Media clips

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• Nearly half of Americans say having a college degree is less important now than it was 20 years ago

  A recent report from the San Francisco Federal Reserve found that the college wage gap peaked in the mid-2010s but declined by four percentage points in 2022. Now, bachelor’s degree holders earn about 75% more over their career than those without.

  Economists attribute the decline to more rapid wage gains for high school graduates. Between 2020 and 2024, young high school graduates experienced 9.4% real (inflation-adjusted) wage growth whereas college graduates saw a mere 2.2% increase in their earnings, the Economic Policy Institute reports.

  CNBC May 24, 2024
• More than a third of local families struggle, study says

  According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute in March, low-wage workers had a 12.1% wage increase from 2019 through 2023. But even with these wage gains, the lowest-paid workers in the U.S. still receive wages that are inadequate to meet most families’ basic needs, the report said.

  Jacksonville Today May 24, 2024
• In bid to reduce wage gaps, Minnesota will require salary ranges on new job postings

  The big picture: On average, women earn 21.8% less than men, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  • The think tank found that gaps are widest in high-wage fields or jobs requiring advanced degrees. Race is also a factor, with Black and Hispanic women lagging further behind, EPI reported.
  Axios Twin Cities May 24, 2024
• What labor bills passed and didn’t in Minnesota this year

  No unemployment for striking workers: Labor unions wanted the state to extend unemployment benefits for striking workers, which would give unions a significant advantage in protracted work stoppages. New York and New Jersey already allow striking workers to apply for unemployment, with more than half a dozen other states also considering it, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Minnesota Reformer May 24, 2024
• Florida Gov. DeSantis approved rollbacks to child labor laws this year. Here’s what to know.

  So, this child labor stuff — is this just happening in Florida?

  Nope. According to the Economic Policy Institute, at least 31 states have introduced bills that would weaken child labor protections since 2021. Of those, 14 have passed or enacted bills, including Florida.

  Orlando Weekly May 24, 2024
• 66,000 Alabama workers will be eligible for overtime pay under new rule

  Tens of thousands of Alabama workers are expected to qualify for overtime pay under new federal rules that will start to take effect July 1.

  By 2025, about 4.3 million Americans, including 66,000 workers in Alabama, will be newly eligible, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C.

  “Workers could be affected possibly in a lot of different types of industries,” said Samantha Sanders, director of government affairs at the Institute, “but I think you’re most likely to see it in salary workers in white collar jobs who are kind of on the lower end of the pay scale,”

  AL.com May 24, 2024
• The outsourcing of housework is on the rise—and it’s creating a shift both inside of the home and out

  Domestic workers—of which non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Hispanic women together make up more than half, according to the Economic Policy Institute—have historically been left out of workers’ rights policies and protections.

  Stacker May 24, 2024
• Here’s What Trump and the GOP Really Think About the Working Class

  At Wednesday’s hearing, the sole Democratic witness, Lynn Rhinehart of the Economic Policy Institute, made note of another anti-labor bill sponsored by a Republican Education and the Workforce Committee member, Representative Rick Allen of Georgia. Under the bill, it would no longer constitute an illegal unfair labor practice for a business to reject a job applicant on the basis of that person’s being “an employee or paid agent” of a labor union. The goal is to combat something called “salting,” wherein a person gets himself hired so he can organize a worksite. This is, Rhinehart pointed out, “a solution in search of a problem,” given that hiring a single pro-union employee hardly guarantees that other employees will agree to join one. The bill’s true purpose, she said, was to “open the door to blatant anti-union discrimination that has been illegal since passage of the [National Labor Relations Act of 1935].”

  New Republic May 24, 2024
• House GOP criticizes Biden’s labor policies amid rising union support

  Unionizing provides workers with gains in pay, benefits, and working conditions, and non-benefit workers take advantage of it, as well, said Lynn Rhinehart, a senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Medill News Service May 24, 2024
• North Dakota ranked best state for childbirth, Mississippi ranked worst: report

  For preschool, infant care and day care in 2020, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, California, Minnesota and Connecticut were the five areas in the U.S. with the highest cost of child care expenses, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

  Fox News May 24, 2024