Media clips
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How might the gap be closed sooner than 2133? The Economic Policy Institute recently released a “Women’s Economic Agenda,” which includes 12 recommendations that would help align men’s and women’s pay. The agenda is mindful of the fact that low-wage jobs are held disproportionately by women, and so prescribes many of the things that are often proposed to support lower-paid workers in general: raising the minimum wage, strengthening unions, and instating family- and sick-leave policies. Hopefully, some of these policies will work and women won’t have to wait more than 100 years until equal pay becomes a reality.
The Atlantic November 20, 2015 -
This week the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported that the gender pay gap is still going strong. In the U.S., women are taking home only 82.9 cents for every dollar earned by men, and the discrepancy is worse for minorities and for those at the high end of the pay scale.
Forbes November 20, 2015 -
But critics also argue that large trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement hurt the U.S. economy by sending jobs outside its borders where labor is cheaper. “I would urge your Congressman to look very closely at the entire deal and, in particular, to see how it’s going to affect jobs and wages,” said Robert Scott, director of trade and manufacturing policy research with the Economic Policy institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. One of Scott’s studies that compared jobs gained to jobs lost calculated that the North American Free Trade Agreement displaced nearly 700,000 U.S. workers, and similar studies have tallied even greater figures. “I think what NAFTA has primarily done is hurt workers in the United States,” he said.
NPR November 20, 2015 -
For each city, population figures are 2014 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, and housing prices are based on calculations from real estate website Zillow. Cost of living was calculated by CareerTrends, using 2013 data from the Economic Policy Institute. The cost of living index is based on a 100 point scale, with 100 representing the national average. Numbers under 100 mean average cost of living expenses are lower than the national average.
U.S. News & World Report November 20, 2015 -
Now open your eyes and look at the sobering reality. Women’s real hourly earnings in 2014 were just $15.21. That translates to a 71% “gender and inequality wage gap,” the key finding of a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Economist Elise Gould and researcher Alyssa Davis calculated that gap by combining EPI’s favorite bugaboo, the pay-productivity gap, and that old standby, the gender pay gap. (A previous report on productivity and wages kicked off a vigorous back-and-forth between economists—how you measure matters.)
Wall Street Journal November 19, 2015 -
No matter your preferred source of news, you already know all about how terrible the wage gap is between men and women. By now, both Us Weekly and the New York Times have covered it. Less obvious than the fact that women in every business take home smaller salaries than men, however, is what the hell they should do about it. Thankfully, Elise Gould, a senior economist and the director of health policy research at the Economic Policy institute, and researcher Alyssa Davis have a few ideas. Together, they just released the Women’s Economic Agenda to outline a strategy they say will raise women’s wages and address stagnant workers’ salaries. While they acknowledge that progress has been made over the past three decades, they’re not sugarcoating it: We have serious work to do. Did you know that 40% of the reason that the pay gap has narrowed is because men’s wages have fallen? Yikes. Davis and Gould find that had we closed the pay gap and increased typical workers’ salaries at pace with the productivity growth over the last 30 years, women’s wages would be 70% higher.
Elle November 19, 2015 -
The liberal first-term senator spoke at an event on Capitol Hill unveiling a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a progressive think tank, that highlighted the persistent wage gap between men and women. The report found that women are still paid about 20 percent less than men, and that the small decrease in that gap has occurred largely due to stagnant wages for men, not significant gains by women.
“Over the last several decades women have entered the workforce in record numbers and made great strides in educational attainment,” begins the report, written by EPI’s Alyssa Davis and Elise Gould. “Nevertheless, when compared with men, women are still paid less, are more likely to hold low-wage jobs, and are more likely to live in poverty.”
Mother Jones November 19, 2015 -
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., may not be running for president in 2016, but she was campaigning hard Wednesday to be an agenda-setting power broker. At 9:30 a.m., she joined the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute to release the Women’s Economic Agenda, a list of 12 proposals aimed at closing the gender wage gap. It covers issues such as raising the minimum wage, providing paid family leave and increasing access to child care.
NPR November 19, 2015 -
The wage gap between men and women is finally starting to close—but only because male wages are falling, according to a new briefing paper released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute. “No one in this country should work full-time and live in poverty,” said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren at a Capitol Hill press conference to release the report, which sets forth a policy agenda for both closing the gender wage gap and boosting bargaining power for low- and moderate-income workers. Also on hand were House Democrat Rosa DeLauro, of Connecticut, and labor organizers with the AFL-CIO and the SEIU.
