At least 14 states have introduced or enacted laws within the past two years that relaxed child labor restrictions, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
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But removing those restrictions is not the only way to address labor shortages or encourage youth employment, said Nina Mast, an economic analyst with EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network. Employers, Mast continued, could explore training pathways for minors such as pre-apprenticeship training.
“If employers feel that their only strategy to [combat labor shortages] is to open those jobs to youth who have historically been barred from that work, I would say that that is the wrong strategy,” Mast said.
HR Dive
August 10, 2023
Cites EPI research on alcohol service age. Paywall.
Fortune
August 10, 2023
Quotes Nina Mast. [Paywall]
Commercial Observer
August 10, 2023
Today’s CEOs, analysts at the Economic Policy Institute detailed last October, routinely pocket 400 times and more what their workers are making.
Inequality.org
August 10, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the median retirement savings for all working-age households in the U.S. is $95,776. That includes employer-sponsored retirement accounts and individual retirement accounts, but not Social Security benefits.
Dallas Morning News
August 10, 2023
Overall, U.S. child labor violations have “skyrocketed,” said Nina Mast, MPP, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. According to a March report from the institute — which Mast coauthored — the number of minors employed in violation of child labor laws in fiscal year 2022 increased 283% over fiscal year 2015. The number of minors employed in violation of hazardous work rules went up 94%.
“But the vast number of violations go unreported,” Mast told The Nation’s Health.
Mast said a variety of factors are likely contributing to increased violations, including a rise in unaccompanied migrant children; the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated poverty and economic insecurity; and more attention to the issue from DOL investigators.
The Nation’s Health
August 10, 2023
In 2019, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute’s economists wrote that they hoped that college graduates could find themselves in a “high-pressure economy” where a prolonged period of “labor market strength translated into better opportunities for workers across the board.”
Business Insider
August 10, 2023
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour, unchanged since 2009, and 48 municipalities have passed higher local minimum wages, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit think tank.
The Denver Post
August 10, 2023
Despite decades of pushing for equality, both women and racial minorities still fall far short in terms of representation and pay compared with their white male colleagues, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
August 10, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the labor force participation rate among 16- to 24-year-olds has fallen from 65.8% in 2000 to 55.6% in 2022.
To boost youth employment, lawmakers in at least 10 states have pushed bills to loosen child labor laws and protections to increase youth labor participation.
CNBC
August 10, 2023
For decades, the African American unemployment rate remained above 10%. But not anymore, says economist Kyle Moore with the Economic Policy Institute.
“Having that fall down below 5% earlier this year really means a lot for families, where it really means a lot for the sorts of economic security that they can experience,” says Moore.
Scripps news
August 10, 2023
MA: That’s right. But, you know, farm employment numbers are actually historically very hard to track, partly because they fluctuate a lot from season to season, partly because a large portion of farm workers are undocumented. Bottom line, farm jobs are not included in the monthly job numbers, which means we hardly ever talk about them on Jobs Friday. So you know what? Let’s change that.
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COSTA: That is the grand mystery of the farm labor market. You’ve put your finger on it. So when there’s a shortage, normally you would think wages would rise, right? That’s the free market. That makes sense, right?
WONG: Except the farm labor market is not really a free market in some pretty key ways. For one thing, many farm workers are either here on a visa program that’s tied to a specific employer, or they’re undocumented. That means it’s more difficult for those workers to leave a job or advocate for better pay or conditions.
NPR Planet Money
August 10, 2023
“The upshot of today’s #JobsReport? It’s yet more evidence that we can have a soft landing,” Heidi Shierholz, an economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
Boston Globe
August 10, 2023
Those figures reflect continued tightness in the broader labor market. In July, the U.S. unemployment rate was little changed at 3.5%, which is just above the lowest level since late 1969.
“It shows that the labor market is strong and in a good place,” Economic Policy Institute’s Valerie Wilson said. “Even with the hikes, the interest rate hikes, that the Federal Reserve has been implementing, we continue to see unemployment remain low.”
CNBC
August 10, 2023
Nationwide, gains in pay for low-wage jobs have reached historic proportions, according to an Economic Policy Institute report in March. Compensation for the lowest-paid jobs rose 9% between 2019 and 2022, adjusted for inflation. That’s much higher than the 4.9% for high-wage jobs and 2.4% for middle-wage jobs. And it was the biggest bounce for low-wage workers since at least 1979, according to the report.
“The labor market is stronger now, particularly for workers who are historically disadvantaged because of their relative scarcity,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and lead author of the March report.
