketplace
May 19, 2017