Media clips

• Blue-collar workers could save the US from recession as the tech industry withers

  “The best indication of the quality of the jobs out there for the blue-collar economy, if you want to call it that, is that it looks like we’re going to have a summer of strikes across the country,” Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told Insider.

  Business Insider May 19, 2023
• Older Workers Are Stuck in Tough, Risky Jobs

  A slight majority of Americans over the age of 50 now report having physically demanding jobs, meaning they feel their work is either physically taxing, stress-inducing or outright dangerous.

  In fact, according to a major new analysis and accompanying chart book published by the Economic Policy Institute, some 50.3% of older workers say they have physically demanding jobs, while an even larger majority (54.2%) of older workers report being exposed to unhealthy or hazardous conditions at work.

  Think Advisor May 19, 2023
• Roaming Charges: Living With the Unacceptable

  Speaking of work requirements, more and more older Americans are being forced by economic necessity to work in dangerous jobs. According to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, nearly half of older workers (ages 50–70) experience physically demanding jobs (50.3%), environmental hazards (54.2%), difficult schedules (53.7%), high-pressure jobs (46.1%), or limited autonomy over work decisions (45.9%). In addition, one-in-seven older workers (14.1%) are on the receiving end of abusive and violent behavior.

  Counterpunch May 19, 2023
• Cuyahoga County could stop doing business with violators of wage theft

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, about 217,000 Ohioans are victims of wage theft each year, costing each worker an average of $2,800 annually. 

  Spectrum News May 19, 2023
• Kroger, Albertsons merger backlash intensifies with opposition from consumer group

  Then there was the report from the Economic Policy Institute which revealed workers at Kroger and Albertsons, and other grocery stores, could lose a total of over $330 million annually if the deal goes through. 

  Kroger immediately dismissed the claim, stating the following in a email to Supermarket News:

  Supermarket News May 19, 2023
• Kroger CEO issues major update about future of supermarket chain after closure plans – and shoppers are not happy

  Also, the nonprofit organization Economic Policy Institute spoke out against the merger and said workers stand to lose more than a combined $300million a year if the deal goes through.

  It would lower wages for 746,000 grocery employees, according to the research.

  The U.S. Sun May 19, 2023
• Worker Advocates Take Aim at Restaurant Industry Support for Loosening Child-Labor Laws

  Paywall.

  Barron’s May 19, 2023
• Kroger-Albertsons merger could hurt grocery store workers’ wages, new economic report finds

  A report from the Economic Policy Institute reveals the deal could lead to lower grocery store employee wages.

  The report finds the merger could lower wages for over 746,000 grocery store workers in about 50 cities across the country. The total annual loss of wages would be $334 million or an average loss of about $450 per year in wages for workers.

  Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, attributes the loss to the increasing trend of concentration among grocery store chains. This trend has led to a decrease in competition, which has allowed grocery store chains to raise prices and reduce wages.

  “They will have fewer options. They have or will have less leverage in negotiating, better pay, better working conditions and so forth,” Zipperer said. “And so what that means is that wages tend to get depressed in those kinds of markets where there’s a lot of employer concentration.”

  WYSO May 19, 2023
• Our Farmworkers Deserve Better

  But farmworkers earn “far less than even some of the lowest-paid workers in the U.S. labor force,” according to the Economic Policy Institute. And the overwhelming majority of farm laborers in the United States are Latine, while more than 40% are undocumented.

  YES! Magazine May 19, 2023
• Older Workers Need Employer, Govt Support to Retire, Experts Say

  Older workers should be given the choice to continue working or transition to retirement, experts said in a webinar hosted by the Economic Policy Institute, but often they are not given the decision-making power.

