Media clips

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• The poverty wages of child care workers

  Despite all this, Flakes is doing better than many other child care workers because 15 percent of them live below the poverty line, or double the poverty rate for workers in other occupations, according to new research from The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

  “They have a hard time affording child care and making ends meet,” said EPI senior economist Elise Gould, who wrote the research report. “We think of child care workers as being one step up from being elementary school workers, but they are much more similar to cashiers or food service workers” in terms of pay.

  CBS Moneywatch November 5, 2015
• Child Care Providers Make So Little They Can’t Afford Care For Their Own Kids

  According to a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, the median wage for child care workers is $10.31. That’s not just a small figure on its own; it’s also very low compared to what these workers could make elsewhere. Even when compared to other workers with the same gender, race, educational attainment, age, geography, and a number of other factors, EPI found that child care providers make 23 percent less. And even those figures are likely underestimating the problem, given that any provider who is self employed and working out of her own home — providers who are likely to earn even less than those in, say, centers — aren’t counted. “Despite the crucial nature of their work, child care workers’ job quality does not seem to be valued in today’s economy,” the report notes. “They are among the country’s lowest-paid workers, and seldom receive job-based benefits such as health insurance and pensions.”

  Think Progress November 5, 2015
• Wages earned but not paid

  The Economic Policy Institute reports that about $1 billion a year is recovered on behalf of wage-theft victims nationally and that the figure indicates a much deeper problem. Even though it is against the law to steal wages, the penalties, such as fines ranging from $75 to $300, are minimal.

  Philadelphia Inquirer November 5, 2015
• Elizabeth Warren seeks to aid elders

  Warren’s bill is designed to provide older Americans with the same increase top executives received. She based the boost on an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute that showed 350 top chief executives received 3.9 percent pay increases from 2013 to 2014.

  Boston Globe November 5, 2015
• School vs. Society in America’s Failing Students

  In a report released last week, Martin Carnoy from the Graduate School of Education at Stanford, Emma García from the Economic Policy Institute in Washington and Tatiana Khavenson from the Institute of Education at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, suggest that socioeconomic deficits impose a particularly heavy burden on American schools. “Once we adjust for social status, we are doing much better than we think,” Professor Carnoy told me. “We underrate our progress.”

  The researchers started by comparing test scores in the United States with those in France, Germany, Britain, Canada, Finland, South Korea, Poland and Ireland. On average, students in all those countries do better than American children. Then the researchers divided students into groups depending on the number of books in their homes, a measure of the academic resources at families’ disposal. This adjustment significantly reduced the American deficit, especially among students on the bottom rungs of the resource ladder.

  The New York Times November 4, 2015
• The states where it’s much harder for black people to get jobs than white people

  There is a silver lining in the data, however: things are improving. “We’re seeing more states in the third quarter where the black unemployment rate is getting below that 10 percent mark,” says Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy for the Economic Policy Institute, which published the findings. Several states lacked estimates due to small sample sizes.

  The Washington Post November 4, 2015
• The 1 Percent’s Earnings Could Be Stagnating — At $671,000

  The average person in the top 1 percent of wage earners made $671,061 in 2014, up 4.9 percent from 2013 after adjusting for inflation, according to anew analysis of Social Security Administration data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning Washington think tank. The richest 0.1 percent — about 156,000 people earning an average of $2.5 million a year — did even better. Their earnings rose 8.9 percent from 2013. By contrast, the bottom 90 percent of wage earners got just a 1.4 percent pay raise.

  Economic Policy Institute President Lawrence Mishel noted that while the wealthy suffered larger-than-average losses during the recession, they have also experienced far faster wage growth during the recovery than the rest of the population. Moreover, he said, inequality seems to be peaking higher in each economic cycle, and although top earners haven’t yet gotten back to where they were in 2007, they might still reach a new high before the next recession hits. “If [inequality] is stabilizing, it’s way, way higher than 1979 or 1989,” Mishel said.

