Media clips
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The visa program also ties foreign workers to one employer, making them susceptible to exploitation, according to Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. Some recruiters demand payment, a practice banned in the United States, which saddles workers with debt and may make them more acquiescent. Rather than having employers determine how many foreign workers they need, the government could set up an independent body to identify labor shortages and allocate visas, Mr. Costa said. “It’s only fair to set the system in a way that they are not exploited,” he said, referring to migrant workers. “Otherwise employers will try to keep wages down.”
The New York Times July 24, 2017 -
The chief executive officers of America’s largest companies were paid an average of $15.6 million in 2016 says a recent study by an economic research group. The Economic Policy Institute published the report written by Lawrence Mischel and Jessica Schieder. They say the average business leader’s pay was 271 times what an average worker earns at the companies they studied. This chief executive-to-worker pay ratio is smaller than it has been in the past few years. In 2014, the ratio was 299-to-1, according to the report. However, it is still much higher than the 20-to-1 ratio between chief executives and workers in 1965. In 1989, that difference was 59-to-1. (whole story)
Voice of America July 24, 2017 -
A new study from the Economic Policy Institute found that compensation of the nation’s top CEO’s is 271 times the typical worker’s annual average pay. We’ll talk to the report’s author who says the gap narrowed since last year, but we still have a long way to go. Host: Kate Archer Kent Guest(s): Lawrence Mishel
Wisconsin Public Radio July 21, 2017 -
CEO pay may not be quite as high as it once was, but the numbers still dwarf the pay earned by the typical worker. Chief executives of America’s 350 largest companies made an average of $15.6 million in 2016, or 271 times more than what the typical worker made last year, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s annual report on executive compensation, released Thursday. The report from the left-leaning think tank said that number was slightly lower than 2015, when average pay was $16.3 million and the ratio was 286-to-1. (whole story)
The Washington Post July 21, 2017 -
It pays to be CEO. Even in 1965, chief executive officers were pulling in $843,000 a year, and their compensation has only skyrocketed since. According to a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), CEO pay peaked in 2000 at $20.7 million (in 2016 dollars) and, in 2016, “CEOs in America’s largest firms made an average of $15.6 million in compensation, or 271 times the annual average pay of the typical worker.” That’s “5.33 times greater than wages of the top 0.1 percent of wage earners,” the EPI reports. (whole story)
CNBC July 21, 2017 -
While it’s no surprise that CEOs make a lot of money, the actual pay gap between top chiefs and rest of America’s biggest earners is startling: The average CEO at one of the 350 largest companies takes home more than five times the annual earnings of the average 0.1 percenter. According to a new report on CEO pay from the Economic Policy Institute, chief executives at those 350 companies made $15.6 million on average in 2016—271 times what the typical worker earns. (whole story)
Fortune July 21, 2017 -
EPI: CEO PAY STILL REALLY HIGH: A report out today from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute concludes that CEO pay, though it’s declined a bit relative to average wages, remains absurdly high relative to that average. Factoring in stock options realized (on top of salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, and long-term incentive payouts), “in 2016 CEOs in America’s largest firms made an average of $15.6 million in compensation, or 271 times the annual average pay of the typical worker,” write EPI’s Lawrence Mishel and Jessica Schieder. “While the 2016 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of 271-to-1 is down from 299-to-1 in 2014 and 286-to-1 in 2015, it is still light years beyond the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and the 59-to-1 ratio in 1989.” Read the full report here.
Politico July 21, 2017 -
In 2016, CEOs at America’s largest firms made, on average, 271 times more than the average US worker. Fifty years ago, that ratio was 20-to-1.
The CEO-to-worker pay ratio, calculated annually by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, has narrowed slightly in recent years; in 2014, it was 299-to-1. But it has grown by an order of magnitude since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping data in the 1960s, and has even doubled many times over since the late 1980s, when it was 59-to-1. (whole story)
Bill Moyers July 21, 2017 -
In April, Trump ordered the Department of Commerce to investigate steel imports under a little-known part of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Section 232, which allows the executive branch to place import restrictions or tariffs on steel for national security reasons. “Steel and aluminum are vital for U.S. national defense and critical infrastructure,” Robert E. Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center think tank, said in a piece supporting the idea. “The military needs high quality steel and aluminum to make products ranging from helmets and tanks to rocket fuel, fighter jets and aircraft carriers.” Foreign trade practices have made it impossible for the United States to supply its own steel for defense purposes, the theory goes.
The Atlantic July 21, 2017 -
Another Reason Why It’s Great The BBC Revealed Anchors’ Salaries
The Huffington Post/Emily Peck
“If you don’t have the information, you can’t act on it,” Elise Gould, a senior economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute who studies the pay gap, told HuffPost. She pointed out that in unionized workplaces, where employees have more information about pay, there are smaller pay disparities between genders. In any workplace, information is power. Workers can’t advocate for equal pay until they know where they stand, compared with their colleagues. Public pressure that comes from releasing detailed information helps, too, Gould added.
The Huffington Post July 21, 2017