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
Ross quoted on overtime at 1:25
Marketplace
December 9, 2016
“The Secretary of Labor should serve as an advocate for working people, enforcing rules that protect workers and crafting new regulations to make sure everyone gets a fair shake on the job. He or she needs to be a voice for workers in the development of all administration policies,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, in a Thursday press release responding to the news that Puzder would be Trump’s choice for the spot. Mishel continued by saying that Trump had run on a platform claiming to help working people, but noted that “there is nothing in [Puzder’s] record or his public statements to indicate that he would lead in developing policies and enforcement strategies to generate higher wages and better quality jobs for America’s workers.”
Rewire
December 9, 2016
Labor advocates argue that over the years, both the classification rules and compensation levels of the existing overtime regulations have been dramatically distorted by legal manipulation and eroded by structural inequality. Denouncing the narrow ruling as “hostile” to the spirit of fair pay laws, Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), argues that the court “considers it a ‘harm’ that employers will have to pay millions of employees for overtime hours while dismissing the benefit of higher salaries and more humane workweeks for workers.”… In the meantime, Eisenbrey says that “employers will have to comply and workers will become familiar with and want to retain their new rights and pay.” Meanwhile, legislative action would hinge on whether the Democrats can block Republican deregulatory proposals.
The Nation
December 9, 2016