Media clips

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• Don’t be fooled by those ‘underpaid teacher’ stories

  The claim that teachers are underpaid largely focuses on what teachers unions and progressive advocates call the “teacher pay penalty.” In the formulation of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-wing think tank, “public school teachers earn about 20 percent less in weekly wages than nonteacher college graduates.” That may be true. But is it relevant? Would anyone argue that all occupations requiring a college degree should pay equivalent salaries?

  Boston Globe August 25, 2023
• 60 years after March on Washington, America needs honest talk on racial equality

  The Economic Policy Institute report, “Chasing the dream of equity,” released this month to commemorate the anniversary of the 1963 march, finds that little progress has been made in removing barriers to the full equitable integration of Black Americans into the U.S. economy.  Among its key findings: The racial wealth gap — a typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family — is a long-standing vestige of centuries of government policies that explicitly denied African Americans the opportunity to build wealth. 

  Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.

  The Chicago Sun Times August 25, 2023
• As West Virginia invests in manufacturing and construction, some women are training for these higher paying — and male dominated — industries

  This means women in the state would have to work until they were 72 to match what a man made by the time he turned 60.

  The gap “can be tremendous,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “It means that women on average have less economic security, less retirement security, and don’t have the same opportunities for meeting a decent standard of living.”

  Mountain State Spotlight August 25, 2023
• More states restricting Trans youth in sports, ending hair-based discrimination with The CROWN Act

  Trans youth on the sidelines this school year, Justice Thomas received more gifts than initially reported, Chick-fil-A worker sent home for hair color, Jasmine Payne-Patterson explains The CROWN Act & working to end hair-based discrimination.

  Advocate Today August 25, 2023
• WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: One Year Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act

  Economic Policy Institute: “The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law a year ago this week. It is widely seen as the crown jewel of the “industrial policy” agenda of the Biden administration. While no piece of legislation is perfect, the full potential of the IRA to deliver a radically better future is often underrated. In this post, we highlight many of the IRA’s huge steps forward and also talk about the unfinished agenda for securing faster, fairer, and greener growth in the U.S. economy.” [Blogpost, 8/14/23]

  Economic Policy Institute: “Put simply, the IRA puts the U.S. on a path where meeting its global climate change commitments is within reach—commitments which would provide a genuine chance at securing a livable planet for future generations if they are kept. At the beginning of August 2022, there was no such path to secure this livable future, but there is now—and that is a mammoth victory.” [Blogpost, 8/14/23]

  The White House August 25, 2023
• We must address critical shortages of educators

  An inability to retain qualified and experienced professionals can have serious implications for the wider staffing of schools. A 2022 Economic Policy Institute report indicated that 23% of all U.S. public schools had at least 5% of their positions vacant during the 2021-22 school year. More than half of schools reported that those vacancies were due to resignations and 21% stated they were due to retirements.

  Lancaster Online August 25, 2023
• Unemployment rate for Blacks hits historic low under Biden

  For those seeking to delve deeper into the statistics and context surrounding the Black unemployment rate in the United States, additional information can be found through reputable sources such as the BLS or the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

  Black Wall Street Times August 25, 2023
• ‘America First 2.0’: Vivek Ramaswamy pitches to be Republicans’ next Trump

  “Top companies now regularly disfavor qualified applicants who happen to be white or Asian,” he tweeted in June. “Time to restore colorblind meritocracy once and for all.”

  Ramaswamy did not provide any evidence for his claim and did not respond to a question on the topic from the Guardian. Last year, a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that “one of the most durable and defining features of the US labor market is the 2-to-1 disparity in unemployment that exists between black and white workers”.

  The Guardian August 25, 2023
• A hands-off Labor Department retreats from wage theft enforcement

  Unpaid wages are a major problem across the state, especially in construction, hospitality, and domestic work. In a 2017 report, the Economic Policy Institute found that minimum wage workers in New York had nearly $1 billion in wages illegally withheld from them each year.

  Press-Republican August 25, 2023
• Pro-Union Shift Expected With Labor Board Member’s Pending Exit

  Quotes Celine McNicholas. [Paywall]. 

  Bloomberg Law August 25, 2023
• How Public Employees Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Strike

  The number of workers who joined unions last year increased by 200,000, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank.

  Governing August 25, 2023
• Many schools face a teacher shortage. How did teaching become an unattractive occupation?

  School districts around the country are grappling with an undersupply of educators. In fact, the teacher shortage could grow to 200,000 educators by 2025, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank. 

  Chicago Tribune August 25, 2023
• New research shows Black families have one-eighth of the wealth held by White family units

  Chasing the dream of equity: How policy has shaped economic racial disparities, delves into how public policy and economic conditions have failed to heed the 1963 call for justice.  Published by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the report reveals a disturbing economic landscape despite the enactment of a series of laws intended to bring economic parity for all.   

  “Many associate the March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” said Adewale A. Maye, policy and research analyst at EPI and author of the report. “What is often forgotten, however, are the marchers’ urgent calls to raise the minimum wage, build affordable housing, and strengthen voters’ rights—sweeping reforms that could transform American lives. Although we have made strides in racial equity, there are miles to go before King’s dream is a reality.”   

  Afro News August 25, 2023
• How the March on Washington Became Al Sharpton’s Side Hustle

  Perhaps nowhere were the hopes of 1963 organizers dashed than in the quest for economic justice. Such was the conclusion of “The Unfinished March,” a 2013 study by the Economic Policy Institute on the outcomes of the protest.