Dubbed “Closing the Pay Gap and Beyond,” the EPI white paper and manifesto found that despite a shrinking gender wage gap, wage gains have remained stagnant over the last decade. In 1979, median hourly earnings for women were 62.7 percent of men’s hourly wages. That gap narrowed in the two decades that followed, but since 2000 it has hovered in the 80 percent rage. In 2014, women’s median hourly earnings were 82.9 percent of men’s.
The American Prospect November 19, 2015 -
Basic laws of economics suggest that employees in the childcare industry should be faring well: The outlook for demand, especially as millennials born between 1981 and 1997 reach prime child-rearing age, is solid. Yet about 15 percent of those workers are living in poverty, compared with 7 percent for all other occupations, according to Census Bureau data analyzed by Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Bloomberg November 19, 2015 -
But this is hardly the first study to recognize that it is impossible for a family of four to live on $60,000 a year. In 2012, when the federal poverty line was $23,283, the Economic Policy Institute discovered that basic needs cost at least twice that amount in 615 of America’s cities. Just two months ago, a census study showed New Jersey was one of only three states that experienced an increase in both number and percentage of people living in poverty.
Newark Star Ledger November 19, 2015 -
The analysis, from the left-of-center Economic Policy Institute, is the first effort to quantify the impact that 25 years of wage stagnation and growing inequality have had on American women’s wages as they caught up with men’s. The researchers found that for women, wage stagnation and the gender pay gap pack a stinging one-two punch. If women earned as much as men, and all workers’ wages kept up with the growing economy, the median hourly wage for all women would be 70% higher than it is today. “What we’re saying is that the gender wage gap isn’t the only way that the economy shortchanges women,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and one of the study’s authors. “Getting to gender parity is important, but it doesn’t improve women’s economic prospects to the greatest possible extent.”
The Guardian November 18, 2015 -
Although women have seen the gender wage gap narrow, much of the gain is attributable to wage stagnation, according to a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The report finds that since 1979 about 40 percent of the reduction in the male-female gap occurred because men’s wages stagnated rather than because women’s wages grew. According to the report, in 2014 the hourly median wage for women ($15.21) was 82.9 percent that of that for men ($18.35). The report also found that women earn less than men at every education level, and that the gender wage gap is largest among top earners. EPI will release its Women’s Economic Agenda this morning at an event that will include Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler, and SEIU Executive Vice President Rocio Saenz. http://bit.ly/1j6AQ00
Politico November 18, 2015 -
Minimum wage earners include health care workers, waiters and waitresses, and office staff. As the infographic below from the Economic Policy Institute shows, the typical worker who would benefit from a proposal to raise the federal minimum to $12 by 2020 is a woman whose family relies on her for more than half of its income. Nearly two-fifths of all women of color would benefit from such an increase.
MSNBC November 18, 2015 -
Instead, other analysts say that families earning less than $48,000, which is about twice the federal poverty line for a family of four, typically have no discretionary income. The Economic Policy Institute, for example, estimates the minimal family budget for a family of four “to secure an adequate but modest living standard” is at a least $49,000, but in high-cost cities such as Washington, D.C. can exceed $100,000.)
Time November 18, 2015 -
The implicit argument behind FWD.us is that the U.S. doesn’t have enough high-skilled domestic workers to meet tech companies’ needs. This is a myth, and Zuckerberg and FWD.us are just the latest tech players to promote it. In fact there is no shortage of domestic IT workers, as shown in a new study from the Economic Policy Institute. While there is an unusually low unemployment rate among American tech workers (3%), they haven’t enjoyed the large salary increases that would signal a shortage.
Gawker November 18, 2015 -
The cost of child care for a 4-year old currently consumes more than half of a minimum-wage earning parent’s budget in 20 states; and 30 percent or more in every other state. And infant care costs more than half of a minimum-wage-earning parent’s income in 37 states. More than one in four working mothers and 40 percent of all single mothers would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC November 18, 2015 -
At large public companies, boards of directors are usually in charge of how and what to pay their CEOs. It’s an expensive decision. Among the 350 top firms (by sales) in the United States, the average CEO compensation package added up to $15.2 million in 2013, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That compensation includes a vast array of factors, such as salary, bonuses, stock options, and long-term incentive payouts.
Forbes November 18, 2015 -
See excerpt: The rise of Uber has convinced many pundits, economists, and policymakers that freelancing via digital platforms is becoming increasingly important to Americans’ livelihood. It has also promoted the idea that new technology—particularly the explosion of platforms enabling the gig economy—will fundamentally alter the future of work. While Uber and other new companies in the gig economy receive a lot of attention, a look at Uber’s own data about its drivers’ schedules and pay reveals them to be much less consequential than most people assume. In fact, dwelling on these companies too much distracts from the central features of work in America that should be prominent in the public discussion: a disappointingly low minimum wage, lax overtime rules, weak collective-bargaining rights, and excessive unemployment, to name a few. When it comes to the future of work, these are the aspects of the labor market that deserve the most attention.