  Plan Sponsor May 19, 2023
• May 19, 2023
  May 19, 2023
• From Classroom to Campaign Trail

  What is feminist economics? A lot of people listening to this show, I think, probably don’t even know that such a discipline or subdiscipline exists. I didn’t know until a few years ago, but I started reading about it and started reading some of Nancy’s work and what she has to say is interesting to me because it fits into this broader category of talking about a new economic paradigm and changes in the economic profession that we have discussed on this show with other guests like Brian Deese, like Heidi Shierholz of Economic Policy Institute. And I think feminist economics in the way it challenges those neoclassical assumptions is an important part of this puzzle.

  New Republic May 18, 2023
• Working Longer ‘Not a Viable Solution’ to US Retirement Crisis, Economists Say

  “Millions of people are entering their retirement years with insufficient savings to cover basic expenses and medical bills,” the new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) notes. “In response, some policymakers have proposed that older Americans could delay retirement to increase their savings.”

  But this ostensible fix “overlooks the large group of older Americans who work in difficult conditions—ranging from the physically demanding to the outright dangerous,” EPI points out. “If older Americans endure difficult conditions that often force earlier exits from the workplace, proposals to delay retirement make little sense.”

  Common Dreams May 18, 2023
• GOP attorneys general go after climate-minded insurers

  The Bureau of Labor Statistics identified three main culprits behind inflation since 2020 — energy price volatility, backlogs resulting from supply-chain issues, and price changes in auto-related industries. Separate pieces of research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute have shown that increased corporate profits have also been contributing to inflation.

  Investment News May 18, 2023
• How a grocery store mega-merger could cost workers millions

  Thus far, most of the regulatory scrutiny has focused on the possibility that reduced competition would mean higher grocery prices for shoppers. But a report released this month by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reveals that the deal could have a major impact on the wages of grocery store workers. According to the EPI report, the proposed merger would “reduce the number of outside employment options available to workers, lowering grocery store workers’ annual wages by a total of $334 million.” That works out to about $450 less annually per worker, which is a significant reduction for a workforce already hovering at or below the poverty line. 

  Popular Information May 17, 2023
• US States Try to Increase Teacher Pay

  The Economic Policy Institute, a research group, said the difference between teacher pay and pay for college-educated people in other professions reached a record 23.5 percent in 2021.

  Voice of America May 17, 2023
• In Louisiana, Rock-Bottom Minimum Wage Is Becoming a Liability for Republicans

  Thanks to inflation and congressional inaction, the minimum wage now has less purchasing power than any point in time since 1956, according to the Economic Policy Institute. When Congress fails to raise the federal minimum wage despite skyrocketing costs of living, the job falls on state and local governments. At least 30 states and 50 cities and counties have raised the minimum wage past $7.25.

  Truthout May 17, 2023
• Jobless claims are up, but unemployment is still low. What does that mean?

  Now, none of them is saying the Federal Reserve has achieved that elusive soft landing in its effort to balance interest rate increases with economic growth. But Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute said so far, that does seem to be where we’re headed.

  “We see inflation coming down and unemployment not yet going up,” she said.

  Marketplace May 12, 2023
• Fast federal response to pandemic key to US economic recovery, economists say

  “I think that this recovery was tremendous compared to any recovery in recent history because of the scale of the investments that were made by policymakers,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, pointing to the child tax credit as one example that helped fuel the strong recovery. “So I think the incredible bounceback that we saw in employment and wage growth was driven directly from, in large part, to the kinds of investments that policymakers made in things like shoring up the unemployment insurance system, making that stronger, making it a better safety net for many workers.” 

  States Newsroom May 12, 2023
• To Protect Our Children, Let’s Tax Our Rich

  The number of kids employed in direct violation of existing child labor laws, analysts at the Economic Policy Institute this past March reported, has soared 283 percent since 2015 — and 37 percent in just the last year alone. Last week brought the alarming news that three Kentucky-based McDonald’s franchises had kids as young as 10 working at 62 stores in four different states. Some of these under-working age children were working as late as 2 a.m.

