But if teachers are crucial to high-quality preschool, they are also its most neglected component. Even as investment in early-childhood education soars, teachers like Kelly continue to earn as little as $28,500 a year on average, a valuation that puts them on par with file clerks and switchboard operators, but well below K-12 teachers, who, according to the most recent national survey, earn roughly $53,100 a year. According to a recent briefing from the Economic Policy Institute, a majority of preschool teachers are low-income women of color with no more than a high-school diploma. Only 15 percent of them receive employer-sponsored health insurance, and depending on which state they are in, nearly half belong to families that rely on public assistance. “Teaching preschoolers is every bit as complicated and important as teaching any of the K-12 grades, if not more so,” says Marcy Whitebook, a director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. “But we still treat preschool teachers like babysitters. We want them to ameliorate poverty even as they live in it themselves.”
The New York Times
January 9, 2018
It’s true that 6.8 percent is historically a fairly low unemployment rate for black Americans, but it’s not a good or healthy unemployment rate by just about any measure. “If we had an overall unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, nobody would be cheering about that,” says Valerie Wilson, an economist at the left-learning Economic Policy Institute. The last time the unemployment rate for the nation as a whole was that high was about five years ago, during a period when the economic recovery had yet to take off. And while it’s true that the most recent jobs report shows that the gap has narrowed a little, its existence still points to troubling discrepancies in the labor market that can’t all be explained away by differences in education and skills. (Valerie quoted throughout)
The Atlantic
January 9, 2018
The attack is being waged on several fronts. Among other destructive steps, Trump’s Labor Department abandoned an Obama-era rule to expand overtime pay and recently proposed a new rule that would enable employers to legally steal workers’ tips. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the rule would rob tipped employees of $5.8 billion annually. In December, the National Labor Relations Board also issued a series of pro-corporate rulings, including one that will make it more difficult for smaller groups of workers within large organizations to unionize. Meanwhile, after a year in which the number of coal miner fatalities across the country doubled, the administration is reportedly considering doing away with regulations intended to prevent miners from contracting black lung.
The Washington Post
January 9, 2018
Video interview with Janelle on January 1, 2018 minimum wage increases.
Salon
January 9, 2018
Critics argue it’s a thinly veiled attempt by restaurant owners to seize the tips for themselves. Heidi Shierholz, an economist with liberal Economic Policy Institute, argues that as much as $5.8 billion could be taken by employers each year. “This is not a rule about pooling tips. This is about employers getting control of tips,” Shierholz said. (Heidi quoted throughout)
The Washington Examiner
January 9, 2018
Why is the African-American unemployment rate higher than the rate for whites?
A. The main reason is discrimination, according to most research. Valerie Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity and the economy, notes that even when African-Americans have similar levels of education or experience, their chances of being unemployed are higher. “That’s what begs the question of what else could be the major reason,” Wilson said. (Valerie quoted throughout)
The Associated Press
January 8, 2018
The Washington Post previously reported that a study by the Economic Policy Institute found that even when African Americans attend college and actively work to expand their skills and networks, they still earn far less than whites with a similar educational background. In fact, the wage gap has expanded the most between college-educated blacks and whites.
The Washington Post
January 8, 2018
In fact, economists like Valerie Wilson, director of the program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute told Newsweek that the decline can be attributed to the financial recovery process moving forward since the recession under former President Barack Obama and low federal interest rates—and not Trump. “Recovery was well underway before he came into office,” she said. “All he had to do was not do anything to reverse the process.” (Valerie quoted throughout)
Newsweek
January 8, 2018
The unemployment rate fell over the course of last year, from a high of 4.8 percent in January — President Donald Trump’s first month in office — to 4.1 percent in December. There’s room for the unemployment rate to fall even more, according to Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. In 2017, “the unemployment rate averaged 4.4 percent. But in 2000, the unemployment rate averaged 4.0 percent, and indeed fell below that for five months—with much higher rates of labor force participation and no pronounced acceleration of inflation,” Gould said. “Given that inflation remains below the Fed’s preferred target today, it seems safe to say that the unemployment rate can continue to fall.” (Elise quoted throughout)
PBS News Hour
January 8, 2018
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, noted that December marked the 10th anniversary of the start of the last recession. “While by some measures the economy has recovered, the topline numbers mask important differences in the experiences of working people,” she said. “Employers should be lining up for workers – instead of workers competing for jobs.”
The Guardian
January 8, 2018