The Atlantic November 16, 2015 -
On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will join the Economic Policy Institute to discuss a report about women in the workforce who are being paid less than men despite obtaining more education.
The Hill November 16, 2015 -
But Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told the Post that the letter implied that “things are changing much faster than they are, and that therefore the legal models that we have shouldn’t be applied … I think that something like this could be misused.” The Wall Street Journal, the conservative American Enterprise Institute, and EPI President Larry Mishel have all warned that concrete evidence of a large-scale U.S. shift from salaried employment to independent contracting has yet to emerge.
Politico November 16, 2015 -
In the US, there were roughly 2 million workers in in-home occupations in 2012, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). About 93% of the workers were women and more than 33% were immigrants.
The Guardian November 16, 2015 -
A two-parent, two-child family in the Sioux City metro area will spend 19.7 percent of their yearly living expenses on child care — more than they will spend on housing, health care, food or transportation, according to a report released last month by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Sioux City Journal November 16, 2015 -
Comparing American students to high-flying students in South Korea or Finland is pointless, a new study by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute argues. Education reformers have long noted that American students do poorly on PISA tests, administered to 15-year-olds in nearly 60 economically advanced countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Deseret News November 16, 2015 -
The Washington-based Economic Policy Institute in May reported that the gap between CEO compensation and that of a typical worker is now 231-to-one. It was 58.5-to-one in 1989, the institute said in a report implying that productivity gains through the decades have benefited executives more than workers.
San Antonio News-Express November 16, 2015 -
The idea was fleshed out in a follow-up brief by the conservative R Street Institute, which described a private benefits exchange through which companies with quasi-independent contractors could provide support without fear of being forced to treat them as employees, with all the costs and risks that entails. That’s the kind of thing that worries Ross Eisenbrey, vice president with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which wasn’t invited to the discussions that led to the manifesto. “Does that mean that someone like Uber should be able to do what they’re doing regardless of the worker’s classification?” Eisenbrey said, after reading it.
His suspicion was first piqued by something more basic: How the letter quantifies the size of the independent workforce. It cites a survey by the Freelancer’s Union, which pegs the number at 53 million people. Official numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, recently analyzed by the Pew Research Center, estimate there are more like 14.6 million self-employed workers, which has actually been declining both in absolute terms and as a share of the labor force for a couple decades (though current statistical methods may not be capturing the growth in on-demand work). “It’s not true, and I think it’s in service of making people think that things are changing much faster than they are, and that therefore the legal models that we have shouldn’t be applied,” says Eisenbrey. “That’s Uber’s wish, that they escape from employment obligations, that they not have to pay minimum wage and overtime. I think that something like this could be misused.”
The Washington Post November 13, 2015 -
The SEASON Act, also sponsored by Reps. Andy Harris, R-Md., and Charles Boustany, R-La., would adjust the way seasonal workers are calculated under the H-2B cap. Returning workers who received a visa in any of the three prior years would not be counted against the annual limit. The result would be two to three times more foreign workers allowed into the U.S. to fill those jobs, said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. “Industry has been lobbying to raise the cap to 200,000 or more, so this would get them closer to that goal,” Costa said.
USA Today November 13, 2015 -
Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the backlash to Sanders’s past comments highlighted the candidate’s need to refine his rhetoric. When Sanders talks about immigration leading to lower wages, he’s talking specifically about low-wage guest-worker programs, Costa said, and “it’s hard to get that context in a sound bite.”
Bloomberg November 13, 2015 -
Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, expressed optimism that the agency could publish the final rule in the first half of next year. “It could be effective within 30 days after that,” he said, although Schwartz said Smith told the panel audience at the conference that she thought the agency would give employers at least 60 days to comply.
Eisenbrey added that the stakes to finish the rule quickly are high. A delay could give lawmakers in opposition to the changes opportunity to derail implementation. “If they keep it simple and all they do is raise the threshold and respond to issues about raising the threshold … I don’t believe it should take them any longer than April or May to do it,” he said.
NBC News November 13, 2015 -
A separate federal benchmark, known as the Supplemental Poverty Measure, shows a much higher poverty rate for California: 23.4%, the highest in the nation, according to the most recent data. The rate reflects California’s high — and growing — housing costs. “The fact that California housing is so much more expensive means the threshold to be in poverty is a lot higher,” said David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Los Angeles Times November 13, 2015