Media clips
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A new analysis points out that the lowest black jobless rate of any state during the fourth quarter of 2015 – 6.7 percent in Virginia – was equal to the highest white unemployment rate, in West Virginia. In many states, the jobless rate for African Americans is still at or near double digits, and in 20 states, including California, the rate is at least double that for whites, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Sacramento Bee February 22, 2016 -
White U.S. workers have almost five times the wealth in retirement accounts as black workers, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said in a post on Thursday. EPI argues that the country’s move to 401(k) retirement accounts is exacerbating that wealth gap because they provide tax shelters for existing savings and don’t necessarily encourage retirement savings. More from EPI’s Monique Morrissey.
Politico February 22, 2016 -
Claims by both Trump and Sanders that free trade has cost millions of American jobs are also misleading. Jobs are lost and jobs are created. The Economic Policy Institute says that our free trade agreement with South Korea has eliminated 75,000 jobs over three years. NAFTA, our agreement with Canada and Mexico, has cost 682,900 American jobs over 20 years, according to the institute.
Albuquerque Journal February 22, 2016 -
Note to conservatives: Want to know the best way to find savings in government assistance programs? Here’s a hint—it’s not by cutting nutrition assistance to working people who are struggling. It’s by paying them fairly for their labor. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute indicates that raising the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020 would lift wages for more than 35 million workers nationwide and generate about $17 billion annually in savings to government assistance programs. This report shouldn’t come as a surprise. In contrast to the stereotypes and lies about people with low incomes, the reality is that a majority of public-assistance recipients either have a job or have an immediate family member who is working. In fact, 41.2 million working Americans—or 30 percent of the workforce—receive means-tested public assistance. Nearly half of them work full-time.
The Nation February 19, 2016 -
From 1992 to 2014, compensation per executive in the limited-deductibility categories rose more rapidly—by about 650 percent, to $8.2 million from $1.1 million—than compensation in categories such as stock options and incentive pay that aren’t subject to deductibility limits. The latter rose by about 350 percent, to $4.4 million from $970,000. “That’s powerful,” Steven Balsam, a leading academic expert on executive compensation practices, said when told what our study showed. Balsam is a professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business who published a 2012 study on the deduction cap for the Economic Policy Institute. “At best, 162(m) has had a marginal effect,” he said. “It hasn’t had a major impact.”
Pacific Standard February 19, 2016 -
Those minimums would dethrone Massachusetts – where the statewide rate will climb to $11 an hour next year – from the top spot, according to D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, which has been tracking wage increases across the nation.
David Cooper, an economic analyst the Economic Policy Institute, said he applauds the Oregon Legislature for its creative tiered approach, but did express hesitation. “I think any time you create these sorts of somewhat arbitrary geographic districts, that’s when you can create opportunities for some sort of economic disruption,” he said. “I would prefer the whole state got to the same wage level but at a slower pace by region so that everyone is held to the same standard.”
Associated Press February 18, 2016 -
He said repeatedly that he decided to run only after lobbying Florida’s congressional delegation to vote against fast-tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a corporate-friendly free trade agreement that the Economic Policy Institute argues will depress wages and accelerate the decline in U.S. manufacturing.
Al Jazeera America February 17, 2016 -
That gap grew significantly as the economy recovered in the four years after the Great Recession, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, which said the highest earning taxpayers captured an “alarming share of the economic growth” over that time. Between 2009 and 2012 in New Jersey, the top 1 percent had a 26.4 percent boost in pay while the remaining 99 percent saw their income increase 1.4 percent. Although the percentages varied from state to state, the report shows a “rapid growth” of the 1 percent in those years.
NJ.com February 17, 2016 -
To help us, The Fix caught up with Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Rothstein and his colleague, Leila Morsy, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales in New Zealand, released a report in June that really should sit on some kind of recommended national reading list. The report compressed down decades of research on the short- and long-term effects of lead exposure. And there is really only way to summarize it: The truth is both alarming and extremely revealing. This is not joyful reading, folks. But it is important.
The Washington Post February 16, 2016 -
In Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Assn., many court watchers had expected Scalia to deliver the deciding vote against unions, limiting their ability to collect membership dues and other fees. Without Scalia, a 4-4 split is considered likely. That would maintain the status quo — a huge win for unions, at least for now. Though union opponents could mount a new case, that would probably take at least another year, said Jeffrey H. Keefe, a research associate at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “So the conflict shifts to President Obama’s ability to appoint a replacement or who will win the presidential election,” Keefe said.
