CEO pay used to be a big lightning rod, given how much more many top executives earn than the people they employ. The CEOs of America’s largest firms earn three times more than they did 20 years ago and at least 10 times more than 30 years ago, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Those are big gains even relative to other very high wage earners. But they are truly embarrassing increases compared to workers whose earnings have stalled for years.
Tampa Bay Times
April 11, 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
April 11, 2016
There’s no clear-cut explanation for why single women are more liberal than their married counterparts, but Monique Morrissey, economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says it makes sense that since single women are more economically vulnerable, they also tend to want a stronger social safety net. Married women “become more complacent because they’re not as self-reliant,” says Morrissey.
Quartz
April 11, 2016
Critics of immigration argue, however, that the H1-B program is just a way for companies to force Americans to compete with foreigners and to drive down wages. They also see it as a program that helps support outsourcing, because companies bring in foreigners to train them here, and then ship the jobs back overseas. “There’s a lot of evidence now that the program is used for cheap labor in the tech industry,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute told the Wall Street Journal. “The fact that reforms have not been agreed upon in Congress, despite all the attention, shows just how important the H-1B program is to the business community.”
Fortune
April 11, 2016
“There’s a lot of evidence now that the program is used for cheap labor in the tech industry,” the Economic Policy Institute’s Daniel Costa told the Journal. “The fact that reforms have not been agreed upon in Congress, despite all the attention, shows just how important the H-1B program is to the business community.” http://on.wsj.com/1Xkkqjs
Politico
April 11, 2016
Sometimes states fail to allocate good teachers across school districts, with the result that poorer districts end up with the worst teachers. But unions aren’t to blame, according to a report out today from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “The misallocations are not more nor less severe or prevalent in states with stronger unions,” EPI’s Emma García and Larry Mishel write. Full report here: http://bit.ly/1XhQjZG
Politico
April 8, 2016
Critics say qualified U.S. workers are being displaced by cheaper foreign hires through the program. They highlight that many H-1Bs are issued to global outsourcing companies, particularly from India, that send workers to the U.S. to acquire skills and then move them back overseas, a practice that essentially promotes outsourcing of American jobs. “There’s a lot of evidence now that the program is used for cheap labor in the tech industry,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank. “The fact that reforms have not been agreed upon in Congress, despite all the attention, shows just how important the H-1B program is to the business community.”
Wall Street Journal
April 8, 2016
Those on the right of the political spectrum aren’t the only ones flagging the drop in participation. Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, which advocates for workers, has said the Fed should be patient in raising rates because wage growth remains too tepid, signaling there is still plenty of labor-market slack.
Bloomberg
April 8, 2016
An October study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that free riders represented 20.3 percent of bargaining units in RTW states, compared to only 6.8 percent in non-RTW states.
Baltimore Sun
April 8, 2016
It’s a leap that some business groups and others say could be dangerous for the economy. However, Ben-Ishai of CLASP argues that higher wages leads to higher employee retention as well as more spending money for employees— both outcomes that benefit businesses and the economy as a whole. For example, an Economic Policy Institute report found that increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 over the course of 3 years created a $10.4 billion increase in household consumption.
Washington Monthly
April 8, 2016