During President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, the number of federal investigators in the U.S. Wage and Hour Division took a nosedive, dropping from 912 investigators in 2017 to a near-record-low 780 investigators in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Orlando Weekly
December 2, 2024
Larger employers are more likely to require forced arbitration as part of the employee contract, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. According to their 2023 report, 65% of companies with more than 1,000 employees mandate forced arbitration, and more than half of private, nonunion U.S. employers (54%) use it.
Forbes
December 2, 2024
Research indicates that voucher programs consistently fail to improve academic outcomes. Most recently, research from the non-profit Economic Policy Institute reports how “Vouchers undermine efforts to provide an excellent public education for all.” The research notably states, “Public education is worth preserving – it should be seen as one of the most important achievements in our country’s history and crucial for the social and economic welfare of future generations.”
Dakota News Now
December 2, 2024
One reason for the government worker shortage is the pay. State and local government workers earn 17.6% less than similarly-educated private-sector employees, up from just a 13.9% discrepancy before the pandemic, according to an August report from the Economic Policy Institute. By comparison, federal workers made 10% less on average than their private-sector counterparts, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Barron’s
December 2, 2024
Parents can’t just go anywhere for a job, “partially because they’re relying on networks and families and friends to help cover care in an affordable way,” she said. Parents are also less mobile within their own jobs and career paths, she added, “because especially women, tend to take steps back from the workforce and aren’t able to necessarily take a promotion” if it means more hours.
That narrows the labor market options for employers and means less economic activity, added Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
“If employers want to attract and retain the workers that they want, offering those kind of benefits can be advantageous to not only attract those employees, but also to keep them to reduce turnover,” she said.
Bloomberg Law
December 2, 2024
Child care costs are a well-established burden on Colorado families. The nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute estimated infant care costs an average of $15,325 a year for Colorado households, higher than average in-state college tuition and yearly rent costs. The state is ranked eighth overall for highest-cost child care.
Denver Gazette
December 2, 2024
This stark disparity highlights a broader trend: while worker productivity has increased by 61.8% since 1979, wages have grown by only 17.5%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Common Dreams
December 2, 2024
- In the rarefied top 0.1 percent, the average earnings were more than $2.8 million in 2022.
Here is how a few remaining categories break down by cohort and year.
Dollar figures are in 2022 dollars.Source: Economic Policy Institute analysis of Social Security Administration data
Bankrate
December 2, 2024
The study comes as the Census Bureau reported in September that the U.S. median household income last year was $80,610, a 4% increase from 2022. The Economic Policy Institute said that falling inflation, millions more jobs and an increase in wages are responsible for the increase.
Palm Springs Desert Sun
December 2, 2024
Between 1979 and 2024, productivity in the U.S. soared by 80.9%, while hourly pay grew by just 29.4%, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
December 2, 2024