Media clips

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• Utah advocate says labor trafficking getting more attention, more victims stepping forward

  In a 2022 report, the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute said change is needed to the H-2B visa program to protect workers from abuses. “Department of Labor data show that nearly $1.8 billion was stolen from workers employed in the main H-2B industries (which includes both U.S. and migrant workers) between 2000 and 2021,” it reads.

  KSL.com February 5, 2024
• ‘Everybody has eyes on Newton’: The teachers strike is over, but more fights are on the horizon

  Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows average weekly wages for teachers fell nearly 9 percent, adjusted for inflation, from 2021 to 2022, while wages for other college graduates kept pace. That means the pay gap widened: Teachers in Massachusetts now earn more than 20 percent less than workers with similar education levels.

  Boston Globe February 5, 2024
• How to Comply with the New DOL Independent Contractor Rule

  Research from the Economic Policy Institute highlights the extent of the issues:

  • If classified as an independent contractor, a typical construction worker loses over $16,729 each year in salary and benefits. That’s compared to their potential earnings and employment rights if they were classified as an employee.
  JD Supra February 5, 2024
• Education coalition urges lawmakers to increase ‘remarkably uncompetitive’ teacher wages

  The average teacher salary in Virginia was just over $61,000 last year, ranking at No. 22 nationally. The average weekly wage rate for Virginia teachers is the third least competitive rate in the country when compared to other similarly educated professions, according to an Economic Policy Institute report from last year.

  Daily Press February 5, 2024
• Burritos and Big Macs to Cost More in California as Pay Rises

  Few states or municipal areas have raised the minimum wage for workers to the degree that California is poised to do for fast-food employees. Localities typically increase minimum wages by 12% to 15% a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which studies wage increases. 

  The Wall Street Journal February 5, 2024
• Black voters stood with Biden in 2020. Four years later, he needs their help again

  Black unemployment reached a record low of 4.7% in April 2023 and real wages – earnings adjusted for inflation – have risen. Between 2019 and 2022, the last two years of the Trump administration and the first two years of the Biden administration, real wage growth grew the most for workers in the bottom 10th-percentile, according to a March 2023 report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  …

  Valerie Wilson, the director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, said part of voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy may come from sticker shock over high prices.

  But those feelings, particularly in the Black community, may also be a response to long-standing racial disparities.

  “Inequality isn’t a new thing, it hasn’t gone away,” Wilson said.

  CNN February 5, 2024
• How to Comply with the New DOL Independent Contractor Rule

  Research from the Economic Policy Institute highlights the extent of the issues:

  • If classified as an independent contractor, a typical construction worker loses over $16,729 each year in salary and benefits. That’s compared to their potential earnings and employment rights if they were classified as an employee.
  JD Supra February 5, 2024
• Education coalition urges lawmakers to increase ‘remarkably uncompetitive’ teacher wages

  The average teacher salary in Virginia was just over $61,000 last year, ranking at No. 22 nationally. The average weekly wage rate for Virginia teachers is the third least competitive rate in the country when compared to other similarly educated professions, according to an Economic Policy Institute report from last year.

  Daily Press February 5, 2024
• Burritos and Big Macs to Cost More in California as Pay Rises

  Few states or municipal areas have raised the minimum wage for workers to the degree that California is poised to do for fast-food employees. Localities typically increase minimum wages by 12% to 15% a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which studies wage increases. 

  The Wall Street Journal February 5, 2024
• Black voters stood with Biden in 2020. Four years later, he needs their help again

  Black unemployment reached a record low of 4.7% in April 2023 and real wages – earnings adjusted for inflation – have risen. Between 2019 and 2022, the last two years of the Trump administration and the first two years of the Biden administration, real wage growth grew the most for workers in the bottom 10th-percentile, according to a March 2023 report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  …

  Valerie Wilson, the director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, said part of voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy may come from sticker shock over high prices.

  But those feelings, particularly in the Black community, may also be a response to long-standing racial disparities.

  “Inequality isn’t a new thing, it hasn’t gone away,” Wilson said.

  CNN February 5, 2024