  The Daily Beast August 25, 2023
• Europe gets more vacations than the U.S. Here are some reasons why.

  GONZALEZ: Adewale is a labor economics researcher at the Economic Policy Institute. But actually seeing the European attitude toward work in person felt different. And it made Adewale think of this report he worked on a few years back.

  MAYE: The name of the report is No-Vacation Nation.

  GONZALEZ: No-Vacation Nation.

  MAYE: Very on the nose.

  GONZALEZ: In this report, Adewale looked at the 21 richest countries in the world, and he listed how many paid vacation days they all get not because of the kindness of their employers, but how many paid vacation days every single person in these countries have to – have to, have to, have to – get by law. And he found that Japan, for example, gets 10 paid vacation days for everyone on top of 15 paid holidays; Australia, 20 paid vacation days, plus eight paid holidays; Spain 25 vacation days, paid, plus 14 paid holidays. We are talking 39 days off, paid, for everyone – hairdressers, mechanics, doctors, bakers, daycare workers, train operators. Every worker in these countries is guaranteed paid vacation. Actually, every worker in all of the richest countries in the world has to get paid vacation except for workers in one rich country, the U.S.

  NPR Planet Money August 25, 2023
• Union fights grow US workers’ slice of profit pie

  Yet by one measure, employees aren’t doing as well as they did before the pandemic. Workers’ share of corporate earnings reached 75% in the first quarter, compared to 76% in the last three months of 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Closing that one-point difference today requires $120 billion in higher wages.

  Reuters August 25, 2023
• Rising home prices threaten Indy’s affordability for teachers
  • According to the Economic Policy Institute, teachers have for decades experienced a “wage penalty” — meaning they consistently make less than their non-teacher college-educated counterparts.
  Axios August 25, 2023
• Daybreak Aug. 24: Praise for FDA’s new deputy commissioner choic

  …violations on farms, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute that found the number of such probes reached a record low…[Paywall].

  Agri-Pulse August 25, 2023
• It’s nearly impossible for WA farmworkers to unionize. Here’s why that matters

  Features quote from Daniel Costa. [Paywall]. 

  Seattle Times August 25, 2023
• 60 years later, ‘manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination’ remain

  As a group, Black workers are paid less than white workers, earning 76 cents to every $1 earned by white Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In Maine, Black workers earn only 63 percent of what white workers make.

  The gap is larger now than it was 40 years ago, and it can’t be explained by differences in education and skills, the Economic Policy Institute concluded in a recent analysis.

  Black Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed than white Americans. The disparity is a little smaller in Maine.

  Bangor Daily News August 25, 2023
• Jackson Hole: Fed policy collides with reality in the most unequal county in America

  But as they talk about inflation and the economy in the abstract, residents of the popular vacation destination are very much feeling the realities of their policies. That’s because Jackson Hole is the most economically unequal place in the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNN Business August 25, 2023
• Fight for economic equity under ‘assault’ 60 years after March on Washington, advocates warn

  Other economic disparities have also persisted into the present day. Among Americans who are employed, research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) showed the typical Black worker made more than 24 percent less than their white counterparts per hour in 2019 — a figure the group noted was about 8 percentage points higher than it was four decades earlier.

  The Hill August 25, 2023
• WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: One Year Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act

  Economic Policy Institute: “The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law a year ago this week. It is widely seen as the crown jewel of the “industrial policy” agenda of the Biden administration. While no piece of legislation is perfect, the full potential of the IRA to deliver a radically better future is often underrated. In this post, we highlight many of the IRA’s huge steps forward and also talk about the unfinished agenda for securing faster, fairer, and greener growth in the U.S. economy.” [Blogpost, 8/14/23]

  Economic Policy Institute: “Put simply, the IRA puts the U.S. on a path where meeting its global climate change commitments is within reach—commitments which would provide a genuine chance at securing a livable planet for future generations if they are kept. At the beginning of August 2022, there was no such path to secure this livable future, but there is now—and that is a mammoth victory.” [Blogpost, 8/14/23]

  The White House August 21, 2023
• We must address critical shortages of educators

  An inability to retain qualified and experienced professionals can have serious implications for the wider staffing of schools. A 2022 Economic Policy Institute report indicated that 23% of all U.S. public schools had at least 5% of their positions vacant during the 2021-22 school year. More than half of schools reported that those vacancies were due to resignations and 21% stated they were due to retirements.

  Lancaster Online August 21, 2023
• Unemployment rate for Blacks hits historic low under Biden

  For those seeking to delve deeper into the statistics and context surrounding the Black unemployment rate in the United States, additional information can be found through reputable sources such as the BLS or the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

  Black Wall Street Times August 21, 2023
• August 25, 2023
  August 21, 2023
• A hands-off Labor Department retreats from wage theft enforcement

  Unpaid wages are a major problem across the state, especially in construction, hospitality, and domestic work. In a 2017 report, the Economic Policy Institute found that minimum wage workers in New York had nearly $1 billion in wages illegally withheld from them each year.

  Press-Republican August 21, 2023
• Pro-Union Shift Expected With Labor Board Member’s Pending Exit

  Quotes Celine McNicholas. [Paywall]. 

  Bloomberg Law August 21, 2023
• How Public Employees Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Strike

  The number of workers who joined unions last year increased by 200,000, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank.

  Governing August 21, 2023
• Many schools face a teacher shortage. How did teaching become an unattractive occupation?

  School districts around the country are grappling with an undersupply of educators. In fact, the teacher shortage could grow to 200,000 educators by 2025, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank. 

  Chicago Tribune August 21, 2023