The Department of Labor and Economic Policy Institute disagree on how many workers who will be affected by the new regulation, but agree it’s in the millions. The DOL predicts the regulations will affect up to 4.5 million U.S. workers. Close to 2 million workers who do not have college degrees could now be considered eligible…The Economic Policy Institute suggests there are 12.5 million salaried workers making between $455 and $913 per week. The EPI takes into account employees they consider to have been misclassified. Workers who met the salary threshold established in 2004, or are payed above it, could have been excluded from overtime pay if their jobs were determined to fall within an executive, administrative or professional classification.
The Sun Herald
August 8, 2016
“It’s one thing to think about ways that workers can navigate the wearables to be more efficient. But what does this mean about the employee and employer relationship that they need to be so closely monitored?” asked Elise Gould, a labor economist at Economic Policy Institute. “What does it say about the sense of trust or respect?”… But given the legal risks, are wearables worth it, given the bump in worker output they provide? Elise Gould, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says that wearable use is likely to lead to higher profit margins for a company. But she’s concerned that those returns won’t be reflected in the employees’ paychecks. “What will employers do with that data? Do workers have any collective bargaining power to use this data to make sure they are getting compensated for their work?” she asked, adding that many companies that use these technologies, such as Amazon, do not have unionized work forces. (Amazon’s chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, owns The Washington Post.)
The Washington Post
August 8, 2016
Small wonder. Corporate profits may be running strong and the stock market hovering near record highs. CEO pay at major companies runs close to 300 times the salaries of average workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But the household income of a typical American family, adjusted for inflation, is lower now than in 1999, and at $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage is poverty pay, 30 percent below the inflation-adjusted level in 1968.
Sacramento Bee
August 8, 2016
Mason and Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, both say those programs could focus on infrastructure — a field with an abundance of job opportunities that’s only going to expand in coming years. New hires will be needed to repair bridges and buildings, to wire fiber-optic networks throughout areas with low internet penetration, and for urban renewal works in cities throughout the country….That type of nuance — pairing unemployed populations and economic incentive in a way that’s mutually beneficial to both job seekers and industry — is why Mishel called these platforms “really important.” “Even if we have full employment nationwide, there are communities that are still going to be in recession,” he says. “That’s likely going to be the case for communities of color, which, if the country has 4 percent unemployment, might have something like 7 or 8 percent unemployment.” Mishel says he thinks it’s unlikely that cities will push out policies that filter out everyone else except for the black community, so what’s laid out in the initial agenda “will benefit the black community but it’ll also benefit some small cities and rural areas that are also white.”
Next City
August 8, 2016
It’s no secret that millions of Americans are underprepared for retirement. In fact, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), almost half of American families have no retirement savings account at all, including almost 40% of those between the ages of 56 and 61.
Fox Business
August 8, 2016
“One of the most astonishing stories is the degree to which this is taking place in manufacturing, even automobile manufacturing,” says Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
CNNMoney
August 5, 2016
Courier-Post
August 5, 2016
Rob Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute.
On Point
August 5, 2016
What’s interesting about all this is that in isolation, Trump’s proposal (vague as it may be) is actually a pretty good policy. “I think it’s a smart idea,” says Lawrence Mishel, president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “The fact that you can distinguish [Trump’s infrastructure proposals] from those of the mainstream Republicans only suggests how off-target and ideological are the [Paul] Ryan-type Republicans.” Infrastructure projects, generally speaking, are a strong investment and borrowing money to pay for them makes a lot of sense. An EPI analysis from 2014 estimated that “a debt-financed $250 billion annual investment [in infrastructure projects] boosts GDP by $400 billion and overall employment by 3 million net new jobs by the end of the first year.” Good things, right?
Salon
August 4, 2016
And what about the impact on jobs? For West Virginia, the repercussions would also be disastrous. Lest one should think this is merely some right-wing drivel, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has estimated that roughly 24,000 coal-mining jobs will be “displaced” by 2020 as a result of the CPP.
The Hill
August 4, 2016