The change would “absolutely” impact moderate-income workers, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. But, she said, “the vast majority of tipped workers do not bring in huge tips in a fine dining establishment.”
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But if there’s a benefit to the discussion about potentially ending taxes on tips, it’s that it’s “helpfully shining a light on tipped workers,” Shierholz added. She said she hopes that the conversation doesn’t end ultimately with taxes, but “brings it home” that “we also need to address the wage side.”
PBS Newshour
September 5, 2024
If working from home was a benefit that mostly went to higher-paid workers, the pay increases disproportionately went to those at the bottom, reversing the pattern that had been in place for more than four decades. An analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that wages for workers in the bottom 10% of the wage distribution increased by 13.4% from before the pandemic, after adjusting for inflation.
Duluth News Tribune
September 3, 2024
…highest unemployment rates. Kyle Moore, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank tackling inequalities in the…[Paywall].
Chicago Tribune
September 3, 2024
Wage theft, by contrast, is a massive crime: A 2014 study from the Economic Policy Institute found that wage theft “costs American workers as much as $50 billion a year.” It deserves massive attention.
New Republic
September 3, 2024
Between 2019 and 2023, the number of U.S. school bus drivers fell by 15 percent. Those who remain still don’t make much money: an average of $20 an hour, with just 32 hours of work a week, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Slate
September 3, 2024
CEO compensation has ballooned since the late 1970s. Compensation of the country’s top CEOs at public firms increased 1,460 percent from 1978 to 2021, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank. For every dollar the average worker earns, a CEO makes about $400.
The Keene Sentinel
September 3, 2024
“Donald Trump knows how to take advantage of working people,” he said as part of an accusation against Trump for “waging war on workers and the middle class.” Walz also criticized Trump for blocking efforts to raise the minimum wage and for supporting right-to-work laws, which he said weaken unions and undermine workers’ rights.
Fact check: Trump did oppose efforts to raise the federal minimum wage because he said it was up to the individual states to address. According to Politico, he also supported “right-to-work” laws, which are widely criticized for weakening unions by reducing their financial resources and undermining workers’ rights and collective bargaining power. Trump’s administration did roll back numerous worker protections and regulations designed to safeguard labor rights, as detailed in this report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Racine County Eye
September 3, 2024
To buttress their arguments against Trump, speakers at the event said the former president named corporate lawyers to the National Labor Relations Board, which then “systematically rolled back workers’ rights to form unions and engage in collective bargaining with their employers” and sought to enact rules “aimed at overturning existing worker protections,” according to the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group that has received some funding from labor unions.
When Mr. Biden took office, however, his appointees made it easier for workers to form unions, EPI said.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
September 3, 2024
Teachers are paid less than others in occupations requiring similar education, according to the Educate Maine report. The Economic Policy Institute found that Maine teachers made 24 percent less than comparable workers statewide in 2021, the 16th highest pay penalty in the nation.
Bangor Daily News
September 3, 2024
The additional rules detract from the intent of providing unemployment insurance, according to experts like Chandra Childers, senior policy and economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
“At a larger, macro level, it would allow the economy to work better, especially during periods of recession, because now people have money that they are spending,” she said. “The flip side of that is if you make it harder to access, restrict duration, or restrict benefits, then what it does is it makes workers more desperate. It is an effort, essentially, to force workers to take any job, so therefore, they are not able to bid up the quality of jobs.”
Alabama Reflector
September 3, 2024