  FiveThirtyEight November 4, 2015
• Want a big raise? Start with a big salary

  The US workers who got the biggest raises in 2014 were the ones who needed it least. Those in the top 1 percent saw their wages grow by roughly 5 percent, while the top 0.1 percent of earners got an even heftier 9 percent boost. Meanwhile, everyone else saw pay increases of less than 2 percent, according to a new analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  The Boston Globe November 4, 2015
• Congress must defeat the TPP

  Already, The Wall Street Journal is projecting a $56 billion increase in our manufacturing and automotive trade deficit under the TPP by 2025. Trade deficits not only bring down our nation’s gross domestic product, they are directly associated with the loss of jobs. As the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Robert Scott has written, it is our nation’s trade policy, not technological productivity, that has precipitated the dramatic loss of manufacturing jobs over the last 15 years.

  The Hill November 4, 2015
• As Sanders Makes Major Pivot Toward Immigration, His Record Gets In The Way

  There are those who argue that Sanders past positions have been miscast as not progressive enough on immigration. Sanders has framed his 2007 vote, for instance, as against guest worker programs that he argues amount to slavery. “His position has been unfairly twisted as anti-immigrant,” said Daniel Costa of the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, whose board features labor figures like the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka. “Pointing out the abuses and exploitation that happens in guest-worker programs is pretty progressive.” “Clinton’s been silent on it,” he continued. “Bernie Sanders has been talking about it. The way the programs are set up it’s bad for the U.S. workers that are here. If they get fired they become deportable.”

  Buzzfeed November 4, 2015
• Dallas Fed president will meet with Fed Up Coalition members to hear their concerns

  A dozen people representing Fed Up will attend tomorrow’s meeting at the Dallas Fed. They include: Brown; representatives of the Dallas AFL-CIO, Texas AFL-CIO, Center for Popular Democracy and Economic Policy Institute; Dallas Faith leader Wes Helm; and a Walmart worker. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins also will attend as a guest of Fed Up, said Daniel Barrera, a Dallas organizer for the Texas Organizing Project.

  Dallas Morning News November 4, 2015
• What International Comparisons Don’t Tell Us About U.S. Student Achievement

  Recent international test scores show what appears to be a poor performance on average by U.S. students compared with their peers in first-world industrialized countries. Consequently, education systems in Finland, Korea, Singapore and other nations have become the gold standard to which other nations aspire. Except, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute, comparing student outcomes across countries with vastly different cultures, education systems and environments may be misleading if not somewhat irrelevant. Instead, it may be more vital in the U.S. to compare Massachusetts with Connecticut, and Texas with California, rather than North Carolina with Japan or Poland.

  In “Bringing it Back Home: Why State Comparisons are More Useful than International Comparisons for Improving US Educational Policy,” the authors argue that international comparisons have merit, but measuring states with other states rather than countries is more valid in evaluating the true quality of education in the U.S. “It’s very challenging to craft comparisons based on international ratings,” says Emma Garcia, an EPI economist who co-authored the report with Stanford University Professor Martin Carnoy and Tatiana Khavenson, a researcher at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. “The scores do not mean that U.S. students are not making progress in comparison with other countries.”

  NEA Today November 3, 2015
• Even Among College Grads, Whites Earn More Than Nearly Everyone

  In re­cent dec­ades, wage gaps have grown the most for col­lege gradu­ates, says Valer­ie Wilson, the dir­ect­or of the Eco­nom­ic Policy In­sti­tute’s Pro­gram on Race, Eth­ni­city, and the Eco­nomy. There’s great­er pay equal­ity among lower earners with less edu­ca­tion be­cause the min­im­um wage provides a floor. For people of col­or with a high­er edu­ca­tion, Wilson says, “There is dis­crim­in­a­tion in the labor mar­ket, not only in terms of hir­ing but def­in­itely in pay.”

  National Journal November 3, 2015
• The Mystery of the Vanishing Pay Raise

  Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group, voiced frustration that while wages regularly rose faster than inflation in the 1950s and ’60s, that’s no longer the case. “Why is there this assumption that wages are only going to rise faster than inflation at very low unemployment?” he asked. “Where does that come from?”