  Inequality.org May 12, 2023
• Here’s how compensation of CEOs of top Triad employers compares to their rank-and-file employees

  The Economic Policy Institute said in an October report that “exorbitant CEO pay is a contributor to rising inequality that we could restrain without doing any damage to the wider economy.”

  Winston-Salem Journal May 12, 2023
• Are Reparations the Remedy?

  The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has released a study arguing that wealth for the top 1 percent has grown by double digits while falling for the remaining 99 percent. 

  Providence Magazine May 12, 2023
• Downside of higher pay? Fewer hours, fewer jobs, Twin Cities minimum wage study says

  Some economists also remain skeptical of the researchers’ findings that St. Paul’s minimum wage increases, which didn’t start taking effect until 2020, led to job losses in 2018 and 2019 as employers anticipated the coming changes. Ben Zipperer of the Economic Policy Institute called that finding “completely implausible.”

  Minneapolis Star Tribune May 12, 2023
• A Money Mystery: What Happened To The Lowest Earners’ Pandemic-Era Cash Stash?

  However, there are reasons to believe Hoyt’s model may show a real trend. The topsy-turvy pandemic era job market has helped out the lowest-paid workers quite a bit: Between 2019 and 2022, wages for the bottom 10% of workers grew 9% after adjusting for inflation, an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, found.

  Investopedia May 12, 2023
• As Child Labor Violations Surge, States Work to Loosen Protections
  “This has to be viewed on largely as simply the latest multi-industry attempt and moment of opportunity that they’re seeing where they have very significant influence in some state legislatures to, once again, try to roll back standards,” Jennifer Sherer, Economic Policy Institute senior state policy coordinator, told Cheddar News.

  The number of instances of child labor exploitation has surged in recent years. There were 1,012 minors found to be employed in violation of labor laws in 2015 and 355 employed in violation of hazardous occupation orders that year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Hazardous occupation orders are intended to prevent kids from working dangerous jobs like mining, roofing, or working with heavy machinery. By 2022, 3,876 minors were found to be working in violation of labor laws and 688 in violation of hazardous occupation orders. 
  Cheddar May 12, 2023
• How new unions could mean big business for wealth managers

  “It’s true that probably the average Starbucks worker or somebody like that is not likely to need or be able to afford one-on-one, bespoke financial advice,” said Monique Morrissey, an employee benefits economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. “But they are an audience for more broad-based, general advice.”

  Financial Planning May 12, 2023
• Here’s how much you need to make to be in the top 1%, 5%, and 10% in the US — and 4 tips to help you get there

  Landing in the top 10% is a fairly attainable goal for upwardly mobile Americans. A study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the average earnings of those in the top 10% were roughly $173,000 in 2020.

  MoneyWise May 12, 2023
• Mulroy moves forward on effort to protect workers from wage exploitation

  The people most affected by wage exploitation include Ivan Flores, who worked 17-hour days for a local landscaper but never got paid overtime.

  In fact, between 2017 and 2020, the Economic Policy Institute estimated U.S. workers lost out on $3 billion in wages due to unfair business practices. Often, the workers are in fields like food service and construction.

  WREG May 12, 2023
• Fed Warned to Stop ‘Needless Rate Hikes’ as Inflation Cools for 10th Straight Month

  Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, called the new CPI data “good news for working people,” noting that “inflation is nearly back to pre-recession rates, while the unemployment rate is at 50-year lows.”

  Common Dreams May 12, 2023
• $7.25 federal minimum wage is a ‘national disgrace,’ says Sen. Bernie Sanders, backing push for $17 per hour

  Economic research backs up the idea, according to Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, who spoked at Sanders’ event.

  Rising inequality means income has shifted away from low- and middle-income workers who are more likely to spend it, she said.

  The decline of the real value of the minimum wage is now more than 40% below where it was at its peak 55 years ago, Shierholz said.

  “Having a weak minimum wage is bad for the overall economy,” Shierholz added.

  In addition to reducing inequality, raising the minimum wage would also reduce pover

  CNBC May 12, 2023