“Misclassification is a problem that affects many low-paid industries like construction, transportation, home health care,” says Sally Dworak-Fisher, senior staff attorney at NELP. But “people in every occupation at all types of pay levels” can be vulnerable to it, says Samantha Sanders, director of government affairs and advocacy at the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
January 23, 2024
Jennifer Sherer, a director at the Economic Policy Institute, sees a silver lining in the data: People ages 16 to 45 are driving union membership growth and have decades of employment ahead of them.
“That’s not just polling and survey data, but that’s young people going through the very challenging and courageous process of organizing new unions even against the odds,” she said.
KCUR public radio (Kansas City)
January 23, 2024
The gains in union membership in 2023 were driven entirely by workers under the age of 45, says Heidi Shierholz, president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“I think that does point to a shift that may be a more lasting shift… in interest and popularity of unions,” says Shierholz.
…
Shierholz says weaknesses in labor law are responsible for the significant gap between the number of workers who are represented by unions and those who want to be represented by unions but aren’t.
“That gap is labor law not truly protecting workers’ right to organize,” she says, noting that employers face little more than a slap on the wrist for violating that right.
NPR
January 23, 2024
Because of the lack of benefits and overtime pay, independent contractors are often compensated less for doing the same jobs. A typical person working in construction as an independent contractor would make as much as $16,729 less per year in income and benefits compared to what they would as an employee, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, estimated.
Investopedia
January 22, 2024
Separate legislation (HB 49) that would extend the number of hours older teens are allowed to work during the school year, meanwhile, has similarly been backed by lobbying groups like the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, representing industries that “routinely” violate federal labor standards according to policy analyst Nina Mast, who’s tracking proposed child-labor law rollbacks for the Economic Policy Institute.
Orlando Weekly
January 19, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute highlighted common misclassified workers, estimating…[paywall].
Business Insider
January 19, 2024
Cites EPI’s CEO pay data. [Paywall].
Business Insider
January 19, 2024
The national bus driver shortage has improved slightly since the start of the pandemic, but staffing levels have not returned to what they were before. Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows that in September 2023, there were about 192,400 bus drivers working in K–12 schools, about 15 percent less than in September 2019.
PBS Newshour
January 19, 2024
According to a 2019 study from the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute, employers are charged with doing so in more than 40% of all union election campaigns.
The Cap Times
January 19, 2024
In light of existing job opportunities for youth in Florida, critics have questioned the real motives behind the proposed child labor rollback. Florida is one of 19 states that has passed or introduced legislation over the last couple of years seeking to weaken regulations. Most have been backed by trade groups representing industries that “routinely” violate child labor law and other labor standards, said Nina Mast, an analyst for the Economic Policy Institute who’s been tracking child-labor law rollbacks across the country.
Orlando Weekly
January 19, 2024