Still, as more workers found employment, paychecks were not similarly rebounding, said Elise Gould, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute. An analysis of wage growth by the left-leaning Washington, D.C.-based think tank shows the median wage the last seven years has hovered around 2 percent year-over-year. EPI believes workers will begin to reap the benefit of an improving economy with wage growth at around 3.5 percent to 4 percent — the rate before the recession hit, Ms. Gould said. “Employers still hold the cards in setting worker contracts, in terms of wages and hours,” Ms. Gould said. Ms. Gould pointed to a slew of other factors tracked by the EPI that show the labor market has not recovered from the recession: Workforce participation is the lowest since the 1970s, meaning more workers are not actively looking for work; the “quit rate” is far from recovered, meaning fewer workers are comfortable leaving their current job for other positions; and workers’ share of corporate income remains far below pre-recession levels.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
January 28, 2016
In a 2013 report published by the Economic Policy Institute, analysts found a strong correlation between the educational levels of a state’s workforce and the median wages in that state, and suggested investing in education instead of lowering taxes or cutting costs to businesses to boost economic prosperity.
New Orleans Times-Picayune
January 28, 2016
Similarly, a study by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington shows that the compensation of ordinary workers has lagged significantly behind the rise in productivity since the mid-1970s.
Financial Times
January 28, 2016
Data from the Economic Policy Institute reveal that the bottom 80 percent of households hold less than 10 percent of the value of the stock market; the top 10 percent holds 80 percent of the value; the top 1 percent, 35 percent of the value.
The Washington Post
January 27, 2016
As Richard Rothstein wrote last year for the Economic Policy Institute, “African Americans were prevented from moving to white neighborhoods by explicit policy of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which barred suburban subdivision developers from qualifying for federally subsidized construction loans unless the developers committed to exclude African Americans from the community.
CNN Money
January 27, 2016
The U.S. has lost about a third of manufacturing jobs since 2000, said Rob Scott, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. By not policing currency manipulation and product dumping, politicians and regulators bear some responsibility, he said.“We’ve been destroying middle-class jobs and generating grinding, get-by jobs,” Scott said. “That absolutely explains the angst out there.”
Dallas Morning News
January 27, 2016
For most senior drivers, the biggest advantage is the extra income. Many of those who continue working after 65 do so because they would be too poor otherwise, according to a new report from the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute that found the current retirement system inadequate
The New York Times
January 22, 2016
When it comes to wages, researchers on both sides of the debate have published studies with dueling conclusions. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has found workers in right-to-work states earn three percent less than their counterparts in other states after controlling for various demographic, socioeconomic and macroeconomic factors.
International Business Times
January 22, 2016
The Economic Policy Institute finds their data is better equipped to give the real picture of economic welfare in the country, rather than relying on poverty line thresholds. Comparisons to the poverty level show extreme cases of economic deprivation, but the calculator shows what a family of various sizes really needs to earn a living.
Houston Chronicle
January 21, 2016
Next, youth unemployment. As a May 2015 report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) on “The Class of 2015” helpfully notes, “The unemployment rate of young workers is typically slightly more than twice as high as the overall rate.” EPI defined young workers as “recent high school (age 17–20) and college graduates (age 21–24) who are not enrolled in further schooling.” I plugged this definition of “young workers” into the databases at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) website and zeroed in on specifically African Americans, ages 16 to 24. BLS youth data starts at age 16. The not-seasonally-adjusted data, while not ideal, do not support Trump’s claim.
The Washington Post
January 20, 2016