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Unfortunately, many workers find themselves in that situation. Research released in 2015 by the Economic Policy Institute found that nearly one in five U.S. workers has an unstable work schedule — roughly 10% of them have irregular or on-call, and often unpredictable, work schedules and another 7% work rotating shifts. This situation creates lots of problems for them: 26% of irregular and on-call shift employees and 19% of rotating and split-shift workers say that they “often” experience work-family conflict, compared to less than 11% of workers with regular schedules, the EPI data reveals.
MarketWatch October 13, 2016 -
Because the salary threshold has been so low, explained Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of nonprofit think tank the Economic Policy Institute, during a press conference in May, employers have been able to render people exempt who shouldn’t be by, for example, treating low-level assistant store managers or frontline store managers as executives. Arguably, entry-level managers would benefit from the new overtime rule either by receiving time-and-a-half pay for any hours worked over 40 in a week, having their hours scaled back to 40 hours a week while still taking home the same pay, or, as in the case of Walmart’s entry-level managers, getting a raise to put them above the threshold. Eisenbrey also said that 100,000 more US workers would benefit, as the overtime work will likely be shifted to either new employees or part-time employees who would not be working overtime. In fact, a study by Oxford Economics found that if the salary threshold were raised even to $808 a week, 76,000 part-time workers would be hired to fill the labor needs of businesses. Only 7% of full-time salaried employees are currently eligible for overtime pay down from 62% in 1975, according to the Department of Labor. Eisenbrey said the new overtime rule would bring that coverage closer to 23%. Advocates also argue that the rule change makes things easier for businesses. “It is going to be so much clearer now for employers that they have to pay people under this salary threshold regardless of what their duties are,” Eisenbrey said.
Business Insider October 13, 2016 -
Research the average cost of big-ticket expenses, such as child care, in your area so you know what to expect, Podnos says. The Economic Policy Institute found that child care for a 4-year-old isn’t cheap anywhere, but the cost varies a lot by location: It costs $344 a month in rural areas of South Carolina and $1,472 a month in Washington, D.C. Find your local average cost using the institute’s Family Budget Calculator.
Associated Press October 12, 2016 -
On Monday night, Trump doubled down on his mistakes at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania. He continued to equate helping African-Americans with fixing inner cities and once again cited the debunked statistic that 58 percent of African-American youth don’t have jobs. He added, “Forty-five percent of African-American youth live in poverty.” Where did he get this number? My best guess is that it comes from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank that Trump has cited in the past. On its website, EPI notes that 45.8 percent of black children under the age of 6 live in poverty.
Politico October 12, 2016 -
“The optics are clearly bad,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, who studies executive pay. “The company may want to draw distinctions, but consumers do not. We know how this kind of medicine goes down with the public.” He pointed to recent outrage when it was revealed the price of the EpiPen, a medical device commonly used to treat children’s allergic reactions, rose 400 percent between 2007 and 2015 as the CEO’s salary jumped to $18.9 million from $2.4 million.
Houston Chronicle October 12, 2016 -
This is the qualification that is generally made by economists favorable to the labor movement for decades now. As Robert Scott, Senior Economist and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Research at the Economic Policy Institute has written, “Trade and investment deals like Nafta and T.P.P. are highly complex legal texts, written to favor multinational companies and large investors.” He argues that free trade agreements could be rewritten so that instead of giving multinational corporations more power, it simply lowers tariffs and requires trading partners to increase their labor and environmental standards…. So Clinton calling for “open trade and open borders” isn’t actually at odds with her public statements on the issue. In an interview with Fortune in June, that I did for this story, Robert Scott pointed to the European Economic Community as the sort of free trade agreement the United States should strive for. When the EEC allowed less developed nations to join the Union, it gave generous subsidies to those countries to help encourage economic development that would make competition between countries fair and the free movement of people less of a burden on more developed countries. Scott says that this could be a model for U.S. agreements in the Western Hemisphere, if the political will for such integration can be mustered.
Forbes October 12, 2016 -
“More Jobs, but Not for Everyone” notes that many economists failed to anticipate the hit to middle-class wages and employment that accompanied globalization. However, not every economist ignored what the economic theory actually says. After all, economics always showed that non-college-educated workers would lose out on trade as output shifted to more capital-intensive and skill-intensive goods. The title of my colleague Josh Bivens’s book says it all: “Everybody Wins, Except for Most of Us: What Economics Teaches About Globalization.”Unfortunately, this reality was inconvenient for the pundits and business class that pushed for trade deals, so it was ignored. Moreover, this same group favored policies that undercut wages — using monetary policy to limit wage growth, and opposing minimum wage increases and strong labor unions — exacerbating our problems. Only now, as the effects of globalization are being made clear politically, are people coming around to what some economists have known all along.
The New York Times October 10, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute said years of social programming and gender expectations can explain the complex reasons for the gender pay gap in the United States.
According to a recent study by the institute: “By the time a woman earns her first dollar, her occupational choice is the culmination of years of education, guidance by mentors, expectations set by those who raised her, hiring practices of firms, and widespread norms and expectations about work–family balance held by employers, co-workers and society,” the study says.
The Washington Post October 10, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute founded by Bill Clinton’s former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, estimates true unemployment would be at 6.5 percent if “missing” workers were looking for work and included in statistics. Underemployment has also covered the gap for many unemployed workers as companies such as Uber, Lyft, and other gig operators offer individuals easily accessible employment, but at a cost.
The Hill October 10, 2016 -
In 2015, the annual compensation for a chief executive of one of America’s largest companies was $15.5 million on average, seven times higher than it was just 30 years ago, according to data released in July from the Economic Policy Institute. Furthermore, CEOs now make 276 times more than the typical worker does, up from 123 times more just two decades ago and just 20 times more 50 years ago.
Market Watch October 10, 2016