Media clips
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The priorities outlined send a strong signal that the bill will do little for the middle class, Hunter Blair, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said. “They could have just doubled the standard deduction, but that’s not what they did. They doubled it and got rid of the personal exemption,” Blair said. “Trump’s campaign plan did something similar and ended up raising taxes for a lot of lower-income families” once more details were assessed.
Mic September 28, 2017 -
But Robert Scott, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, called the current deal a failure, its positive aspects outweighed by the costs. KORUS was supposed to add about 100,000 jobs and instead it has cost nearly that many – despite companies like Kia, he said. Even though Georgia added Kia, the state lost Ford and GM plants and some of their suppliers. “You have to be careful not to lose sight of the forest when you look at the trees,” he said. “There’s been growth in autos and auto parts, and there’s been job losses in the U.S. auto industry.”
The Atlanta Journal Constitution September 28, 2017 -
Together these maneuvers and others like them mark a startling rise in the use of preemption laws—laws that state authorities employ to usurp or erase the power of cities and other local communities. The Economic Policy Institute, in an August publication, found that 15 states have passed more than two dozen laws preempting local labor standards in the last year and a half alone. And the National League of Cities recently reported that 25 states currently limit or prohibit local regulation of minimum-wage standards; 19 states stymie local input on paid-leave policies; 17 states prevent or discourage cities from creating municipal broadband; and three have sought to quash local LGBTQ anti-discrimination ordinances. Despite claims to the contrary, the Republicans who dominate state government in this country care little for local self-determination.
The Nation September 27, 2017 -
AFL-CIO veteran Thea Lee today was named the next president of the Economic Policy Institute. Lee worked for the AFL-CIO for two decades, most recently as President Richard Trumka’s chief of staff, before stepping down in May. She previously worked for EPI as an international economist from 1991 to 1997. “While we interviewed extremely qualified candidates, we unanimously selected Thea Lee, who will continue the EPI tradition of quality research focused on improving economic prosperity for everyone,” EPI board member Julianne Malveaux said in a statement. “She is well-suited to take EPI to another level, by expanding possibilities for our engagement with the states and using EPI’s work to help progressive organizers focus on important economic issues.” Lee will take over for current president Lawrence Mishel on Jan. 1, 2018. An EPI spokesman said Mishel will keep conducting research for the organization.
Politico Pro September 27, 2017 -
SIGN HERE: An Economic Policy Institute study out this morning illustrates the exponential growth of mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts. In 1992, the study says, about 2 percent of employment contracts required workers to submit disputes with the boss to arbitration rather than seek redress in the courts. Today, 55 percent include mandatory arbitration clauses, a trend that the study’s author, Alexander Colvin of Cornell, attributes to a series of favorable court rulings. “This trend has weakened the position of workers whose rights are violated, barring access to the courts for all types of legal claims,” Colvin writes, “including those based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.” The EPI report comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments Monday in NLRB v. Murphy Oil, which addresses apparent discrepancies between the Federal Arbitration Act and the National Labor Relations Act regarding the legality of mandatory arbitration clauses. (SCOTUSblog has a good breakdown here.) Read the EPI report here.
Politico Pro September 27, 2017 -
The pay hike for Target employees follows Walmart’s decision last year to increase wages to at least $10 an hour. It also comes as the nation’s unemployment rate tightens and job vacancies continue to climb, making it harder for businesses to hang on to trained staffers. “The biggest piece of leverage an employee has is to say, ‘Look, I can quit and go to this other place,’ ” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in the District. “When that starts happening, employers have to raise wages.” (Heidi quoted throughout)
The Washington Post September 26, 2017 -
Using data from the Census Bureau’s report on income, poverty, and health coverage, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that although the median household income for Native Americans increased 1.8% from 2015 to 2016, the “rate of poverty among Native Americans was nearly double the national average for all people and 1.7 times higher for children.” At $39,719, the median household income for Native Americans was just 69% of the national average. (EPI charts used)
Refinery29 September 26, 2017 -
Some analysts say the heart of the issue is how Uber sees itself as a company. Lawrence Mishel, president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told me the main issue is that Uber’s fundamental ethos is that it sees itself as above the rules. “It’s long been clear that Uber’s philosophy has been to be a corporate bully,” he said. “When Austin, Texas, required Uber to do more background checks on drivers, Uber pulled out of the city — and eventually came back after getting the Texas legislature to overrule the city,” Mishel said, referring the company’s sizable lobbying operation in the state.
VOX September 25, 2017 -
But the Trump administration is eliminating rules that federal agencies have shown help people and that companies have already spent money complying with, says Celine McNicholas, labor counsel at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank that represents low- and middle-income workers. “There has always been push-back” from any industry the government was trying to regulate, she said, but under the Trump administration, regulations themselves have “become a political weapon,” … The administration is cutting rules designed to make manual labor safer, while undercutting those aimed at increasing wages and benefits for the less wealthy. The Economic Policy Institute is closely tracking the impact of these changes.
Quartz September 22, 2017 -
These factors have undermined the influence employees have within their own companies. As a result, managers are more likely to reward themselves and their bosses—the shareholders—than the rank and file. A July report from the Economic Policy Institute found that the chief executive officers of America’s largest companies made an average of $15.6 million in compensation in 2016, or 271 times the annual average pay of ordinary workers. Although that gap has narrowed over the past few years, it’s still astronomically larger than the 20 times recorded in 1965. More broadly, studies have shown that the gains made in wages have often been skewed toward the top of the pay pyramid, which means those toiling at the bottom are even worse off than the general statistics show.
Bloomberg September 22, 2017