The other story was about a policy change achieved through executive action: The Obama administration issued new guidelines on overtime pay, which will benefit an estimated 12.5 million workers. What both stories tell us is that the Obama administration has done much more than most people realize to fight extreme economic inequality. That fight will continue if Hillary Clinton wins the election; it will go into sharp reverse if Mr. Trump wins.
The New York Times
May 20, 2016
Yet others say the assumption that flexibility will get kicked to the curb is exaggerated. Some workers could actually prefer a sharper line between work and home, and the ability to untether themselves 24/7 from their gadgets. Research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has shown that, on the whole, salaried employees who would be eligible under the new rule already report similar levels of flexibility to lower-paid hourly workers. And with the right system in place for tracking hours, say some workplace experts, there’s no reason flexible policies or telecommuting can’t co-exist with the new regulation.
The Washington Post
May 20, 2016
Before that, the rate had been $250 a week since 1975. Had that amount been adjusted for inflation, it would be more than $52,000 in today’s dollars, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Dallas Morning News
May 20, 2016
The change is expected to impact 4.3 million workers nationally. In Indiana, 248,000 people—or 25 percent of the state’s salaried workers—are expected to benefit, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
The Indianapolis Star
May 20, 2016
Federal overtime rules require employers to pay 1 1/2 times hourly rates for time worked over 40 hours a week. The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank campaigning for higher wages, places Arkansas and Tennessee among states where the impact of the new rule will be the greatest. The share of salaried workers who will directly benefit from the rule is an estimated 30.6 percent in Arkansas, second only to 30.7 percent in West Virginia, the institute reports. In Tennessee, the rule reaches 29.2 percent and in Mississippi, 25.3 percent of managers, according to EPI.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal
May 20, 2016
But a new report from the Economic Policy Institute brings this nugget: Washington, along with Illinois, had the highest Hispanic unemployment rate in the nation, 7.8 percent in March. Nationally, it was 5.6 percent. Among Anglos in Washington, the rate was 4.8 percent. The Hispanic rate here has also risen since the fourth quarter of 2015.
The Seattle Times
May 20, 2016
Ahead of the final ruling, the Economic Policy Institute said, “The new salary threshold will provide millions of workers with higher wages or more time with their families. It will also give hourly and part-time workers the opportunity to pick up work that might have otherwise been done during overtime by their full-time, salaried colleagues.”
CNBC
May 20, 2016
A group of worker advocates in a separate May 18 press call countered by repeating one of the administration’s leading contentions: even if employers find ways to avoid paying time and a half to newly eligible workers, employees still win. “We think that a couple of million workers might just outright get a salary increase to put them over the threshold,” Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, said on the call. “A lot of people will have their hours reduced so that their employer doesn’t have to pay them overtime. And when they do that, it is going to create jobs.”
Bloomberg
May 20, 2016
This chart, from the liberal Economic Policy Institute, illustrates how the number of salaried workers eligible for overtime has declined over time.
Pacific Standard
May 20, 2016
This week, the Department of Labor announced an update to overtime regulations, changing the salary threshold from $23,660 to $47,476. It’s a pretty substantial change, and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released some numbers that break down who it will affect most.
Lifehacker
May 20, 2016