Media clips
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The above chart shows growth in hourly compensation since 1948 as compared with growth in productivity for non-supervisory employees in the private sector. Increased productivity — output per worker per time period — is what drives economic growth and raises living standards. The data was collected and analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute.
Wall Street Journal February 13, 2015 -
Low-wage workers often don’t get paid all they should, a widespread practice called “wage theft,” said Ross Eisenbrey, a lawyer and vice president with the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., that focuses on wage-equity issues.
“It’s pressure from the top all the way down to squeeze labor costs,” he said. He said he has seen interviews of managers saying, “We’re given a budget, but there’s more work we have to do than we can pay for.” Penalties are minimal. If caught, employers face a fine of just $1,100, Eisenbrey said. “And they write that off as a cost of business.”
The Denver Post February 13, 2015 -
Let’s face it, America’s tax system is a mess and is considered by most to be unfair. With justification, tax reform has been a major topic of policymaker’s conversations throughout the Obama administration. Policymakers and policy analysts, however, generally look back to the last successful tax reform effort in 1986 to get ideas on what makes for successful tax reform. The conclusion all too many have drawn is successful tax reform requires revenue neutrality—reducing tax rates and broadening the tax base. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has advocated for revenue neutral tax reform (which may be a positive step for a member of a party that generally embraces unfunded tax cuts)—it is one of his seven guiding principles for comprehensive tax reform. And President Obama is once again calling for revenue neutral business tax reform in his fiscal year 2016 budget proposal.
The Hill February 12, 2015 -
The top 1 percent of households in Massachusetts now control as much income as they did in the Roaring Twenties, according to a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. What is more, every bit of growth we’ve eked out in the past few years has gone directly to that same 1 percent.
Boston Globe February 12, 2015 -
Eliminating the hodgepodge of local laws is a common refrain for advocates of statewide preemption laws, says Gordon Lafer, an associate professor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center. That was the rationale for a law that Florida Governor Rick Scott signed in June 2013. The bill, which had the support of Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, “fosters statewide uniformity, consistency, and predictability in Florida’s employer-employee relationships,” Scott said in a statement at the time. “What gets said is, ‘We shouldn’t have this mish-mosh of different laws; we want a state standard, and the state standard should be nothing,’” Lafer says.
Fortune February 12, 2015 -
The ECB’s motive is legitimate—reducing interest rates to provide economic stimulus and fend off deflation—but the economic consequences are the same—more downward pressure on US production and employment. Japan’s currency manipulation cost 896,000 US jobs in 2013, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Nation February 10, 2015 -
It is probably no accident that the drop in union membership has occurred as the incomes of many working Americans have stagnated. “The decline in unions is a huge factor explaining what’s happened to middle-class wages,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. He calculated it could account for one-third of the growth in wage inequality for men and one-fifth of that for women from 1973 to 2007.
Shrinking union participation affects the broader work force, since unions tend to provide spillover benefits to nonunion members. According to an article written by Mr. Mishel and David Cooper, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, employee compensation declined most in states like Michigan and Ohio where collective bargaining also declined sharply. “When collective bargaining is strong in an industry, what you find is that it raises nonunion employee wages too,” Mr. Mishel said.
The New York Times February 9, 2015 -
In 1979 the average worker put in 1,687 hours a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and by 2007 that number was 1,868. The net difference, 181 hours a year, represents more than a month of extra work every year.
Wall Street Journal February 9, 2015 -
“I don’t think [Friday’s unemployment bump] is a big deal,” says Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. “I think that is mostly due to people coming back into the labor force—some of them finding jobs, some of them not finding jobs.” In fact, as the economy continues to recover, it’s likely the unemployment rate will likely stay the same or even increase. “If had to project the unemployment rate, I would expect it would hold steady and could move a little up, but I don’t think we’re going to see it going down,” explains Gould. “As the economy gets stronger more people will enter the labor force and that will move the unemployment rate, potentially in the wrong direction.”
Time Magazine February 9, 2015 -
The report does not provide detailed information about those entering or returning to the labor force. Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute says that by age distribution they appear to mirror the active workforce as a whole: 72 percent are prime-age working adults, age 25 to 54. “The uptick [in the labor force] may be disproportionately more Hispanic workers and white workers, and fewer black workers,” Gould says.
Marketplace February 9, 2015