GOP senators facing tough reelection bids include Sen. Rob Portman (R), of Ohio, a manufacturing hub, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R), of New Hampshire, which lost more than 20,000 jobs because of the trade deficit with China, according to a 2012 Economic Policy Institute study.
The Hill
January 6, 2016
Black wealth also has declined. The non-partisan Economic Policy Institute, in coordination with the liberal research institution Center for Popular Democracy, reports that black workers’ wages have fallen by 44 cents on the hour in the past 15 years, while wages of both Hispanic and white workers have increased by approximately the same amount.
Voice of America
January 6, 2016
The type of occupations dominated by women may play a role as well. For example, “public teacher employment is still below what it was in 2007,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. “And that definitely disproportionately affects women.”
The New York Times
January 4, 2016
Not convinced? Here’s another study for you. In October, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank focused on work force issues, found that the cost of child care for two children exceeds rent in 500 of 618 communities surveyed and in many parts of the U.S. — including in Washington, D.C. — the cost of child care exceeds that of state college tuition.
NPR
January 4, 2016
A family of four can meet its basic needs for $49,114 a year in Morristown, Tenn.—about half the income needed to raise a family in New York or Washington, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s family budget calculator released in August.
Wall Street Journal
January 4, 2016
Nearly 30 states with 60% of the U.S. workforce have minimum wages higher than the federal government’s, according to NELP and the Economic Policy Institute. Proposals to increase the federal pay floor have been blocked by Republicans in Congress.
USA Today
January 4, 2016
Because this question always comes up in the comments and on Twitter: Personally, I think the U.S. could easily go above $10 an hour without any major problems, and I suspect that a lot of states could pretty much handle $12, the latest number that the very liberal Economic Policy Institute has advocated. Again, 50 percent the median full-time wage is just a guideline.
Slate
January 4, 2016
Dan Crawford, a spokesman for the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said policymakers should consider other options to “jump-start wage growth across the board” like lifting the federal minimum wage and strengthening collective bargaining rights.
International Business Times
January 4, 2016
But that might change in 2016, given that the improvements in job creation and hiring in 2015 has taken some of the slack out of the labor market, economists note. “If we keep adding jobs at a decent pace, it will eat away at slack in the market,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Workers will have more ability to bargain for higher wages.”
CBS Moneywatch
January 4, 2016
It’s hard to find a clearer illustration of escalating economic inequality than the growing divide between worker pay and worker productivity. The Economic Policy Institute’s top charts of 2015 depict the problem in simple terms. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, hourly compensation and productivity increased at the same rate. Beginning in the early 1970s, however, worker wages began stagnating, while productivity levels continued to climb.
The American Prospect
January 4, 2016