The Washington-based Economic Policy Institute estimates the Chinese government doled out at least $33 billion in subsidies to its paper industry from 2002 to 2009 – the period that coincides with its stunning growth. That’s more than $4 billion a year, a number that is growing. The entire annual payroll for all of Wisconsin’s mills – including those making paper towels, tissue and cardboard – is $2.4 billion.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
October 27, 2015
Today, tipping is entrenched. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 4.3m Americans rely on the generosity of tippers to scrape a living. The idea seems like a good one. If the customer knows best, then who better to monitor and reward the performance of the servers? Without a tip on offer, waiters might be reluctant to fetch endless glasses of tap water with a smile.
The Economist
October 27, 2015
The letter expresses concern that the practice might be in violation of a state regulation that employees who report for work must be paid for at least four hours (or the number of hours in a regular shift) of work. It cites the financial and personal strains for workers without predictable schedules—from being unable to work another job or attend school, to the strains of finding childcare last minute. Further, a report by the Economic Policy Institute found that the lowest income workers face the most irregular work schedules.
The Atlantic
October 26, 2015
As a numbers guy, he knows all the statistics. Even as the nation’s productivity has improved 22 percent since 2000, median wages have risen only 1.8 percent, adjusted for inflation. Wages have actually fallen by 3 percent since the recession. Meanwhile, productivity gains are going to CEOs who earn, on average, about 300 times more than typical workers, compared with 71.2 times in 1990, according to the Economic Policy Institute. (Price’s $1.1 million salary was about 23 times the $48,000 average at Gravity.) Such trends have driven the push for a $15 minimum wage in some cities, including Seattle.
Slate
October 26, 2015
Some 4.3 million Americans classify as tipped employees, of which about 60 percent are either waiters, waitresses, or bartenders, according to David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute who co-authored a 2014 report on tipped workers.
Bloomberg
October 26, 2015
Valerie Wilson, Director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), has some notions as to why this convergence is occurring now and how it can be further harnessed. “I think the fact that wages have not grown for the vast majority of workers, regardless of race, in over 35 years makes this an issue with broad-based support. But for Black workers in particular, there’s the issue of raising wages and then there’s the issue of equal pay for equal work,” Wilson said.
Ebony
October 26, 2015
Cooper’s decision is in fact supported by strong economic reasoning, as open salary negotiations and pay transparency are key ways to reduce the gap in salaries paid to men and women. “Hollywood may seem trivial, but I think it’s a window into the gender gap,” Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, tells Quartz. “It shows that even at the very top, among people who are high earners, there’s still a tendency for men to pay other men more.” But while Cooper can raise awareness of the issue, one man’s actions will only have a limited effect. Morrissey says we need to be far more “systematic” about disclosing our pay. Mandated salary disclosure is not widespread in the US, though unions and non-profits are required to reveal salary information (non-profits only do so for directors, officers, and key employees, though this can be everyone at smaller non-profits). Morrissey says this transparency makes it far more difficult to systematically pay men more than women. “Groups that tend to be discriminated against in the workforce do better when there’s less secrecy,” says Morrissey. “If you were hired at the same time as somebody else, you’re doing the same job, and you know that you’re paid less than them, you’re going to go ask for a raise.”
Quartz
October 26, 2015
The findings may be a tad obvious, but an analysis out this week could add more fuel to Sacramento’s big fight over a higher minimum wage – specifically whether workers who get tips should be included or not. Waiters, waitresses and bartenders are far less likely to be living in poverty if they are paid the regular minimum wage, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s study.
Sacramento Bee
October 26, 2015
Child-care costs exceed rent for many American families, according to the Economic Policy Institute. And some couples decide to forgo the hefty cost of child care by having one parent stay home, which means the entire family must make do with less money at a time when expenses are likely rising.
CNBC
October 26, 2015