  The New York Times November 2, 2015
• Wage growth lags despite falling unemployment rate

  There are also about 95 million who are not in the labor force, meaning they neither gainfully employed nor seeking employment. The proportion of Americans still participating in the labor force is at its lowest point in nearly four decades. Those numbers point to “considerable slack in the labor market,” said Elise Gould, economist for the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute think tank, “and workers just don’t have the ability to bid up their wages.” Slow compensation growth indicates that employers have most of the power when it comes to setting terms, and therefore have little incentive to raise pay substantially, Gould said. She noted that the percentage of workers who quit each month has not reached pre-recession levels, an indicator that some workers feel no choice but to remain in their jobs despite unsatisfactory terms. The “quits” rate has held at 1.9 percent since April, compared to 2.3 percent in November 2006, shortly before the beginning of the recession. “People just don’t feel like they can quit their jobs,” Gould said, and that lack of exit power means business owners, not employees, are calling the shots on wages.

  Al Jazeera America November 2, 2015
• Working during college doesn’t always pay, study says

  Quality internships are becoming essential, he said, and highly selective colleges are competing by promoting internships related to their students’ fields of study. Research by the Economic Policy Institute found that half of college seniors have completed internships, and graduates with paid internships receive starting average annual salaries of $52,000, while those without internships started jobs after college at $37,000, Carnevale said.

  The Chicago Tribune November 2, 2015
• Have women recovered from the recession? An answer in 5 charts.

  Elise Gould, a senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, told Fortune that this means that for all the positive employment news for women, “job gains have simply not kept up with prime-age population growth.”

  Fortune November 2, 2015
• Making Comparisons at Home vs. Abroad

  It’s not uncommon to hear that U.S. students are falling behind their international peers. But a new paper from the Economic Policy Institute says it’s wrong to conclude that U.S. students aren’t making progress in math and reading based on international tests. For one, focusing on national progress in average test scores obscures the fact that disadvantaged students in the U.S. have made big gains on the Program for International Student Assessment, EPI says. Some of those gains are larger than those made by similarly disadvantaged students in other countries, the paper says. It suggests that it would be more beneficial to look at what states are doing, rather than making international comparisons. More: http://bit.ly/1ScfoDo.

  Politico November 2, 2015
• Measuring income inequality in Oregon

  Another way to measure inequality is to compare the top 1 percent to everyone else. Using this gap, Oregon has one of the smallest gaps in the nation, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The top 1 percent in Oregon averaged $810,196 in income, or 20 times more than the average of $40,314 for everyone else.

  The Oregonian November 2, 2015
• Donald Trump, and the bogus myth that foreign tech workers steal American jobs

  The pro-labor Economic Policy Institute has been at the forefront of popularizing the claim that America gets not the world’s best and brightest, but its mediocre. Hence, instead of commanding a premium in the labor market, these ho-hum foreign workers undercut native wages.

  The Week November 2, 2015
• Economic Growth Stalls in Third Quarter

  Still, it’s worth noting that the economy expanded at an average clip of 2.1 percent per quarter between 2012 and 2014. So while 2015 has thus far been a step down, it hasn’t been that much worse than the years that immediately preceded it. “In short, this growth rate represents steady improvement, but slow improvement, in the U.S. economy,” Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a research note Thursday, suggesting that “policymakers – particularly the Federal Reserve – should not do anything to slow the pace of recovery.”

  U.S. News & World Report October 30, 2015
• Women and families still blind spots for Republican debate moderators

  The Republicans sharing the stage, by contrast, have mostly avoided these topics, as the party opposes new mandates for businesses but is also struggling with its image among female voters. In September, Florida senator Marco Rubio unveiled a plan to offer a tax credit to businesses willing to give four to 12 weeks of paid leave. “If you’re going to have a debate about the economy, you have to talk about the economic issues that people are talking about. That the other candidates are talking about. That the president has been talking about,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive thinktank. “The candidates all have their own agendas … But for the moderators to ignore those issues feels like a large omission.”