CityBeat
August 10, 2023
For three years pay hikes fell behind inflation and profits soared. According to the AFL-CIO, worker strikes are at an all-time high because CEOs claim they can’t afford to boost worker pay. Yet, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio is at its second-highest level – 272-1 — ever, and the Economic Policy Institute reports worker productivity has outpaced pay gains by 3.7 times for 40 years.
Forbes
August 10, 2023
The potential work stoppage comes as the nation is seeing a significant uptick in strikes as well as organizing drives. Earlier this year, the Economic Policy Institute reported that major strike activity in the country was up by 50 percent last year.
Insider NJ
August 4, 2023
A study by the Economic Policy Institute shows that undocumented workers, like Moreno, are more likely to be victims of workplace abuses, and substandard health and safety procedures.
Connecticut Public Radio
August 4, 2023
Experts contend the new laws will harm poor children, children of color and undocumented children who would take these jobs out of necessity to survive.
“They’re seeking to expand employment to workers that can be paid less in order to keep wages low and still maintain the same levels of employment,” said Nina Mast, a state economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute. “At the same time, you also have our broken immigration system that has resulted in many unaccompanied migrant youth in this country without work authorization and sort of compelled by their economic circumstances to work. And that’s really a recipe for exploitation because they lack sort of the legal rights and support to demand safe and age-appropriate work.”
The Hill
August 4, 2023
“Sexual harassment of teens in the workplace is a huge and widespread problem that is rarely talked about,” says Jennifer Sherer, director of the State Worker Power Initiative at the Economic Policy Institute, which has cataloged recent child-labor bills. The debate over the Iowa bill, she says, “did serve as a wake-up call and a reminder that the safeguards we have in place, as it is, aren’t preventive, and that many teens and many adults who look back on their teen work have experienced harassment.”
Barron’s
August 4, 2023
In 2021, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (the Center) compared the two measures using data from the United States Census American Community Survey (ACS) and the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Family Budget Calculator.
Forbes
August 4, 2023
“What’s happening right now in Hollywood is a microcosm for what’s happening across America,” says Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute. CEOs of major corporations often earn hundreds of times the salary of the typical worker, he notes, and some entertainment companies have ratios even more jarring.
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When the writers and actors struck in 1960, top executives made a mere fraction of what they do today and only about 20 times that of the typical worker. According to a 2022 study from EPI, CEO pay increased 1,460 percent from 1978 to 2021.
The Hollywood Reporter
August 4, 2023
At least 10 states have introduced or passed bills in the past two years meant to weaken protections against employing children, according to a March report by the Economic Policy Institute.
This year, bills to weaken the laws have been introduced in Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota.
CNN Business
August 4, 2023
The top 1% of income earners may be small in number, but they control a greatly disproportionate 21% of the nation’s household income, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. That share has roughly doubled since the 1970s, thanks to rapid income growth among America’s top earners and tepid income growth among middle-class workers, data from the Pew Research Center shows.
CBS Moneywatch
August 4, 2023
Released this week, the Economic Policy Institute report says that race-neutral policies won’t adequately provide solutions to eliminate economic disparities. Although Black Americans have seen some improvements in income and jobs during the pandemic, the typical Black worker is paid 23% less per hour than a typical white worker.
The report comes just weeks before the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28. In 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made urgent calls to raise the minimum wage and build affordable housing. Although civil rights legislation designed to reverse the harm that Jim Crow legislation inflicted on Black communities removed some barriers, racial disparities in employment, wages, and homeownership persist today.
“The reality is we haven’t made as much progress as we would have liked,” said Adewale Maye, author of the report and a policy and research analyst with the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program at Economic Policy Institute. “When we think of Dr. King and the March on Washington, [one of the] demands was a livable wage, and we’re still fighting for a higher minimum wage. These demands haven’t gone away, but the problem has persisted.”
Capital B
August 4, 2023
Major strike activity increased by almost fifty percent in 2022, according to the U.S. Labor Department. And the Economic Policy Institute says over 120,000 workers were involved in major work stoppages last year.
Scripps news
August 4, 2023
A study from the Economic Policy Institute found a strong correlation between the rise in unrestricted trade with less wealthy countries and a decline in American wages, with companies drawn to foreign markets for cheap labor, suppressing both American job creation and wages.
Alabama Daily News
August 4, 2023
And even when legal action is taken, Daniel Costa, an attorney with the Economic Policy Institute, said there’s poor enforcement of the wage and hour laws on the books, as the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division has just hundreds of investigators to police a labor market of some 160 million people.
Marketplace
August 4, 2023
Compensation for chief executive officers rose a staggering 1,460% between 1978 and 2021, according to a 2022 report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Marketplace
August 4, 2023