The analysis, released by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, is an annual update of the think tank’s Family Budget Calculator that reflects new 2014 data. The Family Budget Calculator is a formula designed to determine the income “required for families to attain a secure yet modest standard of living” in 618 different communities across the country that the U.S. Census Bureau defines as metropolitan areas.
The Huffington Post
August 28, 2015
According to a new paper by the left-leaning think tank the Economic Policy Institute, most families subsiding on minimum-wage jobs would struggle to achieve a modest but secure quality of life, no matter where in the United States they reside.
Fortune
August 28, 2015
Josh Bivens, the progressive Economic Policy Institute’s research and policy director, applauded the Fed’s move away from an interest rate hike, but said the reason for the Fed’s decision confirmed the need for more grassroots activism. “A week ago the case against raising rates for the labor market was clear as day, but all of a sudden when wealthy people lost money in the stock market the tide turned against a rate increase,” Bivens said at Thursday’s press conference. “I’m happy rates are less likely to go up because of that, but it is a terrible reason.”
The Huffington Post
August 28, 2015
But an even more nuanced measurement of economic well-being is the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator, which was updated yesterday to include 2014 numbers. The EPI calculator estimates how much it costs to “attain a secure yet modest living standard,” and provides data on ten different family sizes (one or two parents, with zero to five children) across 618 distinct geographic areas and cities.
The American Prospect
August 28, 2015
But among black communities nationwide, DeKalb has actually fared relatively well. The area was hit hard by the downturn, but it remains the second-most affluent black-majority county in the country. By contrast, in Washington, D.C., a majority-minority city, black unemployment is a staggering 15.8 percent, more than five times the rate for whites, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The American Prospect
August 28, 2015
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal advocacy group, found that the children of parents who worked unpredictable schedules could have inferior cognitive abilities, in areas like verbal communication, and struggle with anxiety and depression. “Parents’ variable schedules require irregular family mealtimes and child bedtimes that interfere with children’s healthy development,” the study said.
The New York Times
August 27, 2015
Think your city is expensive? Maybe you can use a little perspective. The Economic Policy Institute has updated its family budget calculator, which estimates what it would cost for someone to live what they describe as a “modest but comfortable” life in 618 metro and rural areas across the United States.
The Washington Post
August 27, 2015
Many workers in the Dallas area do not make enough money to support themselves or their families in a “secure yet modest standard of living,” according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute. It costs $27,617 for a single person with no children to meet his or her basic needs in the Dallas area, based on an updated Family Budget Calculator released today by EPI. That’s much higher than what a minimum-wage worker earns a year.
Dallas Morning News
August 27, 2015
Many workers in the Dallas area do not make enough money to support themselves or their families in a “secure yet modest standard of living,” according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute. It costs $27,617 for a single person with no children to meet his or her basic needs in the Dallas area, based on an updated Family Budget Calculator released today by EPI. That’s much higher than what a minimum-wage worker earns a year.
Business Insider
August 27, 2015
The comparison of the three cities was part of a study of 618 U.S. communities by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research center. For the family of four, health care was the most affordable in Pittsburgh, at $621 a month, compared to $895 in Sacramento and $896 in Austin. The full report is online at www.epi.org.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
August 27, 2015