  The Guardian October 30, 2015
• The Rise Of Bernie Sanders And The Panic Of Democratic Centrists

  Third Way’s platform calls for passage of free trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership, making the research and development tax credit permanent and revenue-neutral corporate tax reform. The group advocates for raising tax rates on capital gains from 20 to 25 percent and for limiting deductions for high wage earners. But on the whole, it is the more corporate-minded plank of the Democratic platform, much to the distaste of its critics. “They do nothing to challenge corporate power in the workplace, other than a higher minimum wage,” said Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a Third Way adversary. “If they don’t get behind policies that will really help generate middle class wage and compensation growth then they’re missing an essential piece of what’s needed, economically and politically.”

  The Huffington Post October 30, 2015
• Black Unemployment Is Too High. Here’s How The Fed Can Change That.

  Other experts also support this theory. A study by the progressive Economic Policy Institute’s Valerie Wilson found that the African-American unemployment rate is more responsive to improvements in the overall job market than the white unemployment rate.

  The Huffington Post October 30, 2015
• Here’s How You Know The Economy Is Not Growing Fast Enough

  As the progressive Economic Policy Institute’s Elise Gould noted, the prime-age employment-to-population ratio — a measure that includes people who have stopped looking for work and filters out elderly retirees — was still lower in August than during the low points of the last two business cycles…

  The Huffington Post October 29, 2015
• Jennifer Lawrence speaks out on wage gap

  Let’s start by stipulating that the gender-based wage gap in America is a real thing. The Economic Policy Institute reported in April that “at every decile, men out-earn women,” and “at the median, women’s hourly wages are only 83 percent of men’s hourly wages.” The disparity is apparently greatest at the top brackets. Even the highest-earning actress in the world, Jennifer Lawrence, piped up about the gap between her and her male co-stars in “American Hustle” on Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter site.

  San Francisco Chronicle October 29, 2015
• For Arlington County Board

  Four well-qualified candidates are running for those two seats. The best are a pair of Democrats: Katie Cristol, an impressively smart and committed education policy expert, and Christian Dorsey, a think-tank executive who is broadly knowledgeable about housing and community development.

  Mr. Dorsey, director of external and government affairs at the Economic Policy Institute, has run a similarly constructive campaign, offering proposals to encourage home energy efficiency and to revitalize the county’s ample stock of aging retail businesses. His career path has included stints promoting literacy for indigent children, and he has extensive volunteer experience in the county. He’d make a fine board member.

  The Washington Post October 28, 2015
• Debate over debt ceiling continues on Capitol Hill

  In 2011 a last-second aversion and resulting panic caused the country’s credit rating to be downgraded for the first time. “It’s really a silly and precarious situation to be in. I don’t think its end of the world scary but it is a real problem,” explained Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute. Bivens further explained an actual default would affect everything from social security and Medicare payments to possible panic for stock & bond holders and even higher interest rates for home buyers. “It’ll look so bad the political optics for breaching the debt ceiling for sitting members of congress will be pretty disastrous and then if we did actually get past that date, I say the president should absolutely say congress: you’ve given me 2 contradictory imperatives– spend this money, don’t spend this money because of the debt ceiling. I’m just going to keep spending the money.”

  ABC Seven News October 27, 2015
• Bankrolled and bioengineered, China supplants Wisconsin’s paper industry

  The Washington-based Economic Policy Institute estimates the Chinese government doled out at least $33 billion in subsidies to its paper industry from 2002 to 2009 – the period that coincides with its stunning growth. That’s more than $4 billion a year, a number that is growing. The entire annual payroll for all of Wisconsin’s mills – including those making paper towels, tissue and cardboard – is $2.4 billion.

  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel October 27, 2015
• The case against tipping

  Today, tipping is entrenched. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 4.3m Americans rely on the generosity of tippers to scrape a living. The idea seems like a good one. If the customer knows best, then who better to monitor and reward the performance of the servers? Without a tip on offer, waiters might be reluctant to fetch endless glasses of tap water with a smile.

  The Economist October 27, 2015