Minimum wage workers in 18 states will see larger paychecks starting Jan. 1, according to the Economic Policy Institute, thanks primarily to minimum wage increases approved by either voters or state legislatures. (Dave quoted throughout)
The Washington Post
December 29, 2017
Citing numerous documented violations of tipping and labor laws, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)–a left-leaning think tank–says allowing tip sharing would be disastrous for workers. The organization estimates that employers could legally pocket $5.8 billion in tips (16 percent of their employee’s tipped earnings) under the DOL proposal.
Consumer Affairs
December 28, 2017
Arizona is one of 18 states hiking the minimum wage on New Year’s Day, with the increases ranging up to $1 an hour in Maine, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which favors wage hikes. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not increased since 2009, the research group noted.
Arizona Republic
December 28, 2017
Left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute estimates that the increases will benefit 4.5 million workers. In the absence of Congress raising the wage floor, states and cities are tasking themselves with paying the lowest rung of workers a bit more. “Increasing the minimum wage is a crucial tool to help stop growing wage inequality, particularly for women and people of color who disproportionately hold minimum wage jobs,” according to EPI economic analyst Janelle Jones.
Yahoo News
December 28, 2017
Ten states that passed minimum wage hikes will see those go into effect at the start of 2018, with some 3.9 million workers affected, according to a report by a left-leaning think tank. California’s $0.50 increase to $11 an hour will have the broadest impact, raising the pay of more than 2 million workers, the Economic Policy Institute said in a report released earlier this month. Maine’s $1 bump to $10 an hour is the highest increase.
Reuters
December 28, 2017
“I think it is simply a statement of fact that Secretary Acosta and the people in the political side of the Labor Department who pushed that rule, which was a wonderful Christmas present to the National Restaurant Association, didn’t want the public to understand what kind of transfer we’re talking about,” David Weil, the WHD chief from 2014-2017, told me. Weil called an outside analysis from the Economic Policy Institute finding that the new regulation would transfer $5.8 billion a year from workers to employers a “very reasonable and conservative estimate.”
Bloomberg BNA
December 27, 2017
In 2015 and 2016, $2 billion came back to workers in 39 states, in the form of recovered wages. But many advocates say that falls far short of solving a problem that costs up to $50 billion a year. “Workers continue to lose staggering amounts in wages every year,” said Celine McNicholas, one of the authors of a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. That underpayment, which advocates call wage theft, also has ripple effects through the larger economy by keeping money out of the hands of consumers. “Low-wage workers are particularly susceptible to wage theft. Those are the same folks who would be likely to spend that income,” McNicholas said. (whole story)
CBS News Moneywatch
December 27, 2017
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute think tank estimated in a report last week that the 18 states that will boost their respective minimum wages in 2018 will effectively require employers to distribute more than $5 billion in additional pay to 4.5 million workers. (EPI cited throughout)
U.S. News and World Report
December 27, 2017
Employers are “trying to hide the fact that it’s a huge windfall to restaurant owners,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C. Ms. Shierholz, who served as chief economist for the Labor Department during the Obama administration, pointed to previous studies that have shown employers frequently pocket tips illegally. “It opens up a new avenue for wage theft,” she said. This month, she estimated the proposed rule would allow employers to pocket $5.8 billion in tips — about 16 percent of all those earned by tipped workers in 2016, according to her analysis of reported tips on tax returns.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
December 26, 2017
Starting in 2018, 18 states will increase their minimum wage. EPI says that will provide over $5 billion in additional wages to 4.5 million workers, with increases ranging from $0.35 in Michigan to $1.00 in Maine. This is a trend to watch, because minimum wage increases can help boost average earnings data at the margin. And since low-income earners have a high propensity to consume – translated from econo-speak, they spend more of each dollar they earn – high floors can also matter for consumer spending. More on that here.
Bloomberg
December 26, 2017