Media clips
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There’s a lot of guesswork involved in this kind of analysis, to be sure. (The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, for instance, has estimated that employers could keep “between $523 million and $13.2 billion in workers’ tips annually.”) And frankly, as far as the propriety of this rule is concerned, it doesn’t matter how much money in tips employers would keep, because the law doesn’t authorize the Labor Department to regulate the practice anyway. The rule simply eliminates a previous one that shouldn’t have been enacted to begin with, and that was being challenged in court with some success.
The National Review February 2, 2018 -
Of course, common wisdom is that the administration felt it was better off hiding that analysis, given the support it gets from wealthy restaurateurs. Think-tank reports have predicted a massive loss for tipped-wage earners — the Economic Policy Institute’s guess is that under the Trump rule, employers would pocket as much as $5.8 billion worth of workers’ tips each year. Economists have also been perplexed by the Labor Department’s alleged trouble figuring these numbers out. Agree or disagree with its number, but the Economic Policy Institute’s team says it took them about three days.
Grub Street February 2, 2018 -
In all, American workers receive about $36 billion a year in tips, the economist Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department official, told me yesterday. The typical tipped worker receives about $1,000 a year in tips. The Trump proposal would make about two-thirds of this total vulnerable to seizure by business owners. (Shierholz goes into more detail in this Q&A, and The Times’s editorial board has also explained the issue.)
The New York Times February 2, 2018 -
Each of the 20 cities left angling to be Amazon’s HQ2 are offering up some extreme incentives in hopes of attracting the tech giant to their hood. Newark’s has come to around $7 billion. Montgomery County, Maryland: $5 billion. Atlanta is at $1 billion, and likely to go higher. On a smaller, but more widespread scale, city leaders have been clamoring for Amazon Fulfillment facilities——large warehouses where Amazon Prime products are packaged and shipped. The promise Amazon makes for both types of facilities is the same: That they are going to be a boon for the local economy. A new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) fact checks that claim. In it, researchers Janelle Jones and Ben Zipperer examine the change in employment in counties where Amazon Fulfillment Centers were built. The upshot: While warehousing jobs increased in the two years after, overall employment at the county level remained roughly the same. (whole story)
CityLab February 1, 2018 -
In recent years, as Amazon has sought out cities and counties to house their fulfillment center warehouses — centers that store, pack and ship their products — the company has turned its search into a rah-rah marketing campaign. “We’re proud to be creating jobs across America — this year alone we expect to create more than 40,000 full-time jobs,” Amazon’s website states. However, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an American think-tank which examines the economic impact of policies and proposals, found in a new report published Fridaythat counties that have Amazon fulfillment centers don’t observe a boost in the local economy as promised. (whole story)
Salon February 1, 2018 -
The promised benefits of Amazon’s new fulfillment centers may not be materializing as planned. A new study of publicly available data by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that when Amazon opens a new warehouse, the county where it is located does not see an increase in employment during the following two-year period. Warehouse jobs do increase about 30%, but the county’s overall employment stays steady. Amazon has opened fulfillment centers in 25 states, often courting state or local tax incentives to build them. The study suggests that these localities are not getting a return on that investment, one of the study’s authors, Ben Zipperer, told Business Insider. (whole story)
Business Insider February 1, 2018 -
REPORT: AMAZON WAREHOUSES CREATE ZERO NET JOBS: Amazon fulfillment centers create zero net jobs in counties where they are located, according to a report set to be released Thursday by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Host counties see a 30 percent increase in warehousing and storage jobs when the company opens one of its warehouse and shipping centers, but it “does not lead to an increase in country-wide employment” two years later, the progressive think-tank says. The report comes as cities offer major tax incentives hoping that Amazon will choose to set up its second headquarters building there.
Politico February 1, 2018 -
The left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute attempted to fill the data void by producing an analysis of its own. EPI predicts the proposed rule on tips would lead to $5.8 billion changing hands from workers to businesses, rather than being redistributed among employees as the DOL leadership suggested.
Bloomberg BNA February 1, 2018 -
The numbers reflect a legacy of racial inequality, said Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute. Research has shown persistent discrimination in hiring — and firing, she said. “Even when we look at people with the same levels of education,” Wilson said, “we typically find that the black unemployment rate is really close to, if not higher than, double the white unemployment rate.” Networks are also important, Wilson said. “If you live in an impoverished community and few people in your neighborhood have a job, then your network has a lot of holes in it,” she said. “It’s more difficult to be aware of and get connected to job opportunities.”
Marketplace January 31, 2018 -
Democrats rejected the proposal out of hand, but that doesn’t mean Republicans will reconsider E-Verify. In the context of a Dreamer deal, maximalist Democrats are just as opposed to internal enforcement as they are to changes to border security or chain migration. Daniel Costa, a policy analyst for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, says Democrats “oppose the measure in the context of not legalizing the current illegal population.” (Daniel quoted throughout)
National Review January 31, 2018