“The minimum wage is probably the clearest example of a policy where the majority of ordinary working Americans are calling for action and some so-called elites in Washington, specifically Republican members of Congress, are ignoring them,” said David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington think tank. “If Trump really wants to be a champion of the working people, he should press for a raise in the federal minimum wage.”
Boston Globe
November 24, 2016
David Cooper, of the liberal Economic Policy Institute, says historical trends suggest the time has come for a minimum wage increase. “If we had raised the federal minimum wage at the same pace as productivity growth since 1968, the high point of the federal minimum wage in inflation-adjusted terms, it would be over $19 an hour today,” he said. “That means that anyone making less than $19 an hour today is potentially making less than what the economy could have afforded them, if we had adopted different policies over the last 48 years.” If Trump doesn’t act, Cooper said he’s not confident the low wages will be addressed at the state level. “The reality is that without a federal standard, some states simply won’t take action,” he said.
ATTN:
November 24, 2016
One study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that black employees with more experience and education were still paid less than their white counterparts. Another study by the Corporation for Economic Development and the Institute for Policy Studies said if current trends persist, it would take 228 years for black families and 84 years for Latino families to accumulate the same amount of wealth as whites.
CNN Money
November 23, 2016
Ross Eisenbrey, and expert in labor and employment law with the Economic Policy Institute, also called the court’s ruling “extreme,” noting that the Labor Department has set salary standards for overtime exemption since the 1930s.
CBS Moneywatch
November 23, 2016
“It is… a disappointment to millions of workers who are forced to work long hours with no extra compensation, and is a blow to those Americans who care deeply about raising wages and lessening inequality,” Ross Eisenbrey, an economist with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said in a statement.
Christian Science Monitor
November 23, 2016
The rule would make all workers who make between $23,660 and $47,476 eligible for overtime pay regardless of their duties. More than 12 million workers fall into that category, and of those about 4 million have managerial duties that currently make them exempt from overtime pay, according to Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
CNN Money
November 23, 2016
The Labor Department said it “strongly disagreed” with the decision and was “considering all of our legal options,” raising the possibility of an appeal in the waning days of the Obama administration. Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute, whose writings on the subject helped shape the administration’s regulation, called the ruling “a disappointment to millions of workers who are forced to work long hours with no extra compensation.”
The New York Times
November 23, 2016
Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, called the ruling “extreme and unsupportable” and “a clear overreach.” “For 78 years the Department of Labor has used salary as well as duties to determine overtime eligibility,” Eisenbrey said in a statement. “Congress has amended the [law] many times and has never objected to the salary test.”
Huffington Post
November 23, 2016
But Ross Eisenbrey of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which supported the rule, called the decision “extreme and unsupportable.” “It is also a disappointment to millions of workers who are forced to work long hours with no extra compensation, and is a blow to those Americans who care deeply about raising wages and lessening inequality,” Eisenbrey said in a statement.
Reuters
November 23, 2016
About 4.2 million workers would be newly eligible for overtime, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. The group estimated 120,000 new jobs would be created by employees looking to avoid paying time-and-a-half to existing employees.
Quartz
November 23, 2016