Media clips
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“Caring about workers seems to be much more prevalent,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank in the District. But Trump’s attention on union workers alone probably hasn’t kicked up labor’s popularity, he said. Back in 2008, when the auto industry took a tumble, unionized workers took a reputation hit from which they’ve seemingly just recovered. (Approval for unions dropped to an all-time low in 2009 at 48 percent, the Gallup data show.) “People demonized unions, especially in the south, as though they were the Communist Party,” Mishel said. Unions, at the time, took blame for not being able to save jobs or demanding too much from employers.
The Washington Post September 5, 2017 -
The rollback of labor rights and protections since Trump took office is staggering. It puts worker safety at risk and guarantees that many workers will earn less, but that’s not all. Measures to help victims of discrimination receive redress are on the scrap heap. Unions are running scared. “It’s a death by a thousand cuts,” explains Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
The Nation September 5, 2017 -
New research from the Economic Policy Institute finds that workers covered by a union contract earn 13.2% more in wages on average than nonunion workers who have similar levels of education and experience. But importantly, the report concludes that black and Hispanic workers get even more of a boost from unionization than their white counterparts, suggesting that stronger unions could help to close longstanding pay disparities. While 42% of U.S. workers overall are barely scraping by at jobs that pay less than $15 an hour, that figure is much more pronounced for black workers (54%) and Latino workers (60%). Closing those gaps—and raising pay for all low-wage workers—is crucial.
Fortune September 5, 2017 -
So why the naysaying? Because people who say the labor movement is dying are looking in the wrong place – the past. They’re looking at their grandfathers’ unions, at a movement that was anchored in just a few industries. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute shows today’s unions represent workers from a broader range of sectors, with nearly 40 percent working in educational and health services, and unions are flourishing in “new economy” industries, such as digital journalism. This changed workforce is increasingly joining together in areas where our economy is growing and adapting to these realities by exploring new forms of worker organization. Demographics have changed too: According to the EPI, approximately 65 percent of union workers in 2016 were women and/or people of color. Massachusetts is one of four states in the country where women now outnumber men in unions. And nationally the gap is closing fast: The total number of women in unions in 2016 was only a percentage point behind men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (EPI cited throughout)
Common Wealth Magazine September 5, 2017 -
Take a number: 42 percent If you need even more facts and figures for Labor Day, here are a few, courtesy of the Economic Policy Institute. While the stereotypical union member may be a white man in a construction hard hat, 42 percent of union members are women, 36 percent are nonwhite and 40 percent work in education or health services. In other words, they look like America and reflect our changing economy.
Sacramento Bee September 5, 2017 -
This is not, incidentally, because an increase in the labor supply has no adverse effects for anyone. Rather, as Heidi Shierholz of the liberal Economic Policy Institute emphasizes in her overview of the literature, it’s that “earlier immigrants are the group that’s most adversely affected by immigration” because they are the people whose skill sets are most likely to put them in direct competition with new immigrants. Across a range of estimates, the effects on wages “tend to be very small, and on average, modestly positive.”
VOX September 5, 2017 -
“When the Federal Reserve meets in September, they should take a hard look at the data, which right now shows it’s too soon to raise interest rates,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
CBS Moneywatch September 5, 2017 -
Wage growth remained stalled in August
Politico/Marianne LeVine
Elise Gould, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said that “this level is still more than enough to bring workers off the sidelines and have them participating in the economy.” … Part of the reason could be continuing slack in the labor market that’s attributable to the Great Recession, according to Gould, of the Economic Policy Institute. Today’s jobs report put August labor force participation at 62.9 percent, unchanged from July and close to its lowest level since the 1970’s.
Politico September 5, 2017 -
Not everyone agrees with that view. Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the recruitment standards for the H-2B program aren’t sufficient to give U.S. workers a real crack at the job. “The requirements aren’t that onerous, and the DOL isn’t really checking all that much,” Costa said. H-2B employers are required to offer a so-called prevailing wage — defined as the average wage paid to people in a similar role in the same area — but Costa said the benchmark should be higher. A rider inserted in a 2016 spending bill, and re-upped again this year, allowed employers to use their own private wage surveys rather than Labor Department data to calculate prevailing wages. “There’s always some sort of loophole,” Costa said. (Daniel quoted throughout)
Politico September 4, 2017 -
However, union membership nationally is on the decline, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which “proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers.”
KPBS September 4, 2017