Despite soaring corporate profits and nearly 25 percent gains in overall workforce productivity, 60 percent of American workers saw their wages stagnate or decline from 2000 to 2012 according to the latest study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a think tank based in Washington D.C. The period has been termed by some economists as the “lost decade” of wage growth for most Americans.
The EPI data validates the claims of the burgeoning fast-food workers movement, uniting low-wage workers behind demands for better pay. In a $200-billion-per-year fast-food industry, paltry wages have become a central grievance of the growing protest movement that could change an industry employing roughly 4 million across the United States.
Mint News
August 27, 2013
A new paper from the Economic Policy Institute provides both diagnosis and prescription of what is arguably the fundamental problem of the United States economy in recent years: wage stagnation. I’ll briefly describe the findings, but given that these trends have persisted for a long time, it’s more important to think about solutions, particularly ones that go beyond conventional wisdom.
The New York Times
August 27, 2013
Inequality: Jared Bernstein summarizes a new paper from the Economic Policy Institute on the hollowing out of the middle class. The debate has focused too much on how to reverse inequality and not enough on how to prevent it, Mr. Bernstein says. “This poses a serious problem.
Wall Street Journal
August 27, 2013
CNN columnist John Sutter called EPI’s Inequality.Is “the best online primer I’ve found” on economic inequality. He wrote, “It explains why inequality is a problem, how it was created and what might fix it.”
CNN
August 23, 2013
A new report from EPI President Lawrence Mishel and Economist Heidi Shierholz shows that the vast majority of American workers have seen their wages stagnate for a decade. A Decade of Flat Wages: The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class is a comprehensive analysis of wage trends that shows that most Americans have not experienced real wage gains, regardless of occupation, race, ethnicity, or education level—including workers with a college degree. At the same time, corporate profits have soared, and the earnings of the top 1 percent have skyrocketed.
August 23, 2013
The Rev. Al Sharpton used EPI’s work in a Huffington Post column about the unmet goals of the March on Washington. After citing EPI data on persistent disparities between unemployment rates of blacks and whites, he wrote, “When such blatant inequality exists, how can we ever believe that our work is finished? Dr. King and the over 250,000 gathered with him on that historic day marched for jobs, and today we will continue marching for jobs as inequity persists. Millions of Americans are still desperately seeking work, and yet Congress will not support a jobs bill. So we march.”
The Huffington Post
August 23, 2013
In the Washington Post’s GovBeat blog, Reid Wilson reported on the latest findings from EARN. The report recommends that state legislators focus their attention on improving education, rather than cutting taxes to lure investment away from other states.
The Washington Post
August 23, 2013
Washington Post reporter Zachary Goldfarb looked at the challenges facing African Americans as President Obama prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Citing EPI, Goldfarb wrote, “Fifty years ago, the unemployment rate was 5 percent for whites and 10.9 percent for blacks, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Today, it is 6.6 percent for whites and 12.6 percent for blacks.”
The Washington Post
August 23, 2013
EPI President Lawrence Mishel was interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” about his new report, A Decade of Flat Wages. Explaining that wages have been flat across all measures, including education level, Mishel said, “Wages for those in business occupations have been flat for 10 years. Those in science, technology, engineering, and math—so-called STEM occupations—have been flat. It’s hard to look at the data and find that the real problem of wage growth is that people don’t have enough education.”
NPR
August 23, 2013
Analysts are split over whether the tax increases passed in January have hurt the economy as Congress barrels toward another round of fiscal fights this fall. ….
Thomas Hungerford, a director of budget and tax policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the increases in income taxes have had “no impact” on the economy.
“I think any arguments that raising taxes at the top has probably lost some of its relevance,” said Thomas Hungerford, director of budget and tax policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
The Hill
August 15, 2013