Media clips

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• Corporations Have Very Good Reasons to Break Labor Laws and Bust Unions

  The practice of labor law violations in countering unionization is so widespread that the Economic Policy Institute found in 2019 that ​“Employers are charged with violating federal law in 41.5 percent of all union election campaigns.” Given that these are officially deemed violations that have gone through the process of reporting and adjudicating, the number is likely an underestimate.

  In These Times June 3, 2024
• Why parents with young children are reporting a dramatic drop-off in their financial well-being

  Ismael Cid-Martinez, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said the aftereffects have been evident. Fewer parents say they can come up with $400 in an emergency, and they report more instances of food insufficiency.

  After 2021, Cid-Martinez said, “parents’ savings began to dwindle.”

  Another key pandemic program provided increased financial support to child care centers. That support, too, has ended without being reinstated.

  NBC News June 3, 2024
• Should Ohio raise its minimum wage to $15?

  Activists appeal for a $15 minimum wage near the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the federal minimum wage in 2021 was worth 34% less than in 1968, when its purchasing power peaked.

  WOSU June 3, 2024
• Democracy, Deshmocracy: Mega-Financiers Are Flocking to Trump

  Some empirically oriented economists, particularly those at the Economic Policy Institute, predicted that the corporate pillars of American capitalism would not only set up shop in China but decimate American manufacturing in the process. They were dismissed as protectionists, though their predictions proved to be entirely correct. 

  The American Prospect June 3, 2024
• There’s Even More Evidence That A College Degree Is Worth It

  A recent example came earlier this month from the Economic Policy Institute, written by Katherine deCourcy and Elise Gould.

  Their research shows that young workers with a college degree have already economically recovered from the disruption and displacement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, they say bluntly, “The labor market for young college graduates today is stronger than it was before the pandemic and has been for quite some time.”

  Forbes June 3, 2024
• Does US Manufacturing Have a Child Labor Problem?

  Paywall.

  Industry Week June 3, 2024
• Minimum Wage by State

  States continue to increase their minimum wages. Twenty-two states implemented higher minimum wages on Jan. 1, 2024, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). These increases in the statewide minimum wage affected an estimated 9.9 million workers and accounted for nearly $7 billion in additional wages. 

  MarketWatch June 3, 2024
• A $114,000 salary makes you feel poorer than your parents. These 6 metrics show why.

  Over the past decade, households have seen expenses grow more than their incomes, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. Today, the median income for a family of four is $114,425, according to the Census Bureau – which is just enough to cover basic necessities for a four-person family of $104,760, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. 

  MarketWatch June 3, 2024
• Unemployment among Black Pennsylvanians down 65% since Biden was sworn in

  According to data compiled by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, the Black unemployment rate in Pennsylvania was 5.7% in the first quarter of 2024. In the final quarter of 2020, before Biden took office, the rate was 16.5%. In the last two quarters of that year, Pennsylvania had the highest Black unemployment rate in the entire United States.

  Pennsylvania Independent June 3, 2024
• June 3, 2024
  June 3, 2024