In an analysis of the cost of basic necessities by the Economic Policy Institute, median annual expenses for a family with two adults and two children in the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas were $104,760. This means that in about half of those areas, the cost was higher than that. The nonprofit think tank’s 2024 family budget calculator does not include retirement, college or emergency savings, which are often critical factors for long-term financial security.
To compensate for the cost of necessities exceeding median income, ‘a lot of people are making compromises in one way or another.’Zane Mokhiber, director of data management and analysis at the Economic Policy Institute.
MarketWatch
April 26, 2024
About half of private-sector businesses in the U.S. require at least some employees to enter noncompete agreements, according to a 2019 study from the Economic Policy Institute.
Worklife News
April 26, 2024
40 years of regressive tweaks and tax breaks have hit these workers harder than the other over half of workers, and over 80% of low-income workers don’t have any retirement plan at work. (For more evidence on all of this, see the Older Workers and Retirement Chartbook by the Economic Policy Institute and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.)
Forbes
April 26, 2024
This is great news for American workers. When this policy is fully enacted next summer, EPI reports that worker paychecks will grow by $1.5 billion every year.
Civic Ventures
April 26, 2024
The Older Workers and Retirement Chartbook, produced by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and the Economic Policy Institute, suggests that more than half of retirees (52%) were pushed out of their jobs before they were ready to retire.
Project Syndicate
April 26, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute applauded the Federal Trade Commission’s decision on Tuesday to ban noncompete clauses in employment, saying in a statement on its website that “this is an important step toward fostering fair competition and empowering U.S. workers.”
Noncompete agreements are conditions of employment that prohibit a worker from leaving a job to take a role at a competing business or starting their own within a certain period of time. Research from the Institute has found that up to 25% of workers in the private sector—even low-wage employees—have been required to sign noncompete agreements.
CEO North America
April 26, 2024
Multiple studies show immigrants like Alaniz’s family were a key economic engine for the United States’ rebound from the pandemic. Some 50% of the labor market’s recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.
CalMatters
April 26, 2024
According to Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, the only leverage nonunion workers have is “…[T]heir ability to quit their job. Noncompetes don’t just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business.”
Advisory Board
April 26, 2024
“Noncompetes are about reducing competition, full stop. It’s in their name,” Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said Tuesday. “Noncompetes are bad for workers, bad for consumers, and bad for the broader economy. This rule is an important step in creating an economy that is not only strong but also works for working people.”
Common Dreams
April 26, 2024
These changes will have a profound impact on the number of employees subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) minimum wage and overtime guarantees—the Economic Policy Institute estimated that 3.4 million employees will be affected by the EAP exemption threshold, with another 248,000 workers affected by the new HCE threshold.
JD Supra
April 26, 2024