Media clips
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Now, a bill has been introduced in the New York City Council calling for a formal study of the causes — and remedies — of racial segregation in public schools. In this post, Richard Rothstein explains why such an effort, as spelled out in the bill, is misguided. Rothstein is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization created in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. He is also a a senior fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and author of the forthcoming “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.” A former national education writer for the New York Times, Rothstein also wrote books including “Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right,” and “Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap.” In 2013, Rothstein wrote a report titled “For Public Schools, Segregation Then, Segregation Since: Education and the Unfinished March.” which says in part: Today, African American students are more isolated than they were 40 years ago, while most education policymakers and reformers have abandoned integration as a cause.
The Washington Post December 14, 2016 -
Robert Scott, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute concurs that the “threat of broad-based tariffs” was essential to success in the Plaza Accords, and also points out that the most successful exchange-rate negotiation prior to the Plaza Accords was the Smithsonian Agreement when, in 1971, President Nixon forced American trade partners to allow dollar depreciation, instituting a 10% import surcharge to force them to the negotiating table…The EPI’s Scott says that needed reforms in countries with large trade surpluses (like China, Germany, and Japan) include allowing for currency appreciation, the removal of state subsidies for business that enable firms to sell goods at below cost, and the institution of policies that would raise wages and lower savings rates in surplus countries.
Fortune December 14, 2016 -
For example, when Ford recently decided to shift production of low-margin compact cars to Mexico, it allowed a US plant to produce high-end trucks and SUVs at no loss of American jobs. In fact, automotive jobs in the United States have grown by more than 200,000 since the end of the Great Recession, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Boston Globe December 14, 2016 -
Indeed, a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute found that between 2000 and 2015, wages for the bottom 60 percent of male workers were flat or declined and that most of the wage gains have occurred among the highest earners. David Lee, executive director of Feeding Wisconsin, part of the Feeding America network, puts it another way: “A good-paying job is the best antidote to hunger.”
CNBC December 14, 2016 -
Puzder could unilaterally slow down the enforcement regime, conducting fewer investigations, seeking smaller settlements with employers who violate the law and requesting smaller budgets from Congress. “Enforcement is a big deal,” said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “I consider it the most important thing that DOL does.”
Politico December 13, 2016 -
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the new rule would benefit many more workers – 12.5 million nationally (nearly one-fourth of all workers) and more than 1 million in California – who would either get overtime, not have to work more than 40 hours without pay, or would get a raise to put them above the overtime threshold.
Sacramento Bee December 13, 2016 -
The current system allows for 85,000 people to enter the country annually on H-1Bs. Foreign outsourcing companies like India’s Infosys and Tata Consulting are among the top sponsors of immigrants in the U.S., yet they pay far below average for technical jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC December 13, 2016 -
An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute also found that for each major EPA rule enacted by the Obama administration, annual benefits exceeded costs by $10 billion to $95 billion per rule and generated more new jobs than were lost. One example was the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which had estimated costs (approximately $8 billion) that were dwarfed by the $28 billion to $77 billion in annual benefits.
The Hill December 12, 2016 -
Judging by the rampant misogyny that characterized Trump’s campaign and the makeup of his incoming cabinet, it would seem the answer to Goss Graves’ question is no. That conclusion is also backed up by the president-elect’s policy plan, which noticeably lacks policies that could help women achieve financial security and advance in society. Those policies include higher wages for minimum-wage and tipped-wage workers (groups that are both dominated by women), as well as incentives that make American work culture more feasible for people with families and, well, lives, according to economist Elise Gould.
Mic December 9, 2016 -
According to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute, there are 6.4 million workers who want to work full-time but are instead working part-time. This represents a 1.3 percent increase in the number of involuntary workers prior to the Great Recession. And the trend is accelerating—according to the study, “involuntary part-time work is increasing almost five times faster than part-time work and about 18 times faster than all work.” Most of these workers are concentrated in the retail, hospitality, and leisure industries, and the EPI study found that “structural factors were at least as important as cyclical factors.” In other words, those industries are choosing to employ more and more people as part-time workers, and that trend isn’t likely to reverse even as the economy improves. These are the workers that need the most protection from the Labor Department, and Puzder is not likely to provide it. “An approach such as I think we will see, will do nothing for part-time workers in terms of their ability to get more hours of work, fair pay, or the kind of scheduling reforms that allow people to balance work and family,” said Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute.
The Nation December 9, 2016