But the occupational differences explanation, when presented without caveats, is also problematic. “The story is a lot more complicated than that,” says Elise Gould, an economist and the co-author of a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute about gender and compensation. “We wanted to disentangle the question of ‘choice’ and what’s happening between two workers that are sitting right next to each other in a cubicle … What’s going on behind that in terms of cultural norms, expectations, work-family balance—all the different components that might lead women to be in certain kinds of jobs differently than men.”
The Atlantic
July 28, 2016
A new report confirms what millions of women already know: that women’s choices are not to blame for the gender wage gap. Instead, researchers at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the progressive think tank that issued the report, say that women’s unequal pay is driven by “discrimination, social norms, and other factors beyond women’s control.”
Rewire
July 28, 2016
Median home prices rose 4.8 percent from June 2015 to June 2016, according to NAR, but wages remain relatively stagnant. According to the Economic Policy Institute, wages grew 2.6 percent during that same period.
The Washington Post
July 28, 2016
That’s doubly true because the American workforce is getting steadily less white. The Economic Policy Institute, in a report that defines members of the working class as labor force participants who lack a bachelor’s degree, estimated that whites will constitute a minority of the working class by 2032. If racist policing and immigrant justice are not obviously class issues, they are matters of vital concern to large and growing segments of one class in particular.
The Atlantic
July 28, 2016
But Robert Scott, who has been following trade issues for years at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute and opposes the deal, said the endgame remains to be determined. “I don’t think it’s over until it’s over,” he said.
Los Angeles Times
July 28, 2016
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), workers misclassified as independent contractors can be found in nearly every industry, and the phenomenon has grown considerably with the rise of the gig economy. Uber, the ride-hailing company, has become the poster child for worker misclassification, with numerous lawsuits alleging that Uber wrongly classifies its drivers as independent contractors. But Uber is hardly alone – examples of worker misclassification can be found in scores of new sectors, from housecleaners to technical workers.
In a 2015 report, EPI described the advantages to employers of misclassifying workers. “Employers who misclassify avoid paying payroll taxes and workers’ compensation insurance, are not responsible for providing health insurance, and are able to bypass requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.” If this weren’t enough, the report continues, “misclassified workers are ineligible for unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, minimum wage, and overtime, and are forced to pay the full FICA tax and purchase their own health insurance.”
The Huffington Post
July 28, 2016
Elise Gould, Senior Economist and Director of Health Policy Research at Economic Policy Institute, discussed the landscape of minimum wage and living wage employment — including who should make $7.25 an hour and what burden employers have to provide for their employees. EPI has recently released their Family Budget Calculator, which shows regional differences in how much income is needed for economic security.
WNYC
July 27, 2016
The conversations we had around whether to endorse the fight for $15 here in Baltimore resembled many of the conversations we have at our monthly cooperative business meetings. We are constantly trying to balance our perspective as workers, working democratically to create the best jobs for ourselves we can, with our perspective as small business owners with 20 equal partners, all trying to keep our eyes on the bottom line and the company in the black. So while we recognize that a substantial raise in the minimum wage is long overdue, and that the benefits of $15 per hour — increased local purchasing power and increased financial security for the 98,000 workers the Economic Policy Institute estimates will see a raise — will benefit the entire local economy, we’re also extremely sensitive to the concerns that many small business owners have begun to voice.
Baltimore Sun
July 27, 2016
“I think it’s useless — it’s burial insurance,” said Robert Scott, a scholar at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “It does not provide enough relief or enough training to get people into a new job.”… Scott noted the difficulty of achieving a worker retraining program similar to ones in Germany and the Nordic countries, which spend as much as 5 percent of gross domestic product on worker retraining process. In the U.S., that level of retraining commitment would be valued at close to $1 trillion. Current TAA funding is $450 million a year, or less than 1 percent of U.S. GDP.
Morning Consult
July 27, 2016
This revelation comes at a time when executive pay is already receiving more scrutiny, and with good reason: CEO pay is 10 times larger than it was 30 years ago, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Mic
July 26, 2016