Los Angeles Times February 16, 2016 -
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute last year found that 51.3% of black and 36.1% Hispanic high school graduates, age 17 to 20, were underemployed. That means they either don’t have a job, aren’t working as many hours as they would like or aren’t currently looking for work but would like a job.
CNN February 16, 2016 -
While the U.S. labor market showed healthy gains in 2015, jobs didn’t sprout equally across states, while among Americans some groups benefited more than others from the decline in unemployment. In the final quarter of 2015, the lowest unemployment rate for African-Americans, 6.7 percent in Virginia, was equal to the highest white unemployment rate (6.7 percent in West Virginia), according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
CBS Moneywatch February 16, 2016 -
The Economic policy Institute Class of 2015 reports that for college graduates, the unemployment rate has risen from 5.5 percent in 2007 to 7.2 percent. The underemployment rate went from 9.6 percent to 14.9 percent.
Al Jazeera America February 16, 2016 -
A 2014 survey from the Pew Institute found that the median college-educated person made $17,500 more than those with a high school diploma. In 1965, the difference was closer to $7,500, and in 1986 it was $14,245. (Numbers adjusted for inflation and expressed in 2012 dollars.) Making matters even more depressing, wages in the U.S. have been more or less stagnant since 1979, according to a study from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “I think that’s the preeminent issue of our time,” said EPI President Larry Mishel.
Fortune February 16, 2016 -
Union membership comes with a wage increase of more than 13 percent—and those bargaining table bumps can be good for entire communities. When union members win a raise, they’re more likely to be able to go see a movie at the local theater or grab a bite to eat at the neighborhood diner, even buy a new car or house. That consumer spending helps drive our economy. And as union membership has declined, non-union workers have been hurt, too—because their employers no longer feel pressured to raise salaries to the standard set by collective bargaining.
Medium February 16, 2016 -
Later in the debate, Sanders repeated this figure and said African American “youth unemployment [is] at 51 percent.” Sanders’s statistics refer to high school graduates between 17 and 20 years old who are not enrolled in additional schooling. He is citing research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The report looks at employment status for high school graduates who are unemployed, working part-time and “marginally attached to the labor force” (meaning “those who want a job and have looked for work in the last year but have given up actively seeking work in the last four weeks”). It uses the broadest measure of underemployment, called the U-6 measure of labor underutilization. This report is different from the official unemployment rate published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which does not break out data for 17- to 20-year-olds.
The Washington Post February 12, 2016 -
From 1992 to 2014, compensation per executive in the limited-deductibility categories rose more rapidly—by about 650 percent, to $8.2 million from $1.1 million — than compensation in categories such as stock options and incentive pay that aren’t subject to deductibility limits. The latter rose by about 350 percent, to $4.4 million from $970,000. “That’s powerful,” Steven Balsam, a leading academic expert on executive compensation practices, said when told what our study showed. Balsam is a professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business who published a 2012 study on the deduction cap for the Economic Policy Institute. “At best, 162(m) has had a marginal effect,” he said. “It hasn’t had a major impact.”
The Washington Post February 12, 2016 -
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute last year found that 51.3% of black and 36.1% Hispanic high school graduates, age 17 to 20, were underemployed. That means they either don’t have a job, aren’t working as many hours as they would like or aren’t currently looking for work but would like a job.
CNN Money February 12, 2016 -
Yesterday the Albert Shanker Institute, a think tank affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), hosted a panel discussion on school and housing segregation. Featuring Kimberly Goyette, a sociologist at Temple University, Amy Ellen Schwartz, an economist at NYU, Amy Stuart Wells, a sociologist at Columbia, and Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute and former New York Times education columnist—the four speakers explored how best to provide children and families with opportunity.
On the panel, Richard Rothstein argued that the country has a long way to go in terms of fulfilling its constitutional obligation to desegregate schools—and that the first step must involve launching a national education campaign so that the public, and progressives in particular, can better understand their history. He called de facto segregation “a national myth”—one that allows Americans to sleep easy in the face of illegal discrimination. “We have to get serious about desegregating the country, and I don’t just mean desegregating low-income families,” he said. “I mean lower-middle class areas too. We need a fundamental rethinking about our priorities.” Rothstein walked through the history of government-sponsored housing segregation, specifically looking at Ferguson, Missouri, which he’s also written about at length for The American Prospect.
