A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute identified the irregular hours that go with many types of low-wage jobs as one of five socioeconomic disadvantages that depress student achievement. PICA’s parent training program tackles this head-on by getting parents ready for steady jobs with regular hours in job sectors that are compatible with child care and where there is demand.
National Journal
July 28, 2015
Thanks to a high cost of living, the $7.75 minimum wage in Hawaii is “worth” just $6.67, lower than in any other state. Other states with a particularly low-value minimum wage include New Hampshire, where the $7.25 minimum is worth just $6.85. In Maryland, the $8.25 wage feels more like $7.44.
“Even in some states that have enacted higher minimum wages most recently, the relative value of those is still quite low when you’ve made this adjustment,” says David Cooper, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, which often advocates for pro-labor policies.
The Washington Post
July 27, 2015
Likewise, businesses in high-cost cities often have transient customers who are less price-sensitive, making it easier for them to partly offset higher wages through price increases. “Some of these cities are tourist destinations,” said David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute. “Folks go and spend the money anyway.” Businesses in less-frequently visited places do not have the same luxury.
The New York Times
July 27, 2015
For years, the Change to Win labor coalition has been on the forefront of the push to increase labor standards for federal contract work. The issue of low wage workers contracted by the government was first illuminated back in 2000 by the Economic Policy Institute, with a study that showed more than 10 percent of federal contract workers made less than a living wage.
The American Prospect
July 27, 2015
CEOs at the largest companies in the U.S. made more than 300 times the compensation of the average worker in 2014, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute.
Fortune
July 27, 2015
The Boston Globe
July 27, 2015
On the policy side, Robert E. Scott from the Economic Policy Institute explained NAFTA’s impact in December 2013: Former President Bill Clinton claimed that NAFTA would create an “export boom to Mexico” that would create 200,000 jobs in two years and a million jobs in five years, “many more jobs than will be lost” due to rising imports. The economic logic behind his argument was clear: Trade creates new jobs in exporting industries and destroys jobs when imports replace the output of domestic firms. Fast forward 20 years and it’s clear that things didn’t work out as Clinton promised. NAFTA led to a flood of outsourcing and foreign direct investment in Mexico. U.S. imports from Mexico grew much more rapidly than exports, leading to growing trade deficits, as shown in the Figure. Jobs making cars, electronics, and apparel and other goods moved to Mexico, and job losses piled up in the United States, especially in the Midwest where those products used to be made. By 2010, trade deficits with Mexico had eliminated 682,900 good U.S. jobs, most (60.8 percent) in manufacturing.
Salon
July 27, 2015
More than 8 million jobs were lost in the recession and while the economy has recouped those losses plus 3.5 million more, the population also has risen over those seven years, said Elise Gould, senior economist, Economic Policy Institute. Hiring has simply not caught up to where it should be. Participation has fallen because there aren’t enough jobs, she said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the weak labor market.”
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
July 27, 2015
EPI research associate Richard Rothstein’s blog post on the legacy of government-sponsored segregation was featured in a Huffington Post article on Baltimore’s racial tensions.
The Huffington Post
July 24, 2015
The Boston Globe highlighted data from EPI’s report on irregular scheduling, including the fact that about 17 percent of the workforce has an unstable work schedule.
The Boston Globe
July 24, 2015