Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, expressed optimism that the agency could publish the final rule in the first half of next year. “It could be effective within 30 days after that,” he said, although Schwartz said Smith told the panel audience at the conference that she thought the agency would give employers at least 60 days to comply.
Eisenbrey added that the stakes to finish the rule quickly are high. A delay could give lawmakers in opposition to the changes opportunity to derail implementation. “If they keep it simple and all they do is raise the threshold and respond to issues about raising the threshold … I don’t believe it should take them any longer than April or May to do it,” he said.
NBC News
November 13, 2015
A separate federal benchmark, known as the Supplemental Poverty Measure, shows a much higher poverty rate for California: 23.4%, the highest in the nation, according to the most recent data. The rate reflects California’s high — and growing — housing costs. “The fact that California housing is so much more expensive means the threshold to be in poverty is a lot higher,” said David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Los Angeles Times
November 13, 2015
Despite these positive signs it is unclear whether companies are confident enough in the economy to break with years of slow increases in hourly pay, or whether their workers feel confident enough to seek better compensation, says Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
U.S. News & World Report
November 13, 2015
In some sectors, such as health care, finance and insurance, and professional and business services, there are now more job openings than job-seekers in the labor market, according to JOLTS data for August analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, EPI reports that the odds are still stacked against job-seekers in sectors that were hit hard in the recession and have been slow to recover, including construction, teaching, and some manufacturing fields.
Marketplace
November 12, 2015
Seniors and vets would get an increase of about $581 next year — a little less than $50 a month. That $581 increase would cover almost three months of groceries for seniors or a year’s worth of out-of-pocket costs on critical prescription drugs for the average Medicare beneficiary. That $50 a month is worth a lot to those 71 million Americans. According to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, that little boost could lift more than 1 million Americans out of poverty.
CNN
November 12, 2015
Lawrence Mishel, the president of the labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute, said the most recent Republican debate confirmed his belief that “the next presidential election is going to have, as a major element, a debate about who can generate wage growth for the vast majority.” The GOP candidates’ opposition to raising the minimum wage “definitely won’t play well to a general election voter pool,” he said.
Al Jazeera America
November 12, 2015
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, looked at income trends after the Great Recession, which economists say gripped the United States from 2007 to 2009. They found that overall, the top 1 percent of earners gained more income—much more, in fact—than the other 99 percent. In 17 states— Delaware, Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina, Connecticut, Washington, Louisiana, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Massachusetts, Colorado, New York, Rhode Island and Nevada—all income growth went to the top 1 percent. In 22 states, more than half of all income growth went to the top one percent.
Newsweek
November 12, 2015
Languishing wages have fueled widening income inequality across the United States over time, said Lawrence Mishel, president of the union Economic Policy Institute, a national think tank that receives some funding from labor unions. Between 2013 and 2014, national wages fell at nearly all income levels, EPI research shows. And real hourly wages for those with college degrees fell almost 6 percent between 2007 and 2014, the group’s data show. “The way wage stagnation takes place is that people start out lower in their first jobs, and they have less of an increase as they gain more experience,” he said. “You yourself will experience more wages over time. But when you turn 45, you will have lower wages than someone who turned 45 20 years ago.”
Des Moines Register
November 12, 2015
Child care workers are among the country’s lowest-paid workers, despite the fact that the cost of child care services is prohibitively expensive for the typical American family. The median wage for child care workers is nearly 40 percent below the median wage for workers in other fields, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute that was released last Thursday. As a result, the percentage of child care workers living below the federal poverty level is more than twice the percentage of those in other fields. According to EPI’s report, 14.7 percent of child care workers live in poverty, versus 6.7 percent of other workers.
The Huffington Post
November 12, 2015
According to Atlantic writer Gillian B. White, childcare can amount to 15 percent of a married couple’s income and 40 percent for a single parent, depending on state of residence. A new study from the Economic Policy institute says that the breakdown is even worse for the sitters themselves.
Jezebel
November 12, 2015