The average wealth for a white family is $678,737, according to the Economic Policy Institute; for a Black family, it’s $95,261. That’s a nearly $600,000 difference between the two races. This deep divide is also present when looking at median wealth: $134,230 for a white family, $11,030 for a Black family, EPI reported.
Romper
March 20, 2018
“The ruling is bad for investors because it means investors will get conflicted advice,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank. “It means that retirement investors are at risk of having their advisers legally steer them into investments that are not good for them.” Without the “fiduciary rule” in place, she adds, it means “the law does not protect them, so they will have to protect themselves.”Opponents of the rule argue that it was overly burdensome and, as a result, that it would end up resulting in higher, not lower, costs for investment advice. Investors who act on advice of financial professionals not working in their best interests will lose an estimated $1.9 billion a month, or roughly $23 billion a years, Shierholz says, citing the ECI’s latest analysis.
USA Today
March 19, 2018
In response to the ruling, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said in a statement: “This common-sense rule has survived repeated court challenges, but special interests with deep pockets can persevere until they get the result they want. All this proves is how much conflicted advice contributes to Wall Street profits at the expense of retirement savers.”
Common Dreams
March 19, 2018
Milich’s concern is well-founded. Per a 2016 Economic Policy Institute study, teachers are paid 23 percent less than other college graduates. One-time National Teacher of the Year Sean McComb responded to the EPI’s findings in a conversation with A Plus. “We should want the most talented, dynamic, dedicated professionals possible to entrust with our country’s future,” he said in 2016. “With this kind of salary deficit, the profession doesn’t get even ground to compete on its own merits.” (chart included)
A Plus
March 19, 2018
Larry Mishel, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, calculated the growth of teacher wages compared to wages overall in the state. “Teacher salaries grew by just 3.8 percent while the average job’s compensation grew 23.6 percent (between 1990 and 2015-16), Mishel said, calling the lack of growth “dramatic.” “Oklahoma doesn’t have the lowest per capita income among its neighbors (New Mexico and Arkansas are far lower), but it has, by far, the lowest teacher salaries,” he said. (Larry quoted throughout)
Tulsa World
March 19, 2018
In the Economic Policy Institute’s report entitled “Unfulfilled Promises,” EPI economist Ben Zipperer and economic analyst Janelle Jones concluded that on average, “Amazon’s fulfillment centers are ineffective at providing net job growth.” “When Amazon opens a new fulfillment center, the host county gains roughly 30 percent more warehousing and storage jobs but no new net jobs overall, as the jobs created in warehousing and storage are likely offset by job losses in other industries,” the report states. Zipperer told The Bee that while Amazon certainly generates job growth within the warehousing industry sector when it opens one of its massive order-filling centers in a community, it does not appear to translate into employment gains across the entire local economy. “It seems to be shifting the composition of employment in some places,” Zipperer said. “You do see more warehousing workers. They are definitely hiring.” (whole story)
The Fresno Bee
March 19, 2018
Si el cheque no te alcanza para fin de mes, no eres el único. Si crees que es caro vivir en el condado de Los Ángeles, estas en lo correcto. La última calculadora de presupuesto familiar del Economic Policy Institute (EPI) muestra que una familia de dos adultos y dos niños en el condado necesita ganar 7,691 dólares al mes, o 92,295 dólares al año, para cubrir todos sus gastos. Eso supera el ingreso familiar promedio del condado de Los Ángeles de 66,203 dólares por año, según la Encuesta de la Comunidad Americana de la Oficina del Censo de Estados Unidos. (whole story)
La Opinion
March 19, 2018
Albright tries to get by on $31,000 a year. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank created to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions, a mother of two children like Albright would have to make $61,725 a year to have an adequate standard of living in Somerset County. For an adult with no children, that figure is $33,522. The Institute’s Family Budget Calculator takes into account geographic differences in cost of living and factors in a range of expenses, including housing, food, transportation, child care, health care and other basic necessities.
Daily American
March 19, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., looked at data on the cost of living for 10 family types in all 3,142 counties and 611 metro areas to determine where areas fall in terms of affordability. Greater Baltimore was found to have the 35th highest cost of living, and 15th highest median family income. Of course, that’s under EPI’s standards, which measures only what’s required for families to have an adequate standard of living and does not include extra expenses such as paying off student loans or saving for college or retirement. Using the data they collected, EPI created its “Family Budget Caculator,” which allows the user to compare the monthly and annual cost of living for families of various sizes. It also shows how much those famililes spends on housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, taxes and other necessities. (whole story)
Baltimore Business Journal
March 19, 2018
A recently released study questions whether workers hired through temp-for-hire and staffing agencies is shrinking that premium. According to the study by the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, since 1990 real wages for production workers have risen by only 0.1 percent annually. The research points to government data that estimates there are about 1.2 million temporary workers in manufacturing. And nearly one-third of all manufacturing production workers rely on food stamps or other government help “to make ends meet,” the paper says.
Dayton Daily News
March 19, 2018