A 2013 paper by Mr. Autor and two other scholars concluded that a quarter of the decline in manufacturing employment between 1990 and 2007 could be explained by a surge of imports from China. And Josh Bivens, the research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, estimated that increased trade with developing nations lowered wages by 5.5 percent for workers without college degrees.
The New York Times
July 6, 2015
Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, also said lawmakers should pay congressional interns, but he called the study a “distraction” from the need to raise the minimum wage for workers who are mostly adults. “The vast majority of minimum wage workers are adults and many of them have children, and that’s very different from the interns that work on Capitol Hill, by and large,” he said.
USA Today
July 6, 2015
On this Fourth of July, we gather with friends and family around barbeques and picnic tables across the country to celebrate the American patriots who built this country. But as many of us enjoy a well-deserved day off, millions of low- and middle-income workers are being required to work on a federal holiday without any sort of overtime compensation. This is the result of outdated overtime rules that cover fewer and fewer salaried workers each year. Most people don’t know that many salaried workers, not just employees paid by the hour, are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The rules are complicated if you earn more than $23,660 a year, but below that threshold, it’s simple: You’re entitled to time-and-a-half pay for every hour past 40 in a week.
US News and World Report
July 6, 2015
Teens looking for a summer job may have a slightly better outlook than last year, but there are a lot of “missing workers” in prime-age range of 25 to 54, says Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. She says these are potential workers who, because of weak job opportunities, are neither employed nor seeking a job. Gould believes the fact that over two-thirds of missing workers are prime age is a “sign that economy is not that strong, and they don’t see a place for themselves in it right now.”
Marketplace
July 6, 2015
Alongside the modest June job growth, what were considered strong reports in April and May were revised lower. “It is clear that the economy is continuing to leave workers high and dry,” said Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute. “It is more than obvious that the Federal Reserve needs to stay the course.”
Reuters
July 6, 2015
Although industry groups argue that this will impose undue burdens on employers and could drive down base wages, advocates say that overall, the rule would discourage the exploitation of lower-level managers and would benefit workers. According to Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, “Salaried people who are currently working overtime will work fewer hours. Their hours will be shifted to hourly workers, paid less, who need the work. It’s a win win for the workforce.”
The Nation
July 6, 2015
The report stated job gains were 223,000 in June, but also revised the April job gains from 221,000 down to 187,000 and the May gains from 280,000 to 254,000. “It’s clear that the economy is continuing to leave workers high and dry,” said Elise Gould, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based economic research organization.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
July 6, 2015
Huffington Post Live
July 2, 2015
Associated Press
July 2, 2015
The momentum for the rule change increased after Mr. Bernstein and a colleague, Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute, wrote their report in late 2013, one of a number of papers the Labor Department commissioned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The New York Times
July 2, 2015