He’s also an avowed union buster and, according to the pro-labor think tank Economic Policy Institute, his administration “rolled back worker protections, proposed budgets that slash funding for agencies that safeguard workers’ rights, wages, and safety, and consistently attacked workers’ ability to organize and collectively bargain” and “systematically promoted the interests of corporate executives and shareholders over those of working people.”
MSNBC.com
October 28, 2024
Research from the Economic Policy Institute found the pay gap between public-sector employees and private-sector workers with similar levels of education, experience and seniority has risen to 17.6 percent since the pandemic. In states with weak bargaining rights for public sector workers, such as Colorado, the gap is even higher, at 20.1 percent.
Westword
October 28, 2024
Nina Mast, an analyst at the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute, said that while ultimately the employer is responsible for making sure they are following the rules, these programs can create confusion about who is accountable for the safety of the student worker.
“It really raises concerns about how these programs exist, and like whether they really need to be reformed or eliminated to begin with,” Mast said. “You’re having more children being driven to the labor market to fill the so-called labor shortage. You see employers violating the law because they’re treated like adults, but they’re not adults.”
Cascade PBS
October 28, 2024
Raising the minimum wage in our state means that local residents have more money to spend in the local economy. Economic analysis suggests that states with higher minimum wages have faster job growth in leisure and hospitality industries, which are two essential parts of our local economy. And research from the Economic Policy Institute shows little to no job losses from minimum wage increases; rather, raising the minimum wage reduces staff turnover and increases worker productivity, which decreases businesses’ costs of hiring and training new staff.
WHQR Public Radio (North Carolina)
October 28, 2024
In general, lower-wage workers across the economy have seen some of the largest pay gains since the start of the pandemic. When adjusted for inflation, wages for lower-income workers have jumped nearly 17% since 2019, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. That compares to just a 7% increase for middle-wage workers when inflation is factored in.
NBC News
October 28, 2024
If Proposition A is passed, the minimum wage would increase to $13.75 on Jan. 1, and to $15 by Jan. 1, 2026. Starting in 2027, the state would adjust the minimum wage annually based on the Consumer Price Index.
This change would impact about 900,000 workers, or about a third of all workers in Missouri, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Columbia Missourian
October 28, 2024
For that reason, Vice President Kamala Harris has called Trump’s tariff proposals “a sales tax on the American people” that she says would raise costs for households by $4,000 each year. Adam Hersh, a senior economist at EPI Action, the advocacy arm of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, puts that estimate lower but still in the four-figure range at $2,500 to 3,000 per year.
NBC News
October 28, 2024
“Employers are legally required to ensure that tipped workers’ tips cover the gap between the tip minimum wage and the regular minimum wage. But, in practice, this is highly difficult to enforce,” said Sebastian Martinez Hickey a state economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Tipped workers are very low-paid workers. They earn about a third less than the median worker in the U.S. economy, and they experience poverty at much greater rates than the typical worker,” Martinez Hickey said. These workers, he added, are “predominantly women, disproportionately women of color.”
Marketplace
October 28, 2024
Former aides and allies of Warren’s, and former staff members at think tanks like the Economic Policy Institute, wound up on the Council of Economic … [paywall].
The New Yorker
October 28, 2024