The American Prospect February 12, 2016 -
Liberal groups like the AFL-CIO and the Economic Policy Institute have started a petition drive to urge the Obama administration not to “let Congress run out the clock” on the Labor Department’s proposed overtime rule, which would more than double (to $50,440) the salary threshold under which virtually all employees qualify for time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours in any given week.
Politico February 12, 2016 -
Given that the stock rout occurred right after the Federal Reserve boosted rates for the first time since 2006, some are pointing fingers at the central bank. Economists such as the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute have expressed concern that the hike wasn’t justified given the still-recovering U.S. economy. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Thursday called the December decision “tranquil” and pointed to other issues, including weaker global economic growth.
CBS Moneywatch February 12, 2016 -
The trouble comes when we use the consumer spending numbers in the GDP to draw conclusions for which it was not designed, said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute. “I think there’s a critique of the U.S. economy that relies on the claim that [there is] too much short-termism, and people are too materialistic,” but the numbers don’t bear that out, Bivens said. “A lot of what has driven rising consumption over the last 20 or 30 years in the U.S. economy is health care, education and rent. And it doesn’t saying anything about a moral failure,” he said.
Marketplace February 11, 2016 -
While unemployment has dropped to 4.9 percent overall, it is at 16 percent for those between the ages of 16 and 19, and 8.2 percent for 20-to-24-year-olds. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank, even among employed and college-educated youth wages have been on a constant downward trend since the year 2000.
The New Republic February 11, 2016 -
A state’s economic health is directly related to its workforce’s level of education, according to the Economic Policy Institute, so it’s fair to say that when college students fail to clear these hurdles and ultimately drop out, it’s bad for Chicago – and for Illinois as a whole.
Chicago Tribune February 11, 2016 -
Some council members have expressed support for higher wages, but few have backed a specific dollar figure. In September, the council voted to set aside $150,000 for a study on the potential impact of a higher minimum wage in the city or the metro area. The council voted Wednesday to authorize a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota, Howard University, Rutgers University and the Economic Policy Institute to complete the study this spring, but some council members said they remain uncertain about the city’s ability to make any changes.
Minneapolis Star Tribune February 11, 2016 -
Live-in domestic servants are uniquely vulnerable to abuse because their work takes place out of sight, experts say – which also makes it difficult to estimate how many are in the United States. Roughly 2 million people work in “in-home” professions, from housecleaning to elder care, according to a 2013 report from the Economic Policy Institute. Those who are live-in workers, or immigrants, are especially difficult to tally, and especially vulnerable.
Christian Science Monitor February 10, 2016 -
The Economic Policy Institute says the biggest decline in wages from 2013 to 2014 occurred among those with undergraduate and advanced degrees. Just think what it would mean to Walmart if those Americans were paid better salaries: more customers in stores and online.
Philadelphia Inquirer February 10, 2016 -
While collectors for other types of loans also pursue debtors behind bars, federal student loans are different because the government is the collector, which means taxpayer money is spent trying to reach borrowers who cannot easily communicate with the outside world and have few opportunities to earn money to repay the debt. McMillan, for example, said she was making less than a dollar per hour at her job as a suicide-prevention aid worker at Rikers. The average federal prison worker makes about 92 cents per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg February 10, 2016 -
Government assistance helps millions of Americans afford health care, housing, food, and child care. Such programs have become the right wing’s go-to scapegoat for budgetary bloat and government dependency. But a new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that a large chunk of government-assistance spending is due to the prevalence of low-wage work in this country.
The American Prospect February 10, 2016 -
But the reality is that tens of millions of Americans with full-time jobs are working for low hourly wages and cannot afford to cover the monthly basics, according to David Cooper, a poverty and minimum wage analyst at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. In a government data analysis released Tuesday by the liberal-leaning think tank, Cooper said there are 41.2 million working people, or nearly 30 percent of the workforce, receiving public assistance such as food stamps, housing subsidies and cash assistance to make ends meet. Nearly half of those workers, 19.3 million people, had full-time jobs and most were earning less than $12.16 per hour in wages, Cooper wrote in his analysis. “When corporations pay wages so low that working people must rely on public assistance, taxpayers are effectively subsidizing these companies to make up the difference between what workers make and what they need to support themselves and their families,” he wrote.
International Business Times February 10, 2016