The momentum for the rule change increased after Mr. Bernstein and a colleague, Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute, wrote their report in late 2013, one of a number of papers the Labor Department commissioned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The New York Times
July 2, 2015
While just 8 percent of salaried workers fall below the current threshold, the new rules would increase the share to 44 percent, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which published an influential report last year recommending raising the salary threshold to $50,440. That level is indexed to inflation based on the 1975 salary threshold for overtime pay, when 62 percent of workers were covered by overtime protections.
The Chicago Tribune
July 2, 2015
But the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank whose economists like to focus on broader public concerns, has asked the Fed quite a different question. When will wages start rising for working people?
“It’s really unbelievable,” said Josh Bivens, an EPI macroeconomist. “The economy and the labor market are still too soft to be thinking about raising interest rates. We are six years after the recovery and we still have labor market slack and we are still almost nowhere on wages. At the moment, we are still on a path that really doesn’t look like a sustainable economy.”
The Nation
July 2, 2015
This is the second time this year the minimum wage has increased. In January, the wage jumped from $7.25 an hour to $8, generating an estimated $84 million in increased wages for workers and $55 million in consumer spending, according to Economic Policy Institute research data.
Baltimore Sun
July 2, 2015
American CEOs are earning compensation packages that are more than ten times greater than they were three decades ago, according to a paper released last week by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, DC think tank known for its rigorous studies. Meantime average U.S. workers made just 10.2% more in 2013 than they did 30 years ago. Top CEOs now make 300 times more than typical workers.
Forbes
July 2, 2015
Richard Rothstein a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute has critiqued the idea of taking into consideration students who come from impoverished neighborhoods as opposed to race, as advocated by Sheryll Cashin, a law professor at Georgetown University and author ofPlace Not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America.
Think Progress
July 2, 2015
Everyone knows the Top 1% have been killing it in recent decades, while most Americans have seen their incomes stagnate. But what if the middle class were doing as well as the richest Americans? What would their annual income be? CNNMoney asked the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research group, to crunch the numbers. The answer: $156,318.
CNN Money
July 2, 2015
The overtime rules the Department of Labor announced yesterday are hugely important. They would restore in one action most of the overtime protections that have been lost over the past four decades through neglect and hostile regulatory changes, and prevent them from ever eroding again. Altogether, 15 million salaried workers would gain the right to time-and-a-half overtime pay or have their existing rights strengthened. Since the New Deal, the law has protected workers from being forced to work overtime without getting paid for it. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set 40 hours as the standard workweek and made employers pay 150 percent of the regular pay rate for longer hours. That’s why most Americans enjoy a two-day weekend today.
The American Prospect
July 2, 2015
The change affects nearly five million workers, according to the Labor Department. The affected workers include those in many sectors, such as law, public relations, professional services, retail and manufacturing, says Ross Eisenbrey of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Marketplace
July 2, 2015