Media clips
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A new analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute argues that “providing adequate wages and benefits is a crucial tool for attracting and keeping the teachers America’s children need.” The report notes that teacher pay has fallen behind what other comparable workers earn. While public-school teachers made $30 less per week (adjusted for inflation) in 2015 than in 1996, around $1,092 from $1,122, wages for college graduates rose from $1,292 to $1,416. Where other college-educated workers used to make just slightly more per week than teachers, they now earn significantly more. (The report’s authors acknowledge that teachers generally have better benefits than other professionals, so focusing solely on wages overstates the disadvantage teachers face in terms of total compensation, but they point out that only wages and not benefits can be spent and saved.)
The Atlantic August 12, 2016 -
You know what is a legitimately bizarre-to-the-point-of-being-funny choice for a political platform? “The job of teachers is too easy.” Yet this, in essence, has become a standard right wing talking point, in the guise of “teachers’ unions are bad.” After you spend some time thinking about these villainous teachers unions and all the work they have presumably been doing to make the lives of teachers unforgivably cushy, please take a look at this Economic Policy Institute report about teachers’ wages, which finds a yawning gap between what teachers are paid what comparable workers—that is, workers with similar credentials to teachers—are paid. Even when benefits are factored in, teachers are still making more than 11% less than their peers. In other words, we strongly incentivize talented and well-educated people not to be teachers. Because we do not pay them. This is a political choice.
Gawker August 12, 2016 -
Though the unemployment rate has fallen in half since peaking at 10 percent in 2010, the pace of job growth has been slower in this recovery that the rebound from the recessions of 1981 and 1990. Of the last four downturns, only the recovery that began in 2001 saw a slower pace of job creation. One of the biggest reasons, according to institute economist Josh Bivens, was the tight-budget policies at all levels of government after the Great Recession sent tax revenues plummeting. Faced with voters adamantly opposed to tax increases, federal, state and local governments capped spending across the board to match the shortfall. That drop in government spending created a major headwind for the economy growth, Bivens argues. “Government spending not only failed to rise fast enough to spur a rapid recovery, it outright contracted,” he said in the report. “This policy choice fully explains why the economy is only partially recovered from the Great Recession a full seven years after its official end.”
CNBC August 12, 2016 -
Full-time female workers across the country still earn just 79 cents for every dollar men earn, and the gap widens further for women of color. A new report on the gender wage gap by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, shines a light on why these disparities persist and what policies would most effectively eliminate them.
The American Prospect August 12, 2016 -
A new economic working paper reinforces an important reality: We need more government spending to repair the economy for millions of working Americans. Unfortunately, our political debate is being held back by an economic myth – one that has yet to be challenged in political debate, despite an ever-growing body of evidence against it. The paper, by L. John Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute, is called “Why is recovery taking so long – and who’s to blame?”
Common Dreams August 12, 2016 -
At a time when regional teacher shortages and high turnover rates are rife in school systems, a new report by the Economic Policy Institute may offer some explanation: The gap between U.S. teachers’ pay’s and that of compariable workers is greater than ever before. EPI, a nonprofit think tank that works to include low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions, has studied the teacher pay gap for years. The average annual U.S. teacher salary in 2015 was $57,200 for high school teachers and $54,550 for elementary teachers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (though compensation varies by state.) But a long-term analysis by EPI shows that U.S. teachers earn lower wages than all other comparable workers (defined as those with the same education and experience). The pay gap—calculated in the study by average weekly compensation—has grown significantly over the past few decades.
Education Week August 12, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute released a study on Tuesday that found average weekly wages for public school teachers across the country are 17 percent lower than professionals in other fields who’ve earned a college degree – a startling difference considering that gap was just 1.8 percent in 1994. According to the study, between 1996 and 2015, teachers in the public sector saw their weekly pay shrink by $30, on average, to $1,092. Over that same period, per-week wages for college graduates entering other professions grew by more than $120, to $1,416. Both figures were adjusted for inflation.
Chicago Tonight August 12, 2016 -
The US’s slow recovery from the 2008 recession is due to Republican policies on the local, state and federal level, according to a new study published by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The new report comes as the slow pace of recovery has emerged as a key battleground between Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who will set out her economic policy on Thursday. The EPI report blames the lackluster pace of recovery on Republican-led budget cuts in 2011 following the row over the US debt ceiling, the unwillingness of local officials to spend money when Republicans in Congress were advocating cuts in spending, and the refusal to expand Medicaid in 19 states.
The Guardian August 11, 2016 -
A new study by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, tries to thread this needle with an analysis that argues Republican-driven austerity, rather than any Obama administration policy, is to blame for the incomplete economic turnaround. The bursting of the housing bubble, the financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing recession destroyed trillions of dollars in wealth, decimating demand for goods and services. The damage was not entirely without precedent, however. The deep recession in the early 1980s had, by some measures, a similar impact, according to EPI.
The Huffington Post August 11, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute just released a paper, authored by their research and policy director Josh Bivens, looking back at the country’s last four recessions. People have poked through this data before, but the numbers are nonetheless eye-popping. From the lowest depths of the 1981 recession, it took just 30 months for the job supply to grow by 10 percent. After the 1990 recession, it took twice as long. The 2001 recession was so sluggish it never reaches the 10 percent mark within Bivens’ time window. The recovery from the Great Recession only barely hit the mark after 80 months.
The Week August 11, 2016