For many low-skilled workers, the paycheck is the end of the line. In industries such as retail and fast-food, labor groups are pushing to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. And even in jobs that have enjoyed bigger benefits, experts warn that workers don’t always come out ahead if they sacrifice traditional raises for other forms of compensation. “I see it mostly as a risk shift onto workers,” said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
The Washington Post
July 29, 2015
Workers are creating more value for companies than they used to, but aren’t being compensated for it. Maybe you’ve even seen a graph like this one, from the Economic Policy Institute. The dark blue line shooting up at 45 degrees? That’s productivity—or economic output per hour of labor. The light blue line that nearly plateaus around the late 1970s? That’s compensation for production and nonsupervisory employees—wages and salary plus benefits for people who basically aren’t in management.
Slate
July 29, 2015
Valerie Wilson, director of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, found that young women—ages 20 to 24—are especially likely to have multiple jobs relative to the rest of the population. In 2015, 6.7 percent of these young women held multiple jobs, compared with 4.6 percent of their male peers. Two decades ago, the two groups were slightly more in line: In 1994, 7.6 percent of women aged 20 to 24 had multiple jobs, compared with 6.3 percent of men the same age.
Why has the proportion of male multiple-job holders shrunk more than twice as quickly as the share of women? One explanation is the tenacious gender pay gap, Ms. Wilson said, although she notes that it is impossible to tell simply from the numbers whether the higher share of women juggling multiple jobs stems from economic necessity or a preference for part-time work. “Young women may be choosing to piece together multiple jobs because the jobs they hold pay less,” Ms. Wilson said.
Wall Street Journal
July 28, 2015
Despite the economic benefits, though, the visa programs for unskilled laborers, like most aspects of the country’s broken immigration system, are in need of reform. Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research for the Economic Policy Institute, said employers could easily abuse their temporary workers, who rely on their bosses for permission to remain in the country, citing a 2011 review of the student worker program, in which he found that employers often failed to provide their employees promised accommodations or benefits. “The employer essentially owns the guest worker visa, so if you’re fired you’re deportable,” Costa said. “So it makes workers afraid to complain, because if they do they have to leave the country.”
He added that the US government should institute greater safeguards for foreign workers, who are a “critical part of the economy.” “I’m less worried about the numbers [of visas] and more about creating a procedure that is fair for US and foreign workers, so foreign workers have more protections from retaliation and even wages,” Costa told me. “I think the candidates are making blanket statements that reducing immigration is going to open up jobs, but it’s not that simple.”
Vice News
July 28, 2015
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute identified the irregular hours that go with many types of low-wage jobs as one of five socioeconomic disadvantages that depress student achievement. PICA’s parent training program tackles this head-on by getting parents ready for steady jobs with regular hours in job sectors that are compatible with child care and where there is demand.
National Journal
July 28, 2015
Thanks to a high cost of living, the $7.75 minimum wage in Hawaii is “worth” just $6.67, lower than in any other state. Other states with a particularly low-value minimum wage include New Hampshire, where the $7.25 minimum is worth just $6.85. In Maryland, the $8.25 wage feels more like $7.44.
“Even in some states that have enacted higher minimum wages most recently, the relative value of those is still quite low when you’ve made this adjustment,” says David Cooper, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, which often advocates for pro-labor policies.
The Washington Post
July 27, 2015
Likewise, businesses in high-cost cities often have transient customers who are less price-sensitive, making it easier for them to partly offset higher wages through price increases. “Some of these cities are tourist destinations,” said David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute. “Folks go and spend the money anyway.” Businesses in less-frequently visited places do not have the same luxury.
The New York Times
July 27, 2015
For years, the Change to Win labor coalition has been on the forefront of the push to increase labor standards for federal contract work. The issue of low wage workers contracted by the government was first illuminated back in 2000 by the Economic Policy Institute, with a study that showed more than 10 percent of federal contract workers made less than a living wage.
The American Prospect
July 27, 2015
CEOs at the largest companies in the U.S. made more than 300 times the compensation of the average worker in 2014, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute.
Fortune
July 27, 2015
The Boston Globe
July 27, 2015