From 2019 through 2023, low-wage workers saw their incomes rise at the fastest clip in decades, which has begun to reverse growing income inequality. The lowest-paid workers saw their wages rise 13.2% over those four years compared to 3% for middle-wage earners and 4.4% for the highest-wage earners, according to researchers at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
The EPI researchers note the tight labor market wasn’t the only factor at work, and the government’s generous economic relief programs during the COVID-19 pandemic and increases to local minimum wages also played a part.
Minnesota Reformer
September 3, 2024
According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, child care in Pennsylvania falls $2,692 shy of reaching the average price of in-state tuition to a four-year college. But their data shows the average cost for infant child care in the state to be $11,842, making up 17.5% of the median family’s income.
CBS Philadelphia
September 3, 2024
According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the merger would reduce the total annual earnings of grocery store workers in affected metropolitan areas by $334 million.
Common Dreams
September 3, 2024
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour for over 15 years, being introduced in 2009. This is the longest period without an increase since the base salary was created. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), this wage has the same purchasing power as someone in the 1950s, while the highest minimum wage in history was during the 1960s: the wage was the equivalent of $13 in today’s money.
El Diario
September 3, 2024
Valerie Wilson, a labor economist with EPI Action, said that while increasing the housing supply is an important step in addressing the country’s housing issues, building 3 million homes and rentals is an “ambitious goal.” But she believes it is “worth pursuing,” adding that it’s more likely to come to fruition if Democrats gain a numbers advantage in both houses of Congress.
Wilson said Harris’ plan to offer $25,000 on a house down payment for first-time buyers could be a tactic used to help bridge the gap in homeownership between Black and white Americans.
“That down payment is often a major barrier for a number of first-time Black homeowners, because there is less generational wealth and they are less likely to be in a position where parents can provide that down payment support or even purchase a first home for you,” said Wilson.
Capital B
September 3, 2024
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, Americans without college degrees have lost nearly $2,000 a year in wages owing to trade with low-wage countries, even after accounting for cheaper consumer goods.
New York Times
September 3, 2024
Raising the lowest wage does give a group of earners a little more money, where higher earners likely see little to no impact, said Ben Zipperer, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The lowest earners include a disproportionate number of women and people of color.
“If we do not raise the minimum wage, those are the people that continue to face the consequences of wage inequality,” Zipperer said. “When you raise the minimum wage, economic research does show that it reduces the number of people in poverty. That is both an important motivation and also an important consequence of a higher minimum wage.”
Colorado Sun
September 3, 2024
“The New Jersey lawsuit is primarily about overtime pay for farmworkers. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act exempts farmworkers from overtime pay (i.e., time and a half for hours worked over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week),” said Daniel Costa, research director at the Economic Policy Institute.
The researcher says that only a small group of states have enacted state laws for overtime pay for agricultural workers, most notably California and, more recently, New York. “In both states, they are being phased in over a number of years until they reach the regular threshold enjoyed by workers in other sectors,” he says.
Telemundo
September 3, 2024
Features TV interview with Heidi Shierholz.
ABC News
August 26, 2024