Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute and Adia Harvey Wingfield of Washington University in St. Louis discuss a new study finding a greater racial wage gap in 2015 than in 1979.
NPR
October 8, 2016
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said she’ll look beyond the headline numbers to get a better sense of things. She focuses on the share of working age people who are actually working. “What we know from looking at it today is that we have seen some recovery,” she said. “But we still have much more ground to cover to get back to the economy of 2007 and even more to get back to the full employment economy of 2000.”
Marketplace
October 7, 2016
Elise Gould, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the slight increase to the unemployment rate was “the result of more workers entering the labor force, which may reflect optimism about future job prospects and economic growth.” Labor force participation was 62.9 percent, up from August’s 62.8 percent, but still close to its lowest level since the 1970s.
Politico
October 7, 2016
“We saw a mild uptick [in unemployment.] It is a movement for the right reasons as more people feel optimistic about the labour market and are coming back in search of jobs,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a think-tank. She estimates there are still nearly 2m “missing workers” on the sidelines of the labour market rather than being in the active labour force.
Financial Times
October 7, 2016
The Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, found the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not sufficiently kept up with rates of inflation, resulting in decreased purchasing power. Additionally, the 2015 study found the U.S. economy could sustain a raise in the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020.
Voice of America
October 7, 2016
The unemployed aren’t the only ones struggling. Over 25 percent of workers “earned poverty-level wages” according to the Economic Policy Institute. No worker should face poverty. A well designed job guarantee can rid America of the notion of the working poor – providing non-poverty wages, which would act as a price floor for the private sector.
U.S. News and World Report
October 7, 2016
The cost of child care tops college tuition in many states, according to a 2015 report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a liberal think tank, as well as monthly rent. Corporate day-care centers would be ideal for many parents but are far and few between, so any relief would be a big help.
Bloomberg
October 7, 2016
There are a few caveats that could result in tipped workers getting paid less than the minimum wage. An employer might not be aware of the law or purposely ignore it if they thought their employees didn’t know better. Economic Policy Institute (EPI) research found that 83.8 percent of the restaurants investigated between 2010 and 2012 violated the rule in some way or another. “In order to make sure that she’s getting at least the minimum wage, a tipped worker would have to keep track of all of her tips, add in her base wage, and then calculate her hourly wages for a given week,” EPI Media Relations Director Dan Crawford told InsideSources. “That’s a hard position to put someone in, and doesn’t reflect the realities of tipped work.” Crawford adds that an employee would then have to go to their employer and ask for them to make up the difference which could be a difficult position for them to be in. University of Connecticut Prof. William Alpert notes it’s uncommon and when it does happen it can be resolved through the Department of Labor.
Inside Sources
October 7, 2016
“This has very little to do with the nature or future of work,” Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, told Bloomberg BNA of the report’s findings. He noted that the share of workers who designate themselves as self-employed in a monthly Labor Department survey has remained about the same over the last two decades… EPI’s Mishel said the new report appears to capture a wide range of workers, including small business operators and students who may pick up a little extra cash through babysitting gigs and similar jobs. He said he supports the Freelancers Union’s efforts to assist its members but wants lawmakers to focus on contingent workers who are relying on independent contractor arrangements for the bulk or all of their income. “The problems are real enough without having to aggrandize that everyone in the future is going to be a freelancer,” Mishel said. The EPI, which receives about a quarter of its funding from labor unions, is a think tank that says it is committed to including low- and middle-income workers’ needs in policy discussions.
Bloomberg BNA
October 7, 2016
That wage gap begins after college graduation, when female workers with a college degree earn an average hourly wage of $16.58 compared to men of the same standing who earn $20.98 an hour, according to one study released in April by the Economic Policy Institute
The Christian Science Monitor
October 7, 2016