Media clips
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Full-time female workers across the country still earn just 79 cents for every dollar men earn, and the gap widens further for women of color. A new report on the gender wage gap by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, shines a light on why these disparities persist and what policies would most effectively eliminate them.
The American Prospect August 12, 2016 -
A new economic working paper reinforces an important reality: We need more government spending to repair the economy for millions of working Americans. Unfortunately, our political debate is being held back by an economic myth – one that has yet to be challenged in political debate, despite an ever-growing body of evidence against it. The paper, by L. John Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute, is called “Why is recovery taking so long – and who’s to blame?”
Common Dreams August 12, 2016 -
At a time when regional teacher shortages and high turnover rates are rife in school systems, a new report by the Economic Policy Institute may offer some explanation: The gap between U.S. teachers’ pay’s and that of compariable workers is greater than ever before. EPI, a nonprofit think tank that works to include low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions, has studied the teacher pay gap for years. The average annual U.S. teacher salary in 2015 was $57,200 for high school teachers and $54,550 for elementary teachers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (though compensation varies by state.) But a long-term analysis by EPI shows that U.S. teachers earn lower wages than all other comparable workers (defined as those with the same education and experience). The pay gap—calculated in the study by average weekly compensation—has grown significantly over the past few decades.
Education Week August 12, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute released a study on Tuesday that found average weekly wages for public school teachers across the country are 17 percent lower than professionals in other fields who’ve earned a college degree – a startling difference considering that gap was just 1.8 percent in 1994. According to the study, between 1996 and 2015, teachers in the public sector saw their weekly pay shrink by $30, on average, to $1,092. Over that same period, per-week wages for college graduates entering other professions grew by more than $120, to $1,416. Both figures were adjusted for inflation.
Chicago Tonight August 12, 2016 -
The US’s slow recovery from the 2008 recession is due to Republican policies on the local, state and federal level, according to a new study published by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The new report comes as the slow pace of recovery has emerged as a key battleground between Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who will set out her economic policy on Thursday. The EPI report blames the lackluster pace of recovery on Republican-led budget cuts in 2011 following the row over the US debt ceiling, the unwillingness of local officials to spend money when Republicans in Congress were advocating cuts in spending, and the refusal to expand Medicaid in 19 states.
The Guardian August 11, 2016 -
A new study by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, tries to thread this needle with an analysis that argues Republican-driven austerity, rather than any Obama administration policy, is to blame for the incomplete economic turnaround. The bursting of the housing bubble, the financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing recession destroyed trillions of dollars in wealth, decimating demand for goods and services. The damage was not entirely without precedent, however. The deep recession in the early 1980s had, by some measures, a similar impact, according to EPI.
The Huffington Post August 11, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute just released a paper, authored by their research and policy director Josh Bivens, looking back at the country’s last four recessions. People have poked through this data before, but the numbers are nonetheless eye-popping. From the lowest depths of the 1981 recession, it took just 30 months for the job supply to grow by 10 percent. After the 1990 recession, it took twice as long. The 2001 recession was so sluggish it never reaches the 10 percent mark within Bivens’ time window. The recovery from the Great Recession only barely hit the mark after 80 months.
The Week August 11, 2016 -
“It’s typical if you’re going to build a coherent economic policy you need to have a wide group of economic advisers,” says Rob Scott of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “These people are generally economists who come out of the top 10 or 15 schools, or the leading think tanks. … He’s got a bunch of real estate guys and a poker player.”
Politico Magazine August 11, 2016 -
Trump’s plan “would actually be pretty poorly targeted for middle-class and low-income families,” Hunter Blair, a tax and budget analyst at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), told Rewire on Monday. That’s because his tax breaks would presumably not benefit those who don’t make enough money to owe the federal government income taxes—about 44 percent of households, according to Blair. “They won’t get any benefit from this.”… Such policies could make a major difference to child-care workers—the overwhelming majority of which are women and workers of color—who often make poverty-level wages. A 2015 study by the EPI found that the median wage for these workers is just $10.31 an hour, and few receive employer benefits. Those poor conditions make it difficult to attract and retain workers, and improve the quality of care for children around the country.
Rewire August 11, 2016 -
What was once scarce is now abundant. Even though the cost of a degree has risen tenfold since 1978, its value is stagnant or declining. According to the Economic Policy Institute, workers with undergraduate degrees (but not graduate degrees) earned, on average, $30.05 an hour in 2001. In 2014, they earned $29.55 an hour. Other sources show even more dramatic falls.
New York Observer August 11, 2016