Media clips
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In a post on the New York Times Economix blog, Jared Bernstein cited EPI’s research to show how labor’s declining share of income is increasing inequality.
The New York Times September 13, 2013 -
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Josh Eidelson cited EPI’s research to show that though there are protections for workers seeking to bargain collectively, they are illegally fired in at least a third of unionization election campaigns supervised by the government.
The Washington Post September 13, 2013 -
New York Times columnist Thomas B. Edsall looked to research by EPI President Lawrence Mishel and Research and Policy Director Josh Bivens to help ascertain whether government can actually do anything about economic inequality.
The New York Times September 13, 2013 -
In a guest op-ed for USA Today, David Cooper, EPI economic analyst, explained the positive impact raising the minimum wage would have on low-wage workers and the economy. “When wages are so low that full-time workers can’t make ends meet, consumer spending weakens. Raising wages for low-wage workers can strengthen economy-wide demand by putting more money in the pockets of consumers who will spend it right away,” wrote Cooper.
USA Today September 6, 2013 -
That’s exactly what’s happening now. According to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute, the bottom 60 percent of workers are earning less than they did 13 years ago. According to a recent report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, black Americans — who have earned much higher average levels of education over recent decades — have lower chances of earning a living wage today than they had 30 years ago.
The Huffington Post September 6, 2013 -
On this Labor Day, American workers face a buyers’ market. Employers have the upper hand and, given today’s languid pace of hiring, the advantage shows few signs of ending. What looms, at best, is a sluggish descent from high unemployment (7.4 percent in July) and a prolonged period of stagnant or slow-growing wages. Since 2007, there has been no gain in average inflation-adjusted wages and total compensation, including fringes, notes the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.
The weak job market has a semi-permanence unlike anything seen since World War II, and the effects on public opinion extend beyond the unemployed. “People’s expectations have been really ratcheted down for what they can expect for themselves and their children,” says EPI economist Lawrence Mishel. There’s a sense “that the economy just doesn’t produce good jobs anymore.” Possible job loss becomes more threatening because finding a new job is harder. Says Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Center: “Security is valued more than money because it’s so fragile.”
The Washington Post September 6, 2013 -
As New York Times labor writer Steve Greenhouse has noted, until 1975, “wages nearly always accounted for more than 50 percent of our nation’s GDP.” But in 2012 they fell to a record low of 43.5 percent. Those who make the economic engine run are receiving less of what they produce. And it’s not because employees aren’t working harder, or smarter. From 1973 to 2011, according to the Economic Policy Institute, employee productivity grew by 80.4 percent while median hourly compensation after inflation grew by just 10.7 percent.
The Washington Post September 6, 2013 -
In the classical terminology of Marx, a large reserve army of labor reduces both the individual and the collective bargaining power of workers, enabling capital to take a bigger piece of the economic pie. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that between 2007 and 2012, wages fell for the lowest 70 percent of all wage earners, despite productivity growth of 7.7 percent.
The New York Times September 6, 2013 -
On its own, however, growth will not raise wages. What’s missing are policies to ensure that a large and growing share of rising labor productivity flows to workers in the form of wages and salaries, rather than to executives and shareholders. Start with an adequate minimum wage. Provide increased protections for workers to unionize, in order to strengthen their bargaining power. Provide protections for undocumented workers that would limit exploitation. Add to the mix regulations to prevent financial bubbles, thereby protecting jobs and wages from ruinous busts. Adopt expansionary fiscal and monetary policies in troubled times to sustain jobs and wages.
The New York Times September 6, 2013 -
But the economics of the minimum wage may be more complicated than a simple supply-demand curve. David Cooper, an economic analyst with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, agrees with Demos’s Ruetschlin that the sluggish economic recovery means a boost in the minimum wage could push low-income workers to spend more, and in many cases they’d spend that money at low-priced outlets like Walmart.
“If suddenly all these low-wage workers have more income, they are likely to spend that money right away,” Cooper said. “If these retailers want strong, stable sustainable growth in the U.S. economy, then they should also want strong, stable increases in wages to their employees.”
The Huffington Post September 6, 2013