Earning typical hourly wages of about $10.30, childcare workers earn some 40 percent less than the nationwide median wage, well below typical wage range in comparable professions, according to the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI). About one in seven childcare workers lives below the official poverty line. In many regions, preschool and childcare workers earn a fraction of what’s required for a minimally decent standard of living. In Atlanta, childcare workers like O’Neal may earn just short of what is needed to support a local family of one.
The Nation
November 10, 2015
Child care now costs more than in-state college tuition or housing in most states, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute think tank. That high cost means that it’s no surprise that child care is out of reach even for many middle-class families and downright impossible for low-wage workers. Unfortunately, that conclusion isn’t much of a surprise to any mother or father who has tried to go back to work.
Politico
November 10, 2015
According to the Economic Policy Institute, those who work in child care are among the lowest paid workers in the country, and they rarely receive the benefits (i.e. health insurance) afforded to many other occupations.
Parents Magazine
November 10, 2015
Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute said the late-1990s economic boom provides the strongest example in recent decades of an economy in which very-low unemployment translated into very-robust pay gains for a wide range of workers up and down the income ladder. “We saw substantial wage growth, across the wage distribution—a full-employment economy, a tighter economy,” Gould said.
Marketplace
November 9, 2015
Not everyone is on board with a December rate hike. When Yellen appeared before Congress on Wednesday, a number of representatives questioned her on whether the risks of increasing the rate in December outweighed the benefits. “The Federal Reserve should keep in mind the lackluster growth we’ve seen throughout 2015 and continue to let the economy recover,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “They should not raise interest rates until wages rise further and for a sustained period of time, and people on the edges of the economy get jobs.” Gould pointed to the employment-to-population ratio, which at 59.3% has shown little movement over the past year, as a reason to hold off on raising interest rates. The labor participation rate remained at 62.4% – the lowest since 1977.
The Guardian
November 9, 2015
Few economists expect the U.S. to create construction work at the housing-boom pace of the mid-2000s, but in a labor market saturated with low-wage work, the dearth of these decent-paying jobs is especially painful. “It would be great for the economy to have more jobs, period,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said. “But [construction] is a sector where there are so many benefits.”
International Business Times
November 9, 2015
The increase would mean about $600 more a year for the average retiree on Social Security. CEO pay at the nation’s largest companies rose $600,000 to $16.3 million in 2014, according to analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank that Warren cites in her proposal.
CNN Money
November 9, 2015
The people who take care of America’s children, and make it possible for their parents to work outside the home, are paid less than dog trainers or janitors. “Despite the crucial nature of their work, child care workers’ job quality does not seem to be valued in today’s economy,” writes Elise Gould, the author of a new report released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
VOX
November 9, 2015
Many child-care workers’ wages are so low that they could not afford to put their own children in child-care programs, according to the study by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. In Los Angeles County, a child-care worker’s median annual income in 2014 was $22,000, according to the study. By contrast, a pre-school worker earned about $30,000. The Economic Policy Institute has calculated a one-person family budget for Los Angeles County to be about $35,000, which is considered the cost of a “modest, yet adequate” lifestyle, including housing, food, child care and transportation costs.
Los Angeles Daily News
November 9, 2015
Nationwide, for 2014, child care and preschool workers earned low wages and few received healthcare or pension benefits, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. The report finds that across the country, despite a high percentage of workers with some college education, most did not earn enough to cover a basic family budget. In Los Angeles County, the problem was acute. Most child care workers earned less than the poverty threshold for full-time work. Two-thirds of preschool workers couldn’t cover a one-person budget with their full-time wage while over 90 percent of all L.A. County child care workers fell short of paying for basic living expenses. “Across the country, child care workers have a difficult time making ends meet,” said Elise Gould, the report’s author. “The poverty rate of child care workers is twice that of other workers.”
Southern California Public Radio
November 9, 2015