The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute last year found that 51.3% of black and 36.1% Hispanic high school graduates, age 17 to 20, were underemployed. That means they either don’t have a job, aren’t working as many hours as they would like or aren’t currently looking for work but would like a job.
CNN Money
February 12, 2016
Yesterday the Albert Shanker Institute, a think tank affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), hosted a panel discussion on school and housing segregation. Featuring Kimberly Goyette, a sociologist at Temple University, Amy Ellen Schwartz, an economist at NYU, Amy Stuart Wells, a sociologist at Columbia, and Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute and former New York Times education columnist—the four speakers explored how best to provide children and families with opportunity.
On the panel, Richard Rothstein argued that the country has a long way to go in terms of fulfilling its constitutional obligation to desegregate schools—and that the first step must involve launching a national education campaign so that the public, and progressives in particular, can better understand their history. He called de facto segregation “a national myth”—one that allows Americans to sleep easy in the face of illegal discrimination. “We have to get serious about desegregating the country, and I don’t just mean desegregating low-income families,” he said. “I mean lower-middle class areas too. We need a fundamental rethinking about our priorities.” Rothstein walked through the history of government-sponsored housing segregation, specifically looking at Ferguson, Missouri, which he’s also written about at length for The American Prospect.
The American Prospect
February 12, 2016
Liberal groups like the AFL-CIO and the Economic Policy Institute have started a petition drive to urge the Obama administration not to “let Congress run out the clock” on the Labor Department’s proposed overtime rule, which would more than double (to $50,440) the salary threshold under which virtually all employees qualify for time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours in any given week.
Politico
February 12, 2016
Given that the stock rout occurred right after the Federal Reserve boosted rates for the first time since 2006, some are pointing fingers at the central bank. Economists such as the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute have expressed concern that the hike wasn’t justified given the still-recovering U.S. economy. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Thursday called the December decision “tranquil” and pointed to other issues, including weaker global economic growth.
CBS Moneywatch
February 12, 2016
The trouble comes when we use the consumer spending numbers in the GDP to draw conclusions for which it was not designed, said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute. “I think there’s a critique of the U.S. economy that relies on the claim that [there is] too much short-termism, and people are too materialistic,” but the numbers don’t bear that out, Bivens said. “A lot of what has driven rising consumption over the last 20 or 30 years in the U.S. economy is health care, education and rent. And it doesn’t saying anything about a moral failure,” he said.
Marketplace
February 11, 2016
While unemployment has dropped to 4.9 percent overall, it is at 16 percent for those between the ages of 16 and 19, and 8.2 percent for 20-to-24-year-olds. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank, even among employed and college-educated youth wages have been on a constant downward trend since the year 2000.
The New Republic
February 11, 2016
A state’s economic health is directly related to its workforce’s level of education, according to the Economic Policy Institute, so it’s fair to say that when college students fail to clear these hurdles and ultimately drop out, it’s bad for Chicago – and for Illinois as a whole.
Chicago Tribune
February 11, 2016
Some council members have expressed support for higher wages, but few have backed a specific dollar figure. In September, the council voted to set aside $150,000 for a study on the potential impact of a higher minimum wage in the city or the metro area. The council voted Wednesday to authorize a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota, Howard University, Rutgers University and the Economic Policy Institute to complete the study this spring, but some council members said they remain uncertain about the city’s ability to make any changes.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
February 11, 2016
Live-in domestic servants are uniquely vulnerable to abuse because their work takes place out of sight, experts say – which also makes it difficult to estimate how many are in the United States. Roughly 2 million people work in “in-home” professions, from housecleaning to elder care, according to a 2013 report from the Economic Policy Institute. Those who are live-in workers, or immigrants, are especially difficult to tally, and especially vulnerable.
Christian Science Monitor
February 10, 2016
The Economic Policy Institute says the biggest decline in wages from 2013 to 2014 occurred among those with undergraduate and advanced degrees. Just think what it would mean to Walmart if those Americans were paid better salaries: more customers in stores and online.
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 10, 2016