A major research report out Thursday from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) aims to inform the national discussion about workplace policies with a new analysis showing the gender wage gap is real. “We’re basically saying we’ve measured it a lot of different ways, and it exists, and it’s real, and unfortunately it has not gone away,” said Elise Gould, an economist with the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based think tank EPI, in a phone interview with Rewire. Drawing on national and regional surveys of pay, occupational categories, and educational attainment, the report drills down on different aspects of the gender wage gap to measure it across race, education, work experience, and other factors. Among the key takeaways: Unequal pay hits women of color the hardest, and the “motherhood penalty” is real. Mothers earn roughly 4.6 percent less per hour than women who are not mothers, even after controlling for education and experience.
Rewire
October 20, 2016
Let’s start with the job market. This has been another brutal year in which to graduate. Research from the Economic Policy Institute finds that young college graduates’ underemployment rate is nearly a third higher today than it was in 2007. Everyone is looking for an edge.
October 20, 2016
A 2015 GOBankingRates.com survey of 5,000 Americans found that more than half of those surveyed had less than $1,000 in a savings account. This amount doesn’t factor in retirement or other accounts, though other studies show many people aren’t putting away enough for retirement either. A 2016 analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute based on data from the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances showed that retirement savings have stagnated over time.
U.S. News & World Report
October 20, 2016
Comparing what Americans want in retirement with what reality holds is a sad — if not devastating — exercise. A March 2016 Economic Policy Institute report finds the median retirement account balance for people who have any savings at all is $60,000 — meaning half of people have more than $60,000 and the rest have less. But that’s literally only half the story, because nearly 50 percent of Americans don’t have a penny saved for retirement. If you include all those people, the median retirement savings plummets to just $5,000.
USA Today
October 19, 2016
A closer analysis of 401(k) participants by race and/or ethnicity finds troubling low rates of coverage among the Hispanic population. However, it represents a prime opportunity for 401(k) advisors involved with niche and diversity marketing to help. “Hispanic workers lag far behind other workers in retirement plan participation,” according to Monique Morrissey of the Economic Policy Institute. “In 2012, just 34 percent of Hispanic workers employed 35 or more hours per week were enrolled in an employer-based plan, compared with 59 percent of their non-Hispanic white counterparts.”
Hispanic Trending
October 19, 2016
App users felt it now takes a total of 151 workers’ salaries to make as much as a CEO, but it should only take a total of 72. The actual figure? A total of 303 workers’ salaries, according to a 2015 report by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
CNN Money
October 19, 2016
When it comes to hourly wages, white men earn an average of $21 an hour, compared to $15 an hour for black men and $14 an hour for Latino men. (White and Asian women actually earn more per hour, on average—$17 an hour and $18 an hour, respectively—than black and Latino men.) Further, a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, showed that in 2015, after controlling for education, region, and work experience, black men earned 22 percent less than white men working in the same occupations, a disparity that has worsened in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
The Atlantic
October 18, 2016
Informed progressive observers will recognize many of the letter’s signatories, starting with Stephanie Kelton, a University of Missouri-Kansas City economist who has been a top adviser to Sanders. Among the other notables are Economic Policy Institute President Larry Mishel, who was beating the drums about wage stagnation before it was fashionable; Harvard economist Dani Rodrik, an early advocate for treating free trade more skeptically; and Berkeley’s Emmanuel Saez, who is among the world’s most influential experts on inequality.
The Huffington Post
October 18, 2016
Ross Eisenbrey, a vice president at the Economic Policy Institute, told Bloomberg BNA that when he meets with Clinton’s transition team, “I would be enthusiastic about” Su for U.S. labor secretary. NELP and EPI have both helped frame labor policies in Democratic administrations, and two former EPI employees are on Clinton’s transition team.
Bloomberg BNA
October 18, 2016
Wages are 3 percent lower in right-to-work states than other states, after accounting for differences in the cost of living, demographics and labor-market characteristics, according to an April 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute. That translates to $1,558 a year less in earnings for a typical full-time worker.
The Washington Post
